NBC | Release Date: February 26, 2002
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 51 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
19
Negative:
16
38
Houston ChronicleMike McDanielJun 20, 2014
Season 2 Review: Louis-Dreyfus, the performer, is not the problem here, and neither is the format. The problem is the material. [15 Apr 2003]
37
Chicago Sun-TimesPhil RosenthalJun 20, 2014
Season 2 Review: Everything that made the original series distinctive, if not actually entertaining, has been ditched. ... The changes haven't made the dreary show... any funnier, just more conventional. [15 Apr 2003]
30
Chicago TribuneSteve JohnsonJun 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: Watching "Ellie"? Not if I can help it. ... Hacking through the contrivances, you find some strong supporting players ... But Louis-Dreyfus herself seems off. [26 Feb 2002]
30
Newark Star-LedgerAlan SepinwallJun 20, 2014
Season 2 Review: "Ellie" has gone from being an avant-garde failure to a very average failure. [15 Apr 2003]
30
Deseret NewsScott D. PierceJun 20, 2014
Season 2 Review: "Watching Ellie" isn't a total disaster. Louis-Dreyfus sings really well. [15 Apr 2003]
30
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayJun 20, 2014
Season 2 Review: Another not-very-funny sitcom in which the star weekly places herself in humiliating situations while the audience sits around and waits for her to extricate herself. [14 Apr 2003]
25
San Diego Union-TribuneRobert P. LaurenceJun 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: Shooting a comedy in real time may be an interesting exercise for the producer, but it doesn't make the story more interesting, or add to the laugh ratio. In fact, that little timer is downright distracting. [26 Feb 2002]
25
USA TodayRobert BiancoJun 20, 2014
Season 2 Review: Louis-Dreyfus has either decided, or been convinced, that the way to save Ellie is to barrel her way through every scene, mugging and pushing so forcefully that she makes Michael Richards look subtle. She's not just in constant motion; she seems to be in a state of constant rage. Even her singing, which was never the show's strong point, has become grating and strained. [15 Apr 2003]
25
Boston HeraldMonica CollinsJun 20, 2014
Season 2 Review: "Watching Ellie" is a mess of cliches and lots of straining for chuckles. Louis-Dreyfus makes it look like a huge effort, which is all the more obvious because her Elaine on "Seinfeld" was seamlessly amusing. [15 Apr 2003]
20
New York PostAdam BuckmanJun 20, 2014
Season 2 Review: None of the characters in "Watching Ellie" are particularly likable, especially Ellie herself. [15 Apr 2003]
20
NewsdayNoel HolstonJun 20, 2014
Season 2 Review: It's not so stylish or energetic anymore, and it's still not particularly funny. ... The problem isn't just rim-shot jokes, though. It's the whole conception of this comedy's situation, which is riddled with illogic and overstocked with annoying characters. [15 Apr 2003]
20
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 20, 2014
Season 2 Review: Dracula returned without his soul. That's true of Watching Ellie, as well, if you accept that humor is the soul of a sitcom and that the show had any humor the first time around. It did. At least a little. This time, Watching Ellie wastes some serious comic talent, of which Louis-Dreyfus is just the most notable. [15 Apr 2003]
20
Chicago TribuneAllan JohnsonJun 20, 2014
Season 2 Review: While Louis-Dreyfus' Elaine Benes was vapid and self-centered, which worked within "Seinfeld's" fractured framework, her Ellie Riggs' self-centered vapidity is off-putting. [15 Apr 2003]
20
Seattle Post-IntelligencerMelanie McFarlandJun 20, 2014
Season 2 Review: What began as a demonstration of good actors adventurously struggling with a badly written script has been revamped into a demonstration of good actors desperately struggling with a badly written script, with a chortling studio audience thrown in for good measure. [14 Apr 2003]