I'll Fly Away

:

Season 1
  • Network: NBC , PBS
  • Series Premiere Date: Oct 7, 1991
Season #: 3, 2, 1
Metascore
72

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 14
  3. Negative: 1 out of 14

Critic Reviews

  1. Newsweek
    Jul 19, 2013
    60
    Sam Waterston is terrific -- and rises above the melodrama. [28 Oct 1991]
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  2. San Diego Union-Tribune
    Reviewed by: Joe Stein
    Jul 19, 2013
    60
    No doubt about it -- "I'll Fly Away" has much to recommend it ... But something is missing, or maybe it's a case of too much being added. "I'll Fly Away" seems to be so concerned with appealing to an audience on many levels, to mix heartwarming moments with social messages, that it bogs down far too often. [7 Oct 1991]
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  3. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Howard Rosenberg
    Jul 19, 2013
    40
    "I'll Fly Away" makes it easy for us, relegating racism to a time and region that we can confront comfortably, steeping ourselves in self-righteousness as the series steeps itself in self-importance. ... Waterston and especially Harper give performances in these early episodes that bode well for whatever future "I'll Fly Away" has in its perilous time slot. But by the time the premiere has ended and Waterston gives his final pensive pause, you'll be the one wanting to fly away.