Vicious
PBS | ITV | ITV/PBS | Release Date: April 29, 2013
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
4
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyClark CollisJun 27, 2014
Season 1 Review: This sitcom is simply infectious. [4 Jul 2014, p.60]
91
The A.V. ClubBrandon NowalkJun 27, 2014
Season 1 Review: In the hands of McKellen, Jacobi, and company, they are sitcom characters who manage the tightrope between human warmth and on-screen viciousness, and they do it by being the best damn sitcom characters they can be. Read full review
83
IndieWireLiz Shannon MillerSep 10, 2015
Season 2 Review: The campiness of the series might keep it from being a critical favorite, and the basic fact of its existence remains surreal. But it also, maybe, feels like a miracle. Read full review
80
The New York TimesMike HaleJun 27, 2014
Season 1 Review: It’s like watching old episodes of “Served” or “Keeping Up Appearances” or “Allo Allo”: slightly horrifying, like a slow-motion train wreck, but also, every few minutes, convulsingly funny. This has everything to do with Mr. Jacobi and Mr. McKellen. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyJun 26, 2014
Season 1 Review: It’s a breath of fresh television air. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandJun 24, 2014
Season 1 Review: McKellen and Jacobi, who are, of course, giants of their profession, are clearly having a lark with Vicious, and you'd be foolish not to want in on the fun. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydJun 29, 2014
Season 1 Review: Once you accept that you are in for a certain kind of joke repeated over and over again — or three kinds of jokes, if you include those regarding the deterioration of mind and body and those about kids these days — and settle in to the show's rhythms, you find yourself, paradoxically, laughing more easily. Read full review
70
Sioux City JournalBruce MillerJun 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: While Vicious plots don’t stick, they do entertain. Read full review
67
The Lincoln Journal StarJeff KorbelikJun 30, 2014
Season 1 Review: Sounding like an old married couple, the interplay between the two is, at times, bitingly and laugh-out-loud funny. But it also becomes tedious. Read full review
60
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenJun 29, 2014
Season 1 Review: There’s an odd-couple vibe to Vicious, though it’s also a big, broad comedy reminiscent of Frasier if Niles and Frasier were a bickering gay couple instead of brothers. Read full review
50
VarietyBrian LowryJun 27, 2014
Season 1 Review: The mean-spirited (if ultimately loving) nature of the series could easily be a turn-off for some. Others will simply wish the writing was as consistently clever as McKellen’s line readings. Read full review
40
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniJun 29, 2014
Season 1 Review: Vicious is Two and a Half Men for pensioners. Some of the jokes admittedly are very funny, but they are ruined by a hideous laugh track. Read full review
40
Washington PostHank StueverJun 27, 2014
Season 1 Review: McKellen and Jacobi seem to have a fun time slinging the insults, but before long, the show starts repeating itself, almost as if it’s going senile right before our eyes. Read full review
30
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushJun 27, 2014
Season 1 Review: There are some giggles here and there.... But mostly, Vicious is a creepy, in style and attitude, retro serving of tea and hostility that's unworthy of the talents on board. Read full review
30
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertJun 26, 2014
Season 1 Review: The show is, essentially, three dated, clichéd jokes told over and over again. Read full review
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