- Network: CBS
- Series Premiere Date: Sep 26, 2013
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Critic Reviews
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Williams is a treasure, leapfrogging through voices, characters, and puns.... He's also the only reason to watch, because the show's premise is so limiting.
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It is buried in whimsicality and paeans to "feeling" and leaping into the void. And the stars do feel out of sync. (Williams is more comfortable riffing with James Wolk--"Mad Men's" Bob Benson--as... some other guy who works there.) We will give it some time.
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The Crazy Ones has its charms. It also has yet to find the balance between Williams’s shtick--his solos, basically--and the good ensemble comedy that would keep viewers coming back.
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The product tie-in is tiresome, but Wolk in particular, with his winks and grins, adds warmth as Williams’s cocky protege. He also rescues a few scenes in which Williams starts to drift into the nonsense stratosphere.
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It shows the most potential as a buddy comedy focused on Mr. Williams and Mr. Wolk. By comparison, Ms. Gellar’s character is a wet blanket.
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Kelley is no stranger to writing comedy, even if it’s traditionally been in service of hourlong shows, and between his gifts as a wordsmith and Williams’ frenetic energy (best displayed in a closing-credits outtake sequence), The Crazy Ones has potential beyond what the pilot demonstrates.
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Watching Mr. Williams return to the kind of improvisation-style routines that made him famous in the 1970s is bittersweet, like watching Jimmy Connors play tennis again: they are still impressive, but audiences can’t help recalling how much more elastic and powerful they were at their peak.
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The talented cast and upbeat pilot work in the series’ favor, but if the half-hour is to be more than a platform for Williams’ improv, the story will have to go deeper. And make us care.
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The result is a mostly wan workplace sitcom hamstrung by the premise of yoking Williams to a wet-blanket daughter as business partner (Sarah Michelle Gellar, not exactly in her element). The co-star who really pops is James Wolk.
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Simon, Sydney and their colleagues work in a giant office that seems much too underpopulated, just as the first episode feels like a rough draft.
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The episode has the propulsive pace of a CBS hour-long, but that can leave the fun parts of a single-camera sitcom (like the jokes) behind in its dust. Above all, The Crazy Ones is safe.
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When Williams can rein in his hyper qualities, he can be an effective presence. And at least he knows his way around a joke, unlike Gellar, who, post-"Buffy," still hasn't risen above the level of the writing she's given (and the writing for her here is flat and one-dimensional).
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As a sitcom version of herself, the onetime “American Idol” outshines Gellar, which is not a good omen for the show. Williams seems exhausted. So is this show.
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You hope for a laugh, pray for one, then give up. To be fair, tonight's pilot runs fast (19 minutes) and feels more like a "sizzle reel" than a fully formed show. Williams, at least, is a genius, and maybe he'll get the time to turn this into something worth watching.
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The Crazy Ones may not be fall’s worst new comedy series, but its premiere episode easily is the biggest underachiever.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 65 out of 109
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Mixed: 27 out of 109
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Negative: 17 out of 109
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Sep 27, 2013
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Sep 27, 2013
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Oct 7, 2013