Danny

Look, he's got a good heart, and with a few more comic moments this show could fly.

At least Danny is more heartfelt and poignant than the average sitcom.

It's a warm, gentle, amiable little comedy, one calibrated to smiles instead of punch lines followed by noisy laugh tracks.

It's pleasant and low-key but also slight and forgettable.

In its favor, Danny has no laugh track, and Stern is endearingly innocent of the perils of single fatherhood. But viewers have moved beyond conventional comedies like this one. [28 Sept 2001, p.E1]

Friday's premiere episode is marginally tolerable and includes a cute little scene in which Danny turns a dance class for little girls into a football game. But a second episode sent for preview is a big, broad step backward. [28 Sept 2001, p.3C]

When Danny is a last-minute fill-in as a ballet instructor, you're inclined to forgive this amiable but aimless show its shortcomings and succumb to Stern's charms. Almost. [28 Sept 2001, p.48]

The show has an earnest tone that deadens some of the comedy, and there are a few too-obvious attempts at cuteness, notably a sequence in which Stern takes over a ballet class filled with little girls. But it's never brash or bottom-feeding, and it kindly avoids the use of a laugh track. Like most filler series, Danny is mild and predictable from top to bottom.

While we can empathize completely with a grown man's desire to stay connected to his youth, Stern handles it unconvincingly. [28 Sept 2001, p.C1]

This one should be found in the greeting-card aisle, not on a major network's prime-time schedule.

As unremarkable as it sounds. [28 Sept 2001, p.1E]

Stern, who starred in the "Home Alone" and "City Slickers" movies, isn't devoid of comic instincts. Perhaps that's why he seems to be going through the motions here with a barely concealed smirk.

[Stern] goes through the show with a frozen, stupid smile and a gratingly high-pitched delivery, overreacting to every line with a nervous geek laugh. It's like he has morphed into Chris Elliott, which is not a compliment. [28 Sept 2001, p.6E]

A tired old thing. That's usually a bad sign for a brand new show. Daniel Stern plays a single dad who runs the local rec center. CBS changed the original title, American Wreck, probably because it was too accurate. [27 Sept 2001, p.D01]

No wonder Danny doesn't have a laugh track. Who's laughing?

This show was originally called "American Wreck", until somebody at CBS realized that could be a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's not a wreck, really, it just never gets rolling in any direction that looks interesting enough to follow.

Well, nothing much happens. Danny is a good excuse for a nap. [27 Sept 2001, p.F1]

The actors all look miserable, and for good reason. [28 Sept 2001, p.E1-28]

Irritating and irredeemable, Danny is a first-class dud. [28 Sept 2001, p.36]