The Critic (TV Series)

The Critic is an American animated series that revolved around the life of movie critic Jay Sherman, voiced by actor Jon Lovitz. It was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, both of whom had worked as writers on The Simpsons. The Critic was short-lived — a total of only 23 episodes were produced — and was one of the few shows to ever switch major networks mid-series: it was first broadcast on ABC in 1994 and later completed its original run on FOX in 1995. The show was produced by Gracie Films in association with Columbia Pictures Television (now Sony Pictures Television on reruns), and was animated by Film Roman. Each episode featured at least one or two short movie parodies based on current or recent films. Many of these parodies were featured on Jay's show Coming Attractions. Notable examples include Howard Stern's End (Howards End), Honey, I Ate the Kids (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids/The Silence of the Lambs), The Cockroach King (The Lion King), Abe Lincoln: Pet Detective (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective), 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, and routinely lampooned director/actor Orson Welles. The show was canceled after two years, though nine scripts were written for the would be new network UPN and ten brief Internet only "webisodes" were produced later on and were included as a bonus on the DVD box set. The program can currently be seen on ReelzChannel and premiered on Teletoon's Detour on September 3, 2008. film critic who has to review films he doesn't like for a living.