Mulaney
FOX | Release Date: October 5, 2014
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
38
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
13
Negative:
12
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
67
The A.V. ClubErik AdamsOct 3, 2014
Season 1 Review: When everyone gets a fair chance to play, Mulaney finds its right type of weird. The ingredients are here for a show that’s more than a showbiz satire or a four-friends-and-a-couch comedy. Read full review
65
Under The RadarScott DransfieldSep 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: Mulaney often feels inauthentic and forced. However, one gets a feeling that like his smart stand-up material, Mulaney is aware of the awkwardness of his chosen format and is using it to his advantage. [Sep/Oct 2014, p.83] Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyKyle AndersonSep 26, 2014
Season 1 Review: The premiere is weak.... But by its third episode, the show is confident enough to make you think it might, as Seinfeld did, survive its rocky start. [3 Oct 2014, p.67]
58
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertSep 15, 2014
Season 1 Review: Strain to be the next 'Seinfeld' much? But this one has a strong cast, and punchy one-liners. Read full review
50
PopMattersMarisa LaScalaOct 6, 2014
Season 1 Review: The plots of the first episodes have none of the labyrinthine structure of classic Seinfeld episodes; they feel more like vehicles for prewritten bits. They’re funny, but they don’t sound like regular people talking. This artificial sensibility is exacerbated by various performances. Read full review
50
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayOct 3, 2014
Season 1 Review: [The premiere] finds Mulaney surrounded by quirk, some of it good--Martin Short as his boss, Nasim Pedrad as one of his roommates--and some of it just annoying. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartOct 3, 2014
Season 1 Review: The bad news: The first episode is a mess. The good news: It gets (somewhat) better Read full review
50
NewsdayDiane WertsOct 3, 2014
Season 1 Review: So the show seems either a subversive deconstruction of the laugh-track sitcom blueprint or a stupefying misfire built around the blandest star ever. Read full review
42
HitfixAlan SepinwallOct 2, 2014
Season 1 Review: Though Mulaney the stand-up has a clear point of view, Mulaney the sitcom does not. It's a show about nothing, with nothing to say about that. Read full review
42
Washington PostHank StueverSep 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: Although there are a few snarky laughs in the pilot, they can’t compete with the uncomfortable feeling that Mulaney, bless his heart, isn’t ready for prime time. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyOct 6, 2014
Season 1 Review: We don’t dislike the characters. We just don’t feel compelled to watch them, because they often don’t feel much more real than the animated characters they’re replacing on Fox Sunday night. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Margaret LyonsOct 3, 2014
Season 1 Review: Mulaney's ensemble just isn't powerful enough, and rather than jazz up so-so material, they somehow drain the energy from possibly funny moments. Read full review
40
SlateWilla PaskinOct 3, 2014
Season 1 Review: Mulaney, a bland new Fox sitcom from former-SNL writer and stand-up comedian John Mulaney, has a laugh track. This is, by far, the most interesting thing about it. Read full review
40
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenOct 2, 2014
Season 1 Review: Mulaney feels dated, a throwback to '90s sitcoms that's out of place in Fox prime time in 2014. Maybe it would feel more at home on TV Land. Read full review
40
TimeJames PoniewozikOct 2, 2014
Season 1 Review: It’s in John Mulaney’s standup bits, thus far much funnier and authentic-feeling than anything in the scripted parts of Mulaney, that you get a hint of what that might be. Read full review
37
St. Louis Post-DispatchGail PenningtonOct 6, 2014
Season 1 Review: Relaxed as he seems on stage, he's just that stiff when acting. And that, unfortunately, is most of the time. Read full review
30
The WrapJethro NededogOct 6, 2014
Season 1 Review: The live studio audience is just in your face laughing at the most unfunny, hit the ground with a thud, jokes being thrown left and right by a cast that should know how to deliver their lines better.... It doesn't really get funny until the third episode Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydOct 6, 2014
Season 1 Review: There are also the Seinfeldean coinages and obsessions, but pushed forward and highlighted in a way that feels both self-aware and inept. Read full review
30
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerOct 3, 2014
Season 1 Review: It rips off “Seinfeld” so aggressively that in Episode 2 it even makes fun of its own plagiarism. But one thing it forgot to borrow from “Seinfeld” was intelligence. Read full review
30
VarietyBrian LowryOct 2, 2014
Season 1 Review: A sitcom that feels dated enough to have come out of the way-back machine--and that too often seems to stop time when trying to watch it. Read full review
30
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoOct 2, 2014
Season 1 Review: Of course, it all comes back to the writing, which is sometimes cringe-worthy here. There are jokes that don’t just hit the floor, they feel almost like a sitcom within a funnier film designed to parody bad TV writing. And the overdone laugh track doesn’t help. Read full review
30
The Huffington PostMaureen RyanSep 30, 2014
Season 1 Review: This contrived, airless comedy is not a good vehicle for him, nor is there much enjoyment to be found in the show's musty supporting characters. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandOct 3, 2014
Season 1 Review: The cast is OK, although Mulaney tries so hard to make them hilariously wacky that each one comes off as a version of Cecily Strong’s the Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party. Read full review
25
USA TodayRobert BiancoOct 3, 2014
Season 1 Review: It's a laugh-free, stiffly performed weekly stroll through Mulaney's fictional life. Read full review
20
Denver PostJoanne OstrowOct 2, 2014
Season 1 Review: This one is excruciatingly unfunny, despite the good-natured young talent at the center. The show feels thrown together, the story so choppy you’d think scenes were scrambled in the editing room. Read full review
10
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushOct 3, 2014
Season 1 Review: Think it's easy to clone Seinfeld? Fox's dreadful, embarrassing misfire Mulaney proves otherwise. Read full review
0
Uncle BarkyEd BarkOct 3, 2014
Season 1 Review: This is a messy disposable diaper of a comedy series whose star plays himself without any idea of how to act or write the part. Read full review
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