The Critic

The Critic is an American animated series that was originally broadcast on ABC in 1994 (and later on the Fox in 1995). The show was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who were two writers and producers on The Simpsons. The show was produced by Columbia Pictures Television in association with Gracie Films and 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).

Characters

• Jon Lovitz - Voice of Jay Sherman
• Nancy Cartwright - Voice of Margo Sherman
• Christine Cavanaugh - Voice of Marty Sherman
• Gerrit Graham - Voice of Franklin Sherman
• Doris Grau - Voice of Doris
• Judith Ivey - Voice of Eleanor Sherman
• Nick Jameson - Voice of Vlada Veramirovich
• Valerie Levitt - Voice of Jennifer (make-up girl)
• Charles Napier - Voice of Duke Phillips
• Park Overall - Voice of Alice Tompkins
• Russi Taylor - Voice of Penny Tompkins
• Kath Soucie - Various Voices

Jay Sherman

"New York's third most popular early-morning cable-TV film critic." His catchphrases include his exclamation of surprise ("Hotchie motchie!"), his common putdown of sub-par films ("It stinks!") and his distinctive cough. He was known for his surly and sarcastic putdowns of the majority of films he reviewed.

Related Topics:
New York's - Catchphrases

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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.

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Jay appeared in a guest role on one episode of The Simpsons, 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.

Related Topics:
The Simpsons - Homer's - Matt Groening - Crossing over

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Since then, he appeared briefly on The Simpsons a few more times. In one episode, 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.

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Jay has also held several other jobs in his time, including a truck driver and a writer for the film Ghost Chasers 3. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes for criticism.

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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.

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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 mothers' 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 his long-lost, embarrassing Jewish stereotype parents.

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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. with past activities including gluing the silverware and the dog to the ceiling, leaving the oven on and burning down the house and speaking to a stuffed animal as his son (trying to set him up with Barbie). 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 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.

Related Topics:
El Kabong - Ku Klux Klan

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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 apperance, 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.

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Duke Phillips

Duke is Jay's boss, and head of Philips Broadcasting (formerly Duke Philip's 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", 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.

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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.

Related Topics:
Australia - President - James Monroe - James Bond - Paul Hogan - Mel Gibson

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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 adopted son). 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.

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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.

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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.

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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!"

Related Topics:
Cher - Oscar - Marisa Tomei - WINGS

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