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The Critic (animation): Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"It stinks!"'' |'''Jay Sherman'''}}
''The Critic'' was a short-lived prime time animated series that featured Jon Lovitz as the voice of the titular critic. It was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who were also writers for ''[[The Simpsons]]''. The show is notable for being picked up by four different networks. It was launched on [[ABC]] in 1994, where it was cancelled after a month, but brought back in the summer to air the remaining season. It was picked up by [[
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Jay Sherman is New York's #3 film critic, with a cable television film review show called ''Coming Attractions'', and it's his job to review some pretty horrible movies. However, it is because he heavily pans every film he reviews that he is very unpopular with the public. It also doesn't help that he's rather unsuccessful at life, overweight, and not really successful with the ladies. His ex-wife Ardeth (not pictured) despises him and keeps demanding more alimony from him, and while he does have a few dates, the women are usually either crazy or just dating him [[Casting Couch|to get a positive film review]]. His boss Duke Phillips frequently mistakes his statements for come-ons, and his elderly chain-smoking make-up lady Doris frequently verbally abuses him.
Jay is the adopted son of former New York governor [[Cloudcuckoolander|Franklin Sherman]] and his wife Elenor Sherman. Their butler Shackleford (not pictured) has a tendency to greet Jay as "Adopted Master Jay" whenever he sees him. Jay also does have a few friends: his best friend Jeremy Hawke (a combination of Paul Hogan and [[Mel Gibson]]), restaurant owner Vlada (well, he's nice to Jay's ''face'', anyway), his teenage sister Margo, and his son Marty who attends United Nations High School (where one of his classmates is a [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Klingon]], and another from Easter Island who has a head made of stone).
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* [[Ambiguously Jewish]]: Jay. The closest to resolving this ambiguity occurs in "Every Doris Has Her Day", when Jay visits the orphanage he was adopted from and asks if he was Jewish. The priest answers, "Well, what do ''you'' think?" Jay crows, "I knew it!" and immediately launches into a fake Hebrew song.
* [[Amusing Injuries]]: Every time Jay gets hit on the head by a blunt object, he’ll swerve around and fall like a bowling pin. Even the sound effects are added in.
** This is one of the reasons Alice's daughter Penny seems to really like him. Jay ended up endearing himself to her when blunt objects kept falling on his head and she thought it was funny.
* [[Animated Actor]]: Jay did this trope a few times.
* [[Animated Shows]]
* [[Art Evolution]]: Most of the characters were given some slight updates to their character designs. Jay's changes are described above, while Margo went from realistically proportioned to completely stylized.
* [[Artistic License Geography]]: In case you want to know, In the episode "Marty's First Date", the name of the Mexico City Airport in [[Real Life]] is ''Benito Juarez'', not '''Linda Ronstadt!'''
* [[As Himself]]: One episode was noteworthy as one of the few examples of Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel appearing in a work of fiction, alongside other real critics like Rex Reed and Gene Shalit.
** Another episode had Queen Latifah for no adequately explained reason. Even the characters were confused as to why she was there!
*** Ricki Lake guest stars as herself in the same episode, but that goes back to an earlier gag of Penny watching daytime trash TV.
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'''Jay''': [[Mythology Gag|You think?]] }}
* [[Badass Mustache]]: Duke Phillips.
* [[Bad Bad Acting]]: Valerie Fox in her film ''Kiss Of Death''.
* [[Balloon Belly]]: Jay. He balloons himself by turning into a giant blueberry from eating a candy from [[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory|Willy Wonka]], is shown having one in a picture inside Alice's diamond locket, and from eating a giant bagpipe-playing potato.
* [[Beach Bury]]: Marlon Brando during Jay's trip to the Cannes Film Festival.
* [[Belly Dancer]]: Marty in the episode "A Day at the Races, a Night at the Opera".
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* [[Big No]]: Jay does this twice in "Miserable" {{spoiler|when his "#1 fan" cuts off all his hair and looks as if she was about to break both his feet with a sledgehammer.}}
* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: Vlada's restaurant ''L'ane Riche'' is French for "The Wealthy Jackass."
* [[Biting the Hand Humor]]:
** In the episode "Sherman, Woman, and Child."
{{quote|"I'm Jay Sherman, the famous film critic. I used to have a big show on ABC ... for about a week."}}
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* [[Character Development]]: For the second season, Jay's character design was tweaked to give him a friendlier appearance, and most of his harshness and down-and-out traits from the first season were taken away, giving him a warmer, more likable personality. Even Duke and Elenor got a little more friendly too.
* [[Cheerful Child]]: Alice's young daughter Penny.
* [[Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys]]: When a food fight occurs in Marty's school cafeteria, the French students immediately put their hands up and surrender, even though they did not participate.
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: In the episode "Miserable," Jay’s #1 Fan shows Jay a cardboard cutout of himself holding a book he wrote. She tells him she hooked it up to her Clapper, and demonstrates by clapping to it, which results in the cutout waving the book up and down and saying [[Head On|"Buy my book!"]] multiple times. At the episode’s climax, when she madly lunges at and attempts to kill Jeremy, Jay claps his hands and triggers the cutout, hitting her on the head and knocking her unconscious.
* [[Chekhov's Skill]]: In "A Day at the Races and a Night at the Opera," while Jay and Marty try on clothes at a department store, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsL8rayQbqk&t=0m31s Marty discovers he is able to move his stomach up and down.] He opens the door from the changing room to show his father, only to be told by a little girl that what he was doing was "gross." Feeling bad, he stops. Later, during a school talent show he attends, he attempts to play "Yankee Doodle" on his electric guitar, only for a string to break off just as he starts playing. Unfazed, he tells the audience "This is the only other thing I know how to do": he moves his vest out of the way and moves his stomach up and down again. The audience and Principal Mangosuthu become impressed. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qItv7X8BHdw&t=3m30s Marty performs more creative belly-dancing routines], and the audience gives him a standing ovation.
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** For the record, that part of the episode is pretty inaccurate: in [[Real Life]], Mexican airliners doesn't give a damn if an American citizen travel to Cuba via Mexico, as long they can pay the ticket.
* [[Clip Show]]: Final episode of the second season, titled "I Can't Believe It's a Clip Show".
* [[Closer to Earth]]: Weirdly subverted with Jay's parents. His mother Eleanor is sane and wise, but she's also shown herself to be rather spiteful and cold-hearted. On the other hand, Jay's father is completely insane, but he's also a generally pleasant and upstanding guy.
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Franklin Sherman, Jay's adoptive father.
** When running for Vice President of the United States:
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* [[Denouement Episode]]: "Dukerella" serves as one, as the last broadcast episode before the [[Take That]] episode "I Can't Believe It's a [[Clip Show]]!"
* [[Deserted Island]]: The ending to "Frankie and Ellie Get Lost".
* [[Did I Just Say That Out Loud?]]:
{{quote|'''Jay''': ''(after Jeremy's sister Olivia introduces herself)'' I wonder what she looks like naked?
'''Jay's brain''': You idiot, you said that out loud. Better cover.
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* [[The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry]]: Jay's girlfriend Alice and her [[Southern Belle]] sister Miranda.
* [[Goofy Print Underwear]]: Jay has pairs of underwear that include titles of (mostly) bad movies printed on the backside (they're studio promotional items he's been sent over the years). The best of these is "Backdraft", but there's also "Rear Window" and "[[Ho Yay|For The Boys]]".
* [[Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow]]: Technically a subversion: Miranda reminds Jay of when he first started losing his hair. Flashback to Jay wearing a white judge's wig, and speaking with a horrendous English accent.
** Also, when Duke comes in and grabs the wig off his head, there's a [[Little Orphan Annie]] wig underneath, with Jay exclaiming "Leaping Lizards!"
* [[Helium Speech]]: The principal speaks in helium voice in "From Chunk to Hunk", due to a helium leak in the school.
{{quote|'''Principal''': ''(Over intercom)'' Attention, students: Auditions for ''[[Peter Pan]]'' are being ''(Voice gets higher)'' held in the auditorium! ''(Voice back to normal)'' Stupid helium...}}
* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Jay and Jeremy.
* [[Holding Both Sides of the Conversation]]: In season 1, Jay often does this by pretending to be his secretary with a British nanny accent.
* [[Hot Mom]]: Alice Tompkins.
* [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game]]: In one of the opening gags during the main credits, Jay's boss Duke calls him, inviting Jay to his ranch upon the news that Duke has received a license to hunt man for sport. Jay is advised to bring his "jogging shoes."
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* [[Informed Deformity]] / [[Informed Flaw]]: One of the shows running gags is that Jay is considered almost monstrously ugly by most people, as well as being enormously heavy due to his [[Hollywood Pudgy|informed obesity problem]], despite being relatively average looking, and while he is slightly overweight, his short stature means he couldnt possibly weigh more than 250 pounds.
* [[Ink Suit Actor]]: One could argue this with regards to Jon Lovitz as Jay Sherman. Parodied twice in-show with [[Howard Stern]] as ''The Cockroach King'' and a remake of ''Pinocchio'' featuring Jeremy as Bogart the Roach, [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] as Geppetto, [[Robin Williams]] as the Beige Fairy, and [[Bob Dylan]] as the title character.
* [[Instrumental Theme Tune]]: Played for the opening and closing credits. The theme is by Hans Zimmer.
* [[It Will Never Catch On]]:
{{quote|'''William Daniels''': Jay, [[The Graduate|I just want to say one word]]: Trucking.<br />
'''Franklin''': And I have one word for you too, Son: Snapple.<br />
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* [["I Want" Song]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0IX0srz0w8 "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now"] sung by Jay in the episode "Siskel & Ebert & Jay & Alice."
** And a parody of "Don't Rain On My Parade" from ''[[Funny Girl]]''.
* [[Kill the Poor]]: Jay's mother wants to blast the poor into outer space.
* [[Jaw Drop]]
* [[Jerkass]]: Principal Mangosuthu of the UN school. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B0P0NW4t0s Judge for yourself].
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* [[Large Ham]]: Jay on occasion.
* [[Lighter and Softer]]: The second season was made over into this overall.
* [[Like Father, Like Son]]: Hinted at in the episode where Jay goes on a date with Doris and it's implied she may be his birth mother. Doris recounts to Jay about how she used to date a short, balding fat guy who would always take her to movies and then complain about them.
* [[Long List]]: Deciding to wipe her slate clean, Olivia tells Jay a list of all the men she had been with. The list is so long that Jay ends up growing stubble on his face and shaving.
* [[Madonna]]: After her infamous guest appearance on ''The Late Show With [[David Letterman]]'' in 1994, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YspPQ6zQpQ her other TV show appearance] a year later was just as awkward.
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* [[Masquerade Ball]]: Duke holds one in the episode "Dukerella."
* [[Maurice LaMarche]]: Voiced Jeremy Hawke, Orson Welles, and various others.
* [[Meet Cute]]: Alice pepper-sprays Jay in his face when they first meet on the street, but he was not harmed by the act. In fact, he rather liked it ("Mmm, jalapeño!"). However, in this case, no [[Strangled by the Red String]] is involved as their relationship has chemistry and flourishes more naturally. Jay is tempted by Jeremy Hawke's sister at one point, but only because he and Alice's relationship had not been resolved yet. As for Ardeth, well, Jay once paid her $200 just to tell her, "Get bent!"
** Technically, he paid her $100 for that. She informs him (after he had already greeted her) that her lawyer says Jay owes her $100 every time he speaks to her.
* [[The Merch]]: In "Miserable", Jay's #1 fan has a lot of these.
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'''Duke:''' ''(chuckling)'' You people never give up.
'''Jay:''' I am not gay! And if I ''was'' gay, I would do ''something'' about that wallpaper. [[Camp Gay|Plaids and florals? Oh, puh-lease Dukey-Dukey]]. }}
* [[Must Have Nicotine]]: Doris is hardly ever seen without a lit cigarette in her mouth. Duke once snatched one out of her mouth in an attempt to make her quit smoking, only for a new lit one to immediately pop out of it, with a cash register "Ka-CHING!" sound effect. He repeated the act a few more times, only for the same result to happen everytime.
{{quote|'''Doris''': I can do this all day.}}
* [[My Life Flashed Before My Eyes]]: When Jay is about to be shot, his life flashes before his eyes. We then flash back to a teenage Jay on the couch, in a suit, eating chips. Jay fondly remarks, "Ah, prom night."
* [[Nancy Cartwright]]: Voiced Margo Sherman.
* [[The Napoleon]]: Jay.
* [[New Job Episode]]:
** In "Eyes on the Prize," Jay is fired from ''Coming Attractions'' due to low ratings and gets a job teaching English on the 6:00 AM TV program ''English For Cab Drivers''.
** In "Uneasy Rider", Jay quits ''Coming Attractions'' and becomes a truck driver.
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** He takes credit for Marisa Tomei winning the Oscar, for one.
{{quote|'''Satan''': ''(phoning Jay in the opening credits)'' Hello Jay, this is the Devil. Despite what you think, I am not the reason Cher won an Oscar. I am the reason Marisa Tomei won an Oscar. ''(Growls evilly and hangs up.)''}}
** He also is shown to be responsible for influencing the creation of really ''awful'' Hollywood screenplays, but admits that it's beyond even ''his'' power to give the cast of ''Wings'' another season.
** Also appears in an interview with Gene Siskel, disguised as a reviewer.
{{quote|'''Reviewer''': Tim Allen gives that same likeable performance we always love, once again proving Disney Pictures have the magic touch that may not win awards, but keep America smiling. How was that?
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** Franklin dressed up as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce_PIZ_8bXg El Kabong] is a reference to [[Quick Draw McGraw]].
** Elenor saying "No more wire hangers!" is a direct reference to the film ''Mommie Dearest''.
** Alice's [[Take That]] to Tim Allen is funnier when you consider ''The Critic'' had preceded his show before ABC dumped it.
{{quote|'''Alice:''' Listen, honey, I've known men like Duke all my life. There was this one boy back in college – dealt drugs, went to jail – yet today he's the star of ''[[Home Improvement]]''.}}
** "A Pig-Boy & His Dog" concludes with [[Looney Tunes|"That's all, folks!"]]
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{{quote|'''Stable man:''' PATCHES! '''[[Big No|NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!]]'''}}
* [[Sleeping Single]]: In Franklin and Elenor's bedroom, it is shown that they sleep in seperate beds.
* [[Slow-Loading Internet Image]]: In the first webisode, Jay brags about "coming at you at the speed of light!" Pull back to show his legs still downloading.
* [[Sound Effect Bleep]]: Utilized when Jay interviewed Cher, who incessantly swore at him.
* [[Spork]]: This cutlery is mentioned at least twice throughout the show.
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** In "Every Doris Has Her Day," after finding out Doris may be his mother, Jay tells him his adoption jives can't hurt him anymore.
{{quote|'''Shackleford''': ''(crying)'' They can't?}}
* [[Stealth Pun]]: The E.T. parody, D.T. stands for drunken terrestrial. D.T. also stands for delirium tremens, alcohol withdrawals severe alcoholics go through.
* [[Strange Minds Think Alike]]: In one episode, a research scientist uses the previously mentioned "Quzybuk" word Duke invented.
* [[Straw Critic]]: Jay. In a minor subversion, however, he's essentially a decent guy; in his defense, most of the movies he has to review ''are'' horrible. Still, he does attack some noteworthy films and/or performers -- he once sucker-punched [[Mister Rogers' Neighborhood|Mister Rogers]]! -- and this is one reason he's so unpopular with the public.
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** In the episode "Marty's First Date," a flashback reveals how they met. [[The English Patient|She was a nurse and Jay was wrapped in bandages.]] She was so lovestruck by him that she was going to give up her job and marry him upon recovery. But when his bandages come off, [[Skyward Scream|she screamed]] [[Big No|like bloody murder!]]
** Also Alice's husband Cyrus. A country singer who titled his first album ''"I'm being unfaithful to my wife, Alice Tompkins. You heard me, Alice Tompkins."''
* [[Video Wills]]: Franklin and Elenor prepared [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za3EuqU385k their own video will], which was presented to Jay and Margo after their possible death from a plane crash. Orson Welles also took part in it (and made sure to also include his "declaration of love" to Mrs. Pell's Fishsticks at the end).
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9d0xoCRL90 Even his ghost loves them.] "Yes, oh, YES! They're even better when you're ''dead''!"
* [[Viewers are Morons]]: This attitude gets a lot of spoofing in-show.
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{{quote|'''Woody:''' Soon-Yi, I-I’m sorry. I just can’t get past this problem with your age. You know, 22 is just too old for me.}}
** To Olivia Newton-Hawke and Jay: "[[Lolicon|"Jay?!" She's fantastic! Does she have a daughter?"]]
* [[Yandere (disambiguation)]]: Jay's #1 fan from "Miserable."
* [[Yiddish as a Second Language]]: Alice once said to Jay "Honey, we have a saying back in Tennessee: 'Be a mensch, not a schmendrick.'"
* [[Youtube Poop]]: Mainly ones using the "Rosebud Frozen Peas" ad and Jay answering the phone in his room from the opening credits.
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