About A Boy
NBC | Release Date: February 22, 2014
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
USA TodayRobert BiancoFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: There's so much here to build on, from the strong performances to the chemistry between the stars to the sweet central story of two people helping each other mature. Read full review
83
Uncle BarkyEd BarkFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: Solid writing and even sharper delivery (all without an intrusive laugh track) make this one of the season’s upper tier freshman comedies. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyKeith StaskiewiczFeb 14, 2014
Season 1 Review: Overall, it’s a whole lot of premise-setting and foundation-building, but there’s enough here to be optimistic that this will be one more tick in the Good column of movie/TV synergy. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushFeb 24, 2014
Season 1 Review: He [David Walton] and About a Boy are at its best in those disarming moments when Will lets down his guard and faces his grown-up responsibilities to teach Marcus how to enjoy the "total exuberance" of boyhood. Read full review
80
The New York TimesAlessandra StanleyFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: Both shows ["About a Boy" and "Growing Up Fisher"] are well written and actually quite engaging, but what is most interesting is the focus on the brighter side of splitting up. It’s a new genre of heartwarming family show. Read full review
80
Kansas City StarSara SmithFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: Walton and Stockham are a seamless comedy team straight out of the gate. Their banter is more salty and cynical than sappy, but that’s how it gets to you. Read full review
80
Denver PostJoanne OstrowFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: Two sweet, funny, even poignant dramedies ["About a Boy" and "Growing up Fisher"] launch on NBC this weekend, both helping midseason feel richer than the meager offerings of the network's fall slate. Read full review
80
VarietyBrian LowryFeb 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: About a Boy is an utterly charming pilot, and almost certainly the most endearing half-hour NBC has developed in some time. Read full review
80
Cleveland Plain DealerMark DawidziakFeb 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: It's familiar enough territory, to be sure, yet it's covered in lively fashion, thanks mostly to Katims' breezy script and the delightful comic chemistry between Walton and young Stockham. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyNatalie AbramsOct 10, 2014
Season 2 Review: The show makes a few stumbles with Fiona's (Minnie Driver) awkwardness — you'll see her force her son, Marcus (Benjamin Stockham), to reenact his birth — but her new role as a doula will tie in nicely with the story. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandFeb 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: The show is funny, warm and bloody irresistible because of the care taken with creating characters who are multidimensional, vulnerable and credible. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesLori RacklFeb 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: An eccentric kid (Benjamin Stockham, “1600 Penn”) looking for a father figure finds one in his man-child neighbor, Will, played with the right amount of humor and heart by David Walton (“Bent”). Read full review
70
Under The RadarLily MoayeriFeb 25, 2014
Season 1 Review: With Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood) as creator and producer, About a Boy could very well be the next universally appealing family show. Read full review
70
The Huffington PostMaureen RyanFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: The cast is very good and if the central relationships are beefed up, it could be a keeper. Read full review
70
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: Driver's at her funniest in scenes where she and Marcus revel in their oddness, but "About a Boy" left me less sure of who Marcus is: He veers between painful naivete and canny opportunism with alarming speed. Read full review
70
Boston GlobeChristopher MutherFeb 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: It’s sweet but not syrupy. The pilot is so beautifully written and acted that it’s difficult to offer any kind of resistance, flaws and all. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanFeb 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: When the writers nail the truisms--Madrigal’s character says he hasn’t seen a movie since 2008, and when Andy and his wife, Laurie (Annie Mumolo), get a couple of free hours to ostensibly have sex, they choose instead to catch up on Homeland--the series really clicks.... Where About a Boy suffers is when the storytelling gets a little too saccharine in the Will-Marcus friendship. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf SmithFeb 14, 2014
Season 1 Review: Will is so apparently happy that most of the pathos inherent in his arrested development will have to be supplied by the viewer. But there is uplift in the theme. A man whose life is passing him by has a chance to stop being useless and search for the origins of true joy--and a little child shall lead him. Even if there are not too many creative surprises here, it's a journey that never loses its appeal. Read full review
67
Newark Star-LedgerVicki HymanFeb 24, 2014
Season 1 Review: Produced by Jason Katims ("Friday Night Lights," "Parenthood"), About a Boy is snappy with some well-observed one-liners, but it's a fairly conventional sitcom about an unconventional family. Read full review
67
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: Boy is often silly, but this cast is just so likable. Read full review
60
PopMattersRoss LangagerFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: Walton’s Will is more jovial and goofy, a ladies’ man with at least one good and honest friend his own age in Andy. He’s also the primary reason to give NBC’s About a Boy any sort of chance to develop its formula. Read full review
60
Philadelphia InquirerDavid HiltbrandFeb 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: The show is a sweetened, Americanized version of the 2002 film of the same name starring Hugh Grant, which was itself adapted from Nick Hornby's 1998 novel. Read full review
60
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenFeb 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: Cute and occasionally touching, About a Boy gets no points in its early episodes for originality or expanding the single-camera comedy form but it's a decent little show about flawed but essentially decent characters. Read full review
58
HitfixAlan SepinwallFeb 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: It's not a terrible show, but it's a fairly literal, toothless translation of the source material that doesn't give much indication of working as an ongoing series. Read full review
58
NewsdayDiane WertsFeb 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: About a Boy yearns to be good. Yet it relishes being bad. And Katims--guiding hand to "Parenthood" and "Friday Night Lights"--doesn't fess up to that dichotomy. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubEmily VanDerWerffFeb 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: There are a handful of lines in every episode that are worth a smile or two (as well as a celebrity cameo in episode two that works surprisingly well in this regard), and the acting is largely solid (though everyone seems to be in different shows). But there’s a serious lack of a core to About A Boy. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoFeb 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: The premiere has moments of clever insight into the dating process and how parenthood can change you but the show spins its wheels for the next two episodes sent for press. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesMary McNamaraFeb 24, 2014
Season 1 Review: This About a Boy is as subtle as a chain saw. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Matt Zoller SeitzFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: To be clear, the problem isn't that Will is in some general sense unlikable, it's that About a Boy rigs the show so that you have no choice but to think of him as a liberating life force who's adorable and ultimately admirable. Read full review
30
Washington PostHank StueverFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: Once you strip down the predictable jokes (Will teaching Marcus about “the bro code of silence”; letting Marcus eat forbidden barbecue ribs), you’re left with a banal arrangement of gender and social stereotypes. Read full review
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