Games - The Critic

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	Games - 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

Jon Lovitz - Voice of Jay Sherman
Nancy Cartwright - Voice of Margo Sherman
Christine Cavanaugh - Voice of Marty Sherman
Gerrit Graham - Voice of Franklin Sherman
Judith Ivey - Voice of Eleanor Sherman
Doris Grau - Voice of Doris
Maurice LaMarche - Voice of Jeremy Hawke and various other characters
Nick Jameson - Voice of Vlada Veramirovich and various other characters
Valerie Levitt - Voice of Jennifer (make-up girl) (internet shorts only)
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 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.

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