The McCarthys
CBS | Release Date: October 30, 2014
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
12
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The WrapJethro NededogOct 30, 2014
Season 1 Review: CBS's new comedy The McCarthys is well written and terrifically cast. Star Tyler Ritter is effortless in his delivery and grounds the comedy that can take family bonding to extremes. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLanford BeardOct 27, 2014
Season 1 Review: On this sitcom about a basketball-obsessed Boston clan, Laurie Metcalf stands out as matriarch Marjorie. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydOct 30, 2014
Season 1 Review: The characters are more affectionate than antagonistic. They are dim, but mostly not dumb, countering what we have come to expect from portrayals of the middle- or working-class people of Boston. Read full review
67
Uncle BarkyEd BarkOct 28, 2014
Season 1 Review: Whatever its traditional trappings, The McCarthys is buoyed by Metcalf’s always solid work and Ritter’s boyish appeal amid a capable, energetic ensemble. Some of the lines are amusing and even the clinkers don’t land too hard. Read full review
67
NewsdayVerne GayOct 28, 2014
Season 1 Review: The McCarthys--good-natured, old-fashioned, unchallenging--isn't a bad sitcom, just an obvious one. Read full review
67
Boston GlobeSarah RodmanSep 15, 2014
Season 1 Review: I want to like the show, but it’s going to be difficult. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesLori RacklOct 29, 2014
Season 1 Review: The pilot has a few funny moments, mostly courtesy of Metcalf. Ronny’s siblings come off less like real people and more like caricatures. Read full review
60
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayOct 30, 2014
Season 1 Review: That the show itself feels like a bit of a throwback doesn't have to be a bad thing: It's a throwback to a time when millions more people watched shows like this. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyOct 29, 2014
Season 1 Review: Sitcoms have succeeded on less, and while The McCarthys won’t dazzle anyone with spectacular dunks, it’s counting on the fundamentals being enough. Read full review
58
HitfixAlan SepinwallOct 28, 2014
Season 1 Review: The pilot (the only episode I've seen, despite the very late premiere) is ultimately painless. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchGail PenningtonOct 30, 2014
Season 1 Review: A loud, old-school comedy with Laurie Metcalf ("Roseanne") as mom Marjorie and Tyler Ritter (look-alike younger son of the late John Ritter) as gay son Ronny. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushOct 30, 2014
Season 1 Review: The family's affectionately teasing acceptance of Ronny's sexual orientation almost makes up for the fact that everyone seems to take too much to heart brother Gerard's philosophy of how to get things done: "Volume and repetition." Read full review
50
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerOct 29, 2014
Season 1 Review: Mr. Ritter sells the character pretty well.... The other McCarthys are also all familiar archetypes, which makes this show another in what seems to be a trend of comfort-food comedies: witty without being ambitious; safe rather than scalding. Read full review
50
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenOct 29, 2014
Season 1 Review: When the show is focused on Mr. Ritter and Ms. Metcalf, The McCarthys rises above the usual sitcom slop that it feels like whenever the other characters get screen time. Read full review
50
USA TodayRobert BiancoOct 29, 2014
Season 1 Review: If you don't see where this is headed, you've never seen a sitcom before. Everyone else will get there long before the show does, because everyone else has already been there. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandOct 27, 2014
Season 1 Review: The show is moderately entertaining, but the cast in general bumps things up a notch, and Metcalfe bumps them up several more. Read full review
50
The Huffington PostMaureen RyanSep 30, 2014
Season 1 Review: It'll likely be a typical CBS sitcom going forward: full of broad characters and predictable moments but reasonably amusing and well made. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Matt Zoller SeitzOct 30, 2014
Season 1 Review: http://www.vulture.com/2014/10/tv-review-cbss-the-mccarthys.html Read full review
40
VarietyBrian LowryOct 29, 2014
Season 1 Review: The central mother-son dynamic and its moments of warmth can’t overcome the weariness that permeates the rest of the show and cast. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanOct 29, 2014
Season 1 Review: CBS's The McCarthys manages to be unfunny, dated and stereotypical all in under a half-hour. Read full review
25
Washington PostHank StueverSep 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: Like too many sitcom-makers these days, creator Brian Gallivan bases this quickly forgettable series on his upbringing as the athletics-averse gay sibling in a Boston household full of loudmouthed sports nuts. Read full review
10
Zap2it (Inside the Box)Chris E. HaynerOct 30, 2014
Season 1 Review: At the end of the day, The McCarthys feels like an incredibly dated concept done incorrectly. If it's not the worst new comedy of the fall, it's certainly giving the others a run for their money. Read full review
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