- Network: FOX
- Series Premiere Date: Oct 30, 2011
Critic Reviews
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The absurdity of an omniscient sophisticate still in short pants carries plenty of comedic potential.
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This kid behaves so obnoxiously toward the whole world that we want to stand up and scream, "Doesn't anybody in this whole school know how to spit in this kid's sushi roll? Is there not one of you who could jam his head into a toilet?" Which is, of course, exactly the response that creator Jonah Hill wants.
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So pleased with itself, it doesn't seem concerned about pleasing us.
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The writers need to differentiate how Allen Gregory relates to Jeremy from how he relates to Julie. If the show had Allen Gregory treat Jeremy and Julie differently, there'd be more opportunity for a wider variety of jokes, including some that don't involve yelling.
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I love the way Allen Gregory talks down to every adult he encounters, as if they're members of a lower species. But the world built around that core of satire is a lot less promising.
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Maybe the content also will rise to the level of the art deco-ish visuals. But the opening episode has an overall creepy feel to it, paced of course by a seven-year-old's carnal longings for his gruff sexagenerian principal.
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It's hard to think of anyone likable among the main characters, except for Jeremy. And that's the sly point of the show.
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Obviously, he is supposed to be insufferable, but there's not enough else in the show to distract you from just how much you want to shove the tiny egomaniac into his Louis Vuitton lunch box.
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Conceptual fuzziness isn't the main problem. That would be the writing, a labored attempt to parody certain Manhattan and Malibu attitudes and speech patterns
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Allen Gregory's over-the-top characters don't promise to age very well. That's a shame, really, since the show has a cool look and actually the potential to be about something in dealing with how a pretentious egghead tries to fit in.
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Perhaps Allen Gregory's arrogance is meant to be entertaining, but I just found it mostly insufferable, despite his occasional flashes of self-awareness.
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Once in a while, he sounds like a little boy. This much works, but whether it can sustain a series is a fair question.
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Maybe as an animated sketch on "Saturday Night Live," Allen Gregory would leave viewers eager for more. But in half-hour form, it's too much of the same.
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It could be a problem Allen Gregory solves later on, either by softening its main character (and his dad) or by pushing supporting characters more to the forefront, but the version on display in the pilot is one I have no interest in ever watching again.
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With no other likable characters and a thin premise, Allen Gregory seems as one-dimensional as the animation.
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Although Allen Gregory might have worked as a sardonic, sideways blow to the gifted-child culture, it is so thoroughly coated in a single flavor of sourness that it is difficult to view it as anything but pointless and quickly repetitive.
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For all its stylistic appeal, one sizable problem remains with Allen Gregory--it's not funny.
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For what it's worth, Hill's performance as Allen Gregory's titular character is the only noteworthy aspect of an otherwise shoddy show.
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This is one kid who should not stay in the picture. [7 Nov 2011, p.45]
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Gross, ugly, vicious and stupid--Allen is all of that, to be sure. But funny? Too rarely to matter.
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Allen Gregory is not funny--not even a little bit--and it is not remotely entertaining.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 69
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Mixed: 13 out of 69
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Negative: 45 out of 69
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Oct 31, 2011
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Apr 9, 2012
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Aug 20, 2015