- Network: Spectrum
- Series Premiere Date: Nov 20, 2019
Critic Reviews
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Is it groundbreaking? No. But the story is solidly enough built to distract from certain annoying contrivances of sitcom-making that would be less present today, perhaps. Reiser and Hunt retain an amiable chemistry, and Hunt — too little seen in recent years — especially makes a compelling case for her continued stardom. She makes neuroses, then as now, seem less like a curse and more like a side effect of thoughtfulness.
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It smoothly goes through its paces, with Hunt and Reiser engaged and looking happy to be together again. The “plots,” such as they are, tend to be mostly thin soup.
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Reiser and Hunt’s veteran presence and the nostalgia factor help nudge it slightly above your standard sitcom, and maybe that’s enough to earn a spot on your holiday watch list.
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The new Mad About You is pretty much the same as the old Mad About You. It’s agreeable, familiar, a little meh. Reiser is an expert at comically charming befuddlement; his cozy chemistry with Hunt remains intact 20 years later. As for the Oscar winner, she’s even allowed to act occasionally.
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Mad About You is essentially the same show now as it was when it existed in the 1990s, only now Paul and Jamie are older. ... The revival's biggest offense is simply feeling like a relic of a different time. And it doesn't help matters that it appears to be recycling plot points from the original series.
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None of these performances save the new Mad About You from feeling like a relic of a more innocent, easily amused time. ... Mad About You doesn’t feel distinctive enough to become a streaming phenomenon.
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The authenticity of their banter is never in question — watching “Mad About You” feels like visiting each and every long-term couple I know — but there’s still not much to be said, or that many laughs to be had.
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The old Mad About You was able to craft full engaging episodes about life’s mundanity. ... This Mad About You seems to be grappling for plot points, and who knows what, in fact, will stick.
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[Helen Hunt and Paul Paul Reiser are] both on the same page, without often being laugh-out-loud funny, for the second half of the season's first binge-friendly stretch of six episodes and there's some enjoyment in watching that. ... It's pretty middle-of-the-road stuff.
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The later episodes aren’t hugely funny — I felt something resembling a laugh from a spit-take Hunt does in an episode featuring the return of Paul’s mother Sylvia (Cynthia Harris) — but they’re pleasantly nostalgic in a way the frantic earlier ones never quite achieve. It’s about what you might have hoped for from a Mad About You revival, even if the whole thing feels unnecessary.
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Mad About You cultists will be enthralled—well, pleased—about the presence of some of the old friends, relatives and sidekicks, including John Pankow and Richard Kind. Not present, alas, is the spacey and inept waitress Ursula, so popular in first go-round that she elevated Lisa Kudrow into a co-starring role on Friends. How long do we have to wait for a reboot of that?
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The writers could have had some fun with the prospect of the Buchmans facing each other in mid-life, but instead they lurch from empty-nest gags to menopause jokes.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 1 out of 5
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Mixed: 1 out of 5
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Negative: 3 out of 5
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Nov 25, 2019As good as it ever was. Helen Hunt makes me wish Delta Burke was still alive. Paul Reiser is a poor man's George Lopez.