Growing Up Fisher
NBC | Release Date: February 23, 2014
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
14
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushFeb 24, 2014
Season 1 Review: Mel's eccentric independence is admirable and more often than not amusing--which isn't always the case for the show, which uses gentle but forced whimsy to deliver treacly life lessons from the perspective of preteen son Henry (Eli Baker). Read full review
60
Cleveland Plain DealerMark DawidziakFeb 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: Here's where you'll find the saccharine avoided by "About a Boy." You'll also find the occasional trite twist and labored comic turn. Still, Growing Up Fisher undeniably jumps to life when Simmons is on the screen, which is quite a lot. That's what gives this underdeveloped newcomer a fighting chance. Read full review
58
Uncle BarkyEd BarkFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: Growing Up Fisher is no About a Boy, although at times it’s not half-bad. The relationship between the freewheeling Mel and wide-eyed Henry has its sweet spots.... Elfman’s Joyce, however, is an all too typical blend of aging TV mom striving to be young, cool and alluring again. Her clashes with sour teen daughter Katie (Ava Deluca-Verley) tend to get old in a hurry. Read full review
58
NewsdayVerne GayFeb 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: Good-hearted and gentle, Fisher struggles on the "funny" front. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyDalton RossFeb 14, 2014
Season 1 Review: Growing Up Fisher is at once overdetermined and undercooked. Read full review
50
Newark Star-LedgerVicki HymanFeb 24, 2014
Season 1 Review: The writers try to imbue the narration with a sense of heartfelt nostalgia that came so naturally to a show like "The Wonder Years," but the contemporary setting and banal plotlines works against it. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanFeb 24, 2014
Season 1 Review: Simmons does his usual solid work in this role, and he's got all the physical comedy in the playing blind (and faking sight) bits. Elfman makes another solid statement that she should be in something much better (this coming off her fine work in 1600 Penn; she hasn't lost any comedy chops). Together they're just undermined by, well, syrup. Read full review
50
Kansas City StarSara SmithFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: Simmons, who was Juno’s dad and Brenda Leigh Johnson’s boss, is consistently funny and compelling, but the younger cast members haven’t settled into their roles yet, and the show doesn’t know what to do with them, anyway. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Matt Zoller SeitzFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: The creative failure of Growing Up Fisher is more distressing than the missteps of About a Boy because there would seem to be so much more potential there. These are characters that, in theory, you haven't seen before, but the show makes them feel too familiar. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandFeb 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: The show seems a pale imitation of "The Goldbergs," the much funnier ABC show created by Adam F. Goldberg based on his own childhood. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubErik AdamsFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: Thanks to Fagerbakke and fellow supporting player Lance Lim—who provides Eli Baker’s awkward Henry with a smooth-operating sidekick—there’s a lot to laugh at on the fringes of Growing Up Fisher. If only the brood at the middle of this family comedy were as sharply defined. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesMary McNamaraFeb 24, 2014
Season 1 Review: Simmons is great as he always is, but between the divorce, the mid-life crisis, the coming out as blind, the mother-daughter tension and the boy discovering his true self and The Importance of Family, there is simply too much to look at and not enough to see. Read full review
40
The Huffington PostMaureen RyanFeb 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: The problem is, like "Sean Saves the World" and "The Michael J. Fox Show," this show is formulaic, slightly frantic and relies too much on unearned sentiment. Read full review
40
VarietyBrian LowryFeb 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: The premise, in other words, lacks heft, which leaves not much more than admiring Simmons--a highly versatile actor — as he does what he can with gags about his character’s insistence on doing things like driving and cutting down trees. Read full review
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