Maximum Bob

For all its reptilian quirkiness, there is some maximum enjoyment here. [4 Aug 1998, p.34]

Maximum Bob is like a consciousness-expanding narcotic transferred to film stock. If it's sometimes too taken with its own sense of wacky, it surely deserves kudos for putting out the effort at all. [3 Aug 1998, p.04]

[Bob]'s also a wonderful, charismatic character at the middle of several quirky souls that inhabit this delightful and visually refreshing comedy-drama. [4 Aug 1998, p.C10]

Wonderfully warped...Expect both sly satire and big belly laughs from this summer treat. [4 Aug 1998]

Like "Northern Exposure," Maximum Bob is one summer series worthy of the regular season lineup. It's just too good and too clever to last one summer. Maximum Bob deserves a maximum run.

ABC is as unworthy of "Bob" as it is in desperate need of it - and clueless about how to support and promote it. [4 Aug 1998, p.78]

Good weird. [3 Aug 1998]

Maximum Bob maximizes its dark humor in satisfyingly loopy ways. [4 Aug 1998, p.E-1]

Maximum Bob evokes a little of that quirky show ("Northern Exposure"), with a talented ensemble cast, rich characters, and a script that doesn't write down to viewers. [4 Aug 1998, p.E-01]

The show, based on the novel by Elmore Leonard, brings us some of the nuttiest backwoods characters since Sheriff Harry S. Truman and Agent Dale Cooper looked into the murder of Laura Palmer. [4 Aug 1998, p.E1]

Whether it eventually runs out of storytelling steam or becomes a surprise hit like former hot-weather rookie "Northern Exposure," the engagingly bodacious Maximum Bob sure beats another numb summer rerun. Here comes the jive-talking judge! [3 Aug 1998, p.1D]

The cast is uniformly first-rate, but the real star here seems to be Sonnenfeld. He brings to Maximum Bob the same gleeful affection for strange characters and dark humor that enlivened his movies -- and that will be on display in the fall in his Fantasy Island update. [4 Aug 1998, p.1D]

Lots of fun. It's the TV equivalent of a good summer read light, unpredictable and highly entertaining.

The whole thing is laid out with the comic visual sensibility Sonnenfeld brought to films such as "Raising Arizona" and "Throw Momma From the Train" as a cinematographer and "Men in Black" as a director. It's a welcome change from the cookie-cutter stuff one normally sees in prime-time, but you do sort of wonder what brought Sonnenfeld to TV, a medium not known for its nuance and subtlety. [4 Aug 1998, p.33]

There's enough to like about this series to hope for its return later in the season. [3 Aug 1998]

If Maximum Bob can retain the slice 'n' dice edge of its pilot episode - and if ABC has the sense to stick with it as word of mouth spreads - we might have a keeper here. [4 Aug 1998, p.D1]

A sunny and often funny mix of "Twin Peaks," "Law & Order," and "Flipper." [4 Aug 1998, p.D01]

If Maximum Bob can maintain its off-kilter inventiveness, it could build a following.

Only moderately enjoyable.

What may seem funny and colorfully evocative in the book comes across as smug and snide in the series. [4 Aug 1998, p.C01]