Kevin Can Wait
CBS | Release Date: September 19, 2016
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
39
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
7
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
Reason.comGlenn GarvinSep 18, 2016
Season 1 Review: The punchlines fly thick, fast and pointed in Kevin Can Wait, and enough of them land to make it a diverting, if unenlightening, experience. Read full review
67
NewsdayVerne GaySep 16, 2016
Season 1 Review: Kevin Can Wait is neither as bad as you may have feared nor as good as you may have hoped. It’s squarely and innocuously in the middle. Read full review
63
USA TodayRobert BiancoSep 16, 2016
Season 1 Review: The larger issue here is that James and Hayes are pretty much all Kevin has. Read full review
50
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GraySep 19, 2016
Season 1 Review: Kevin Can Wait is the most ordinary of dumb-dad sitcoms. James, though, is so winning I wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to hang with him. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandSep 15, 2016
Season 1 Review: Predictability ensues, of course, but that’s why people tune in to James. ... There is acceptable, if not quite credible, chemistry between James and Hayes, the laugh track is annoying but expected, Spreitler is also what you’d expect her to be, and the only tiny pinprick of creativity can be seen in the character of Chale and Cartwright’s performance. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergSep 14, 2016
Season 1 Review: Kevin Can Wait is basically Kevin James 101. Read full review
50
VarietySonia SaraiyaSep 8, 2016
Season 1 Review: Based on the pilot, Kevin Can Wait is a serviceably funny show that works best if the audience already accepts Kevin’s worldview. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubErik AdamsSep 19, 2016
Season 1 Review: There’s still room for a modest comedy of this sort on CBS, but even in its limited ambitions, the premiere stumbles on undercooked dialogue and the garbled perspective of its protagonist. Read full review
42
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertSep 16, 2016
Season 1 Review: This is a throwback to mediocrities like “Still Standing” that gave us chubby hubbies acting like big kids and pretty wives who have to boss them around. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredWill AshtonSep 20, 2016
Season 1 Review: For all its straightforward sincerity, James can’t provide anything new with his new show. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesMeredith BlakeSep 19, 2016
Season 1 Review: It feels less like a show of its own than a collection of hoary TV tropes--Schlumpy Guy With a Hot Wife, Wimpy Son-in-Law, Hypochondriac Kid--strung together in service of the pun in the title. Read full review
30
The Salt Lake TribuneScott D. PierceSep 19, 2016
Season 1 Review: There's nothing even slightly new or original about Kevin Can Wait. It's comedy-by-the-numbers aimed at a broad, undiscerning audience. Read full review
30
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerSep 18, 2016
Season 1 Review: No, it’s not exactly the same show that he did before, but it’s exactly the same show that you’ve seen before. Read full review
25
Washington PostHank StueverSep 15, 2016
Season 1 Review: Kevin Can Wait kicks off the official first week of the fall TV season and simultaneously takes the biggest possible step backward, looking like a sitcom that belongs in the fall 1997 lineup. Read full review
20
ColliderAllison KeeneSep 2, 2016
Season 1 Review: A multi-cam comedy with a laugh track, stale jokes, and a healthy dose of sexism (women are either prostitutes or princesses, naturally). Read full review
16
Uncle BarkyEd BarkSep 15, 2016
Season 1 Review: All of this unfolds with complete and utter predictability amid a “Take my wife, please” collection of broad, flat, dated jokes delivered with a sledge hammer’s touch by Kevin and his coarse, chub-a-lub pals. Read full review
10
New York Magazine (Vulture)Jen ChaneySep 19, 2016
Season 1 Review: Kevin Can Wait is a terrible and unimaginative show that has no business being on the air at a time when the standard for TV comedy has risen (at least on other networks and platforms) to such a high level. Read full review
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