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The Critic

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The Critic Opening Title Shot.
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The Critic DVD Cover
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Jay Sherman posing on The Critic.

The Critic is an American animated series that was originally broadcast on ABC in 1994 (later on Fox in 1995, then on Locomotion for Latin America in 2000). The show was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who were two writers and producers on The Simpsons. The show was produced by Gracie Films in association with Columbia Pictures Television, and was animated by Film Roman. The series revolves around the life of movie critic Jay Sherman. Each episode featured at least one or two short movie parodies based on current releases at the time or movies that were at least two or three years old. Many of these parodies were featured on Jay's show Coming Attractions. Notable examples include Howard Stern's End (Howard's End), Honey, I Ate the Kids (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids), The Cockroach King (The Lion King), and Scent of a Jackass (Scent of a Woman). It also made parodies of old but well known movies such as Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and The Godfather.

The show was controversial in many of its episodes, with one showing apparent S&M content, in which Jay was tied up and about to be killed by an obsessive, psychotic woman (a spoof of Misery by Stephen King). It was cancelled after two years, though ten brief "Internet only" episodes were produced later on and were included as a bonus on the DVD box set.

Characters

Jay Sherman

"New York's third most popular early-morning cable-TV film critic." His catch phrases include his exclamation of surprise ("Hotchie motchie!"), his common putdown of sub-par films ("It stinks!") and his distinctive cough. He is known for his surly and sarcastic putdowns of the majority of films he reviewed. He often uses the "Shermometer" to measure the films he reviews, or a list of diseases he'd rather have than see a movie. Most of his dislike for films comes from a love for film that has been disillusioned by seeing the commercial processes involved in the film industry.

Jay Sherman is the adopted son of wealthy couple Franklin and Eleanor Sherman. He has a teenage sister named Margo. He has a young son, Marty, who visits often when not staying with Jay's ex-wife, Ardeth and her "personal trainer," Alberto.

Jay appeared in a guest role on the episode of The Simpsons, "A Star is Burns", in which he presided over a local film festival, much to Homer's envy. Simpsons creator Matt Groening, for his part, detested the act of a current Fox show (which The Critic was at the time) crossing over with another current Fox show, and refused to allow his name to be shown in the credits.

Since then, he appeared briefly on The Simpsons a few more times. In the episode "Hurricane Neddy", he was in an insane asylum apparently unable to say anything more than his catchphrase. In another episode, we find him at Moe's Tavern with all the other characters on the show that Lovitz voices.

Jay has also held several other jobs in his time, including a truck driver and a writer for the film Ghostchasers III. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes for criticism.

Jay blames his weight problem on the fictional disorder vitilardo, a word-play on the skin pigmentation disorder vitiligo.

Marty Sherman

Jay's 11-year-old son, Marty, usually stays with his mother at Alimony Towers but visits Jay often. He is just as portly and dorky as Jay, but it rarely causes him problems at his U.N.-inspired elementary school. Elected eighth-grade president thanks to a speech written by his father, he also dated Fidel Castro's granddaughter and discovered he has a gift for belly-dancing. In one episode, he lost a lot of weight, but found his new found skinny body to be more trouble than it was worth and gained it all back before the end of the episode.

Margo Sherman

The youngest child of the Sherman family, and the only biological child of Franklin and Eleanor. She is 16 years old and attends a finishing school for "untouched girls." Margo is an activist who often protests her mother's socialite lifestyle. She also cares greatly for Jay, making sure his girlfriends aren't just dating him to get good reviews and having him escort her to the debutante ball. Dated hard rock singer Johnny Wrath until he cheated on her. In revenge, Jay called up Wrath's long-lost, embarrassing Jewish stereotype parents.

Franklin Sherman

Jay's adoptive father and Eleanor's husband, Franklin always carries a drink in his hand and wears slippers. He is completely insane, after drinking some punch spiked by a young Ted Kennedy at his wedding reception, with past activities including gluing the silverware and the dog to the ceiling, leaving the oven on and burning down the house, addressing a display of fake penguins at the Museum of Natural History, and speaking to a stuffed animal as his son (trying to set him up with Barbie). His family sometimes explains this behavior by saying he had a stroke ("He didn't really. We just say that to explain his personality"). He also has a Zorro-like dual identity, calling himself "El Kabong" and hitting people on the head with his guitar. He is a former governor of New York, as well as a former ambassador, a Rhodes scholar, and a heavy contributor to the Republican Party. Was also Secretary of Balloon Doggies at his own request. He was Duke Phillips's running mate when he ran for president, though Duke tried to remove him when he claimed to be the black female head of the Ku Klux Klan. He also led a trucker's union for a time, and apparently buried lots of money and some bodies in the backyard.

Eleanor Sherman (née Wigglesworth)

Jay's adoptive mother and Franklin's wife, Eleanor is very prim and proper. She can be very nasty and underhanded when it suits her purposes, willing to shoot her daughter's horse to force her to go to a debutante ball. She is often embarrassed by her family and its eccentricities. Her strongest belief is that all poor people should be shot into space, and when she wrote a children's book about Jay called "The Fat Little Pig" she promised to put all its funds toward that goal. She is a little too concerned with her outward appearance, despite her lack of tear ducts. This is brought to light when she is asked how her skin is so smooth, and she replied that she scrubs her face rigorously with steel wool, and then soaks her face in boiling hot water for two minutes. (She serves the broth to the crusty old captain in the boat house which he calls "hag face soup"). Eleanor's voice, and much of her mannerisms, were inspired by Katherine Hepburn.

Duke Phillips

Duke is Jay's boss, and head of Philips Broadcasting (formerly Duke Phillips' House of Chicken and Waffles). He somewhat resembles Ted Turner. He runs the network that shows Coming Attractions, and is always trying to change things to increase ratings and maximize profits, uncaring if it forces Jay to change things. He owns an amusement park, dubbed "The Happiest Place In Jersey", founded his own preschool, runs PNN (Philips News Network), created "Phillips-Vision", and also tried to run for president with Franklin as his running mate. Contracted a fatal disease, later dubbed "Duke Phillips" disease, the treatment for which includes an 8 ounce injection of an concoction of Jay Sherman's, into his eyeball. He believes Jay is gay and in love with him, and wastes no opportunity to belittle him in public about this. Towards the end of the series, he marries Jay's girlfriend's sister, Miranda Tompkins. He often likes to make up new words to win games of Scrabble.

Jeremy Hawke

Jeremy is an Australian actor, and is one of Jay's best friends since Jay gave his first film its only positive review. He has starred in action movies, and also played former president James Monroe (as a spoof of James Bond eg. "Monroe, James Monroe"). He has a sister, Olivia, who tries to win Jay's affection. Jeremy is the star of the "illogical, blasphemous, and ultra-violent Crocodile Gandhi movies." He's likely a combination spoof of Australians Paul Hogan in terms of the exaggerated accent, and Mel Gibson with his luck with the ladies as well as his action film roles.

Doris

Doris is Jay's make-up artist, a chain smoker and possibly Jay's biological mother (tests were negative but there are many similarities between his circumstances and her own son whom she gave up for adoption). She also tries to be attractive to Duke, by purring and sending him nude photos of herself. She only has one lung and anytime a cigarette is removed from her mouth a new one appears. Doris lives in a very spacious and luxurious apartment, affordable to her since it has been "rent controlled since 1946." Her rent is $120 per month.

Alice Tompkins

Introduced in the second season, Alice somewhat becomes Jay's girlfriend. She moved to New York from Knoxville, Tennessee, to show her daughter Penny that a woman can make it in this world. She was once married to a country singer, Cyrus Tompkins. Originally an artist, she quickly found work as Jay's assistant.

Vlada Veramirovich

Vlada runs a restaurant called L'ane Riche (French for "The Wealthy Jackass"), which Jay and Jeremy both frequent. He hates Jay, but loves his money, frequently belittling him quietly or in a foreign language to the staff. Best known for his greeting to Jay, "Meeester Sherman", he has a keen understanding of who is hot and who is not in New York and a pose built for schmoozing. Has an equally effeminate and disturbing son, Zoltan, who attends the same school as Jay's son Marty. On a side note the restaurant is also a parody of Sardi's of New York, which is frequented by Broadway stars and New York socialites alike.

Shackleford

The Sherman's butler, Shackleford is an older Englishman with a dour, sarcastic attitude. He is not particularly loyal to the family, but he stays with them for the money and fringe benefits. Shackleford is particularly contemptuous toward Jay, referring to him as Adopted Master Jay, with a tone that suggest that he does not consider Jay to be a true member of the family. He has also hinted at being a fan of grunge rock.

The Devil

Appearing in several episodes, Jay blames him for many of Hollywood's problems (such as unnecessary sequels and Cher winning an Oscar, although he's only the reason Marisa Tomei won). He was once contacted by the cast of Wings, who wanted to stay on the air for another year (his response was "There are limits to even my powers!"). He also disguised himself as a potential replacement for Roger Ebert. After hearing his positive reviews of Disney movies, Gene Siskel replied, "You're Satan, aren't you?"

List of a few films Jay likes (or dislikes less)

Miscellaneous Facts

  • The season two introduction varies slightly from season one, with different animation sequences, and a more upbeat theme song (although the melody remains unchanged).
  • After its cancellation on Fox, yet another network, UPN, expressed interest in rescuing The Critic and giving it a third season. It is believed about 9 or 10 scripts were written before they decided not to go forward with it.
  • The Critic was the only television show ever reviewed by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert on their show, Siskel and Ebert. It received two thumbs up. Siskel and Ebert would both do guest voices on the show, in the episode "Siskel and Ebert and Jay and Alice".
  • In addition to Siskel and Ebert guest-starring, two other well-known film critics, Gene Shalit and Rex Reed, voiced themselves in several episodes.
  • The Critic used to be shown on Comedy Central on a regular basis on Saturday morning and Sunday nights alongside other more adult-themed cartoon shows, such as Duckman and Dilbert. However, this now only happens on rare occasions, as Comedy Central now mostly airs re-runs of MADtv on Saturday mornings.
  • In the early 00's, show creators Al Jean and Mike Reiss ran a series of ten internet episodes of The Critic. While still making fun of movies and Hollywood in general, its story focused on Jay trying to woo the lovely Jennifer, his new makeup lady. Where's Alice? Well, Jay does mention something about a second divorce. Besides Jay, Vlada is the only other character from the show to make an appearance. All ten of the "webisodes" were included on the complete series DVD. Parodies include gaffs on The Patriot, Harry Potter, Mission: Impossible 2, and Cast Away.
  • Jay Sherman made an appearance on the Simpsons, another FOX show
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