Sleepy Hollow

:

Season 1
  • Network: FOX
  • Series Premiere Date: Sep 16, 2013
Season #: 4, 3, 2, 1
Metascore
64

Generally favorable reviews - based on 29 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 29
  3. Negative: 3 out of 29
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Critic Reviews

  1. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: David Sims
    Sep 15, 2013
    91
    Sleepy Hollow works because it approaches everything with a relatively straight face, yet never seems to be taking itself too seriously.
  2. Boston Herald
    Reviewed by: Mark A. Perigard
    Sep 16, 2013
    83
    The first new network show of fall is a supernatural adventure that manages to drop a few good scares.
  3. Newsday
    Reviewed by: Verne Gay
    Sep 13, 2013
    83
    Nothing scary here, but Hollow is fun enough, and promising enough, too.
  5. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Tim Goodman
    Sep 16, 2013
    80
    It’s fun, it’s entertaining, it’s got some scares and some action and plenty of secrets to unveil.
  6. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Nancy DeWolf Smith
    Sep 13, 2013
    80
    Sleepy Hollow is great fun and gorgeous to look at.... The mythology of Sleepy Hollow is richly complex.
  7. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Robert Bianco
    Sep 15, 2013
    75
    Even amid the excess exposition, you'll be able to spot a few enjoyable jolts, some clever, throwaway culture-shock moments and the charms of the show's two stars. Combined, they give the show more than enough room to grow into an entertaining weekly adventure.
  8. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: David Wiegand
    Sep 10, 2013
    75
    Suspend disbelief, not to mention your knowledge of Washington Irving's classic tale, because the illogical hodgepodge of myth premiering Monday night is great fun.
  9. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Jeff Jensen
    Sep 10, 2013
    75
    Sleepy Hollow is is fizzy if formulaic fright-night fun. [20/27 Sep 2013, p.141]
  10. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Matthew Wolfson
    Sep 10, 2013
    75
    [Lieutenant Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) and Ichabod Crane's (Tom Mison)] sharp banter, coupled with campy scenes of the horseman riding around town severing peoples' heads, makes for a mutually reinforcing combination of amusing and absurd TV.
  11. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Mary McNamara
    Sep 16, 2013
    70
    For reasons known only to its creators, the pilot for Sleepy Hollow seems determined to jam into one hour what could have easily, and more enjoyably, been spun out over several.
  12. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Matt Zoller Seitz
    Sep 16, 2013
    70
    It's witty but never overly pleased with itself, and even when it's predictable, it's predictable with a wink that says, "Come on--you know you needed that to happen."
  13. Zap2it (Inside the Box)
    Reviewed by: Billy Nilles
    Sep 16, 2013
    70
    Sleepy Hollow is quite fun, if you're willing to suspend all disbelief and go for the ride.
  14. The Huffington Post
    Reviewed by: Maureen Ryan
    Sep 16, 2013
    70
    In its pilot, it achieved its modest goals without leaning too far into pompousness (as is the case with "Almost Human") or slicing off too much ham (hello "The Blacklist").
  15. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Neil Genzlinger
    Sep 15, 2013
    70
    Plenty of places for this series to take its engaging leads, one of the odder crime-fighting pairs on TV, doing battle against one of TV’s creepier-looking if expressionless bad guys.
  16. Denver Post
    Reviewed by: Joanne Ostrow
    Sep 11, 2013
    70
    Cultural commentary mixed with the mystery, along with lavish production values, gives Irving’s tale a clever twist. The hour is trying to cover a lot of bases, but it may find its focus.
  17. Hitfix
    Reviewed by: Alan Sepinwall
    Sep 13, 2013
    67
    It is aware of just how ridiculous it is, and it tries to cram in as many wacky ideas as can fit into the opening hour without falling into complete camp.
  18. Uncle Barky
    Reviewed by: Ed Bark
    Sep 11, 2013
    67
    Mison and Beharie work well together as Ichabod and Abbie.... On the down side, Orlando Jones so far is stuck in the muck of a prototypically officious police captain named Frank Irving.... Whatever befalls its denizens, Sleepy Hollow gets off to a better and more “believable” start than anticipated.
  19. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Michael Starr
    Oct 3, 2013
    63
    Sleepy Hollow has an interesting premise and some terrific CGI effects (re: the Headless Horseman), but I didn’t buy into the show’s mystical/mythological/sci-fi overtones, a mishmash of history, witchcraft and muddled Biblical prophesy that left me confused instead of intrigued.
  20. Time
    Reviewed by: James Poniewozik
    Sep 16, 2013
    60
    Sleepy Hollow got my attention, but I’m not yet sure if it’s good, ridiculous, good but ridiculous, or good because it’s ridiculous.
  21. PopMatters
    Reviewed by: Chris Conaton
    Sep 16, 2013
    60
    Somehow, this ludicrous premise and uneven plot elements cohere into a fast-moving, exciting hour.
  22. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    Sep 16, 2013
    60
    Success is the exception for shows that try to weave mythologies this complex, and Sleepy Hollow falls back early on predictable conventions like having Abbie’s deceased ex-boss leave copious files on mysteries he could never solve.
  23. HollywoodChicago.com
    Reviewed by: Brian Tallerico
    Sep 26, 2013
    50
    It’s a program that bounces around tonally and narratively, never feeling like its head is in the right place to know where it wants to go.
  24. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Matthew Gilbert
    Sep 16, 2013
    50
    You have one of the most complex and mixed-up and irritating mythology soufflés ever to be delivered in a single pilot.
  25. TV Guide Magazine
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    Sep 16, 2013
    50
    [A] lavishly entertaining but hopelessly convoluted new supernatural thriller.
  26. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Hank Stuever
    Sep 13, 2013
    50
    It’s all done with a cold efficiency and a gloomy, disinterested tone.
  27. Variety
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    Sep 12, 2013
    50
    While the show is certainly handsomely done, the fish-out-of-water dialogue already feels a little green around the gills.
  28. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Glenn Garvin
    Sep 15, 2013
    30
    By the end, Sleepy Hollow seems less like a show than a garage sale of used story pitches.
  29. Newark Star-Ledger
    Reviewed by: Vicki Hyman
    Feb 13, 2014
    25
    The mythology comes on hard and heavy in the first hour, but like ABC's blink-and-you-missed-it spring thriller "Zero Hour," it's ponderous yet silly.
  30. Under The Radar
    Reviewed by: Dan Lucas
    Sep 26, 2013
    20
    This could be a watershed moment in TV's long and inglorious history of idiocy, a drama that unintentionally almost matches Arrested Development for laughs.

Awards & Rankings

93
#93 Best TV Season of 2013
30
#30 Most Discussed TV Season of 2013
25
#25 Most Shared TV Season of 2013

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 249 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 196 out of 249
  2. Mixed: 35 out of 249
  3. Negative: 18 out of 249
  1. runnerLA
    Sep 18, 2013
    9
    Lots to like here if this is your genre. Agree with what everyone else is saying fast -paced, good acting, nice cinematography. The overLots to like here if this is your genre. Agree with what everyone else is saying fast -paced, good acting, nice cinematography. The over arching plot is interesting and has loads of potential to expand, though it does seem like a show where you have to watch to keep up with the mythology. There were a few clichéd, annoying plot elements early in the pilot but thankfully they cleaned them up and moved on before the hour was up. And one super minor blooper, the real village of Sleepy Hollow has a population of 9870. For the series, they used the Village of Sleepy Hollow sign but changed the pop. to 144,000, which is a city, not a village.… Full Review »
  2. scifigeek
    Sep 17, 2013
    7
    We'll see how this goes, but I liked the pilot overall. You have to suspend your disbelief a good deal, but only a little more than say someWe'll see how this goes, but I liked the pilot overall. You have to suspend your disbelief a good deal, but only a little more than say some of those cop or doctor shows which are nearly as fantastical. The pace was fast, and the production and acting was solid, and even has the promise of some good chemistry between the leads. The writers seem to be blending in different ideas, stories, and worlds. And I assume that in this alternate universe Irving never wrote the story of the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane. I hope they can make sense of the stories and ideas as they go, as there is the danger that this can turn into another Hero’s. Fingers crossed.… Full Review »
  3. PittLord
    Sep 16, 2013
    8
    If you can't or aren't willing to suspend your imagination then this show really isn't for you. Having said that what we have is a promising,If you can't or aren't willing to suspend your imagination then this show really isn't for you. Having said that what we have is a promising, if preposterous, pilot with a solid cast, good production values, and the genesis of a serial story arc. While I'm sure we'll be dealing with a certain number of stand alone episodes, the show's pilot seems strictly focused on the larger picture...apocalyptic you might say. This is a good thing as a serialized shows tend to rely more on the characters to carry individual episodes than the individual content of each episode. While for some shows this would spell doom, in this case it is a very good thing as the strength of the acting and the chemistry between the two leads is arguably the best thing it's got going for it.

    There are creepy, but only occasionally scary scenes, but the pilot seems to suggest that Sleepy Hollow is intended not as a horror show, but as a supernatural mystery with dark overtones and a scare here and there. The horseman himself is well done and makes a more interesting character than one might expect from a character that has no lines and no head. There's a surprising amount of humor, although much of it relies on the fish out of water concept that is sometimes pretty campy.

    As for the show's mythology...well it's certainly going to be interesting. It seems as though the writers brainstormed on things they could tie in to the idea of the headless horseman and rather than deciding on any specific idea, they instead decided to go with a mixture of most if not all of them. This might seem disastrous when viewed from a distance, but after watching the pilot it somehow works.

    Give it a shot. See what you think. I recommend it, particularly to those who like sci-fi, horror    … Full Review »
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