The Critic Turns 30

1994 was a great year for animation and had a lot of memorable series that would go on to be classics in their own right. There are a few series that would go under the radar and become huge cult classics and one of them is The Critic.

The Critic was the brainchild of writers Al Jean and Mile Reiss, who worked on The Simpsons for two seasons and went on the create this series. The adult animated series is about the life of a New York film critic named Jay Sherman, who is voiced by SNL alum Jon Lovitz. Jon does a wonderful job at bringing Jay Sherman to life with his charm which I think only he can, especially when the series dives into his personal life as well.

The cast of the series is full of great actors such as Christine Cavanaugh, Nancy Cartwright, Gerrit Graham, Judith Ivey Tress MacNeille, Doris Grau, and Maurice LaMarche. What set The Critic apart from other series including The Simpsons was the style of humor the series became famous for over the years to come. The show also has this pure New York vibe to it and it also embraces the lampooning of the entertainment scene at the time. The show had a lot of small, yet smart jokes such as this one.

The Critic was ahead of its time and was gone too soon with only two seasons on two different networks, season one was on ABC, and season two was on Fox or in Jay’s own words:

“I’m Jay Sherman, the famous film critic. I used to have a big show on ABC… for about a week” – Jay Sherman

The Critic is on Tubi for you to watch and a fun fact Jay was a guest star on The Simpsons for the episode “A Star is Burns” as he plays himself.