Discover The Best Movies and TV Shows Like The Critic To Binge Watch

Created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, *The Critic* follows the cynical yet endearing life of Franklin Sherman, voiced by Jon Lovitz. Franklin is a painfully overweight, middle-aged film critic for a fictional New York public television station. Every week, he sits in a cramped screening room, chain-smoking and subjecting his battered psyche to terrible movies, only to ruthlessly tear them apart on his show, *Coming Attractions*. Despite his professional penchant for biting sarcasm, Franklin’s personal life is a tragic comedy of errors, driven by a desperate, lifelong desire for love, validation, and a functioning metabolism.Franklin’s chaotic world revolves around his deeply dysfunctional adoptive family. His father, Duke Sherman, is a boorish, womanizing billionaire modeled after classic Hollywood archetypes, while his eccentric British mother, Eleanor, cares more about her social status than her son's well-being. Adding to the household madness is Franklin's hyperactive adopted Korean half-brother, Marty, and Franklin’s own sensitive, ten-year-old son, Jeremy, whom Franklin desperately tries to raise right despite his own glaring inadequacies.Professionally, Franklin is constantly tormented by his tyrannical, sociopathic boss, Duke's former butler-turned-network-executive, Jeremy's grandfather figure, and overall madman, Phillips. Phillips forces Franklin to review increasingly absurd media projects, leading to humiliating public spectacles. However, a glimmer of hope enters Franklin’s life when he meets and falls deeply in love with a sweet, down-to-earth elementary school teacher named Doris Grossman. Doris accepts Franklin’s immense quirks and flab, providing the emotional anchor he has always craved.As the series progresses, the narrative focuses on Franklin’s uphill battles against his own crippling insecurities. He schemes, fails, and occasionally triumphs in his pursuit of happiness. In one memorable arc, he tries to quit his soul-crushing job to become a serious documentary filmmaker, only to be dragged back by financial ruin and familial obligation. His relationship with Doris faces constant turbulence, threatened by Franklin's own self-sabotage, an overbearing ex-wife, Penelope, and the sheer absurdity of high-society New York.Ultimately, *The Critic* is a satirical yet surprisingly poignant character study. It balances rapid-fire movie spoofs—brilliantly skewering cinematic classics and blockbusters alike—with the earnest, human struggles of a flawed man. Franklin never quite achieves the glamorous Hollywood life he secretly desires, nor does he ever lose the extra pounds, but he learns to endure the cinematic disaster of his own existence with a heavy sigh and a wry, unforgettable punchline.