Worst Week
CBS | Release Date: September 22, 2008
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
8
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
NewsdayVerne Gay
Season 1 Review: You can't go wrong with Smith ("That '70s Show") or Lenehan, pros with impeccable comic timing, which leaves relative newcomers Bornheimer and Hayes. Thumbs-up here, too. Worst Week may be the best new comedy on network TV this season. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyGillian Flynn
Season 1 Review: Bornheimer absorbs every setback with such a beaten-puppy air that each fresh misery feels ludicrous, rather than merely annoying. Will it work, (worst) week after (worst) week? With Bornheimer, it's strangely possible. His is a feathery touch on wrecking-ball comedy. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron
Season 1 Review: This is one of the rare situation comedies that relies almost entirely on situations, each of which is more bizarre than the next and at the same time perfectly plausible. It's almost too good. Read full review
80
Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart
Season 1 Review: Worst Week is Rube Goldberg meets Murphy’s Law meets the parents. And it’s hysterical. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd
Season 1 Review: The show moves fast without seeming to rush you. The timing, on the part of actors and editors alike, is excellent--both Bornheimer and Smith are good physical comedians--so that even while you can set your watch by the Next Bad Thing About to Happen, tension is created, suspense maintained. Read full review
80
Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm
Season 1 Review: Worst Week is a dandy confection, as slight and silly and flat-out hilarious as anything that's come along on TV in a few years. Read full review
80
VarietyBrian Lowry
Season 1 Review: As adapted by Matt Tarses, there's something refreshing about seeing an utterly screwball comedy mounted on an episodic scale. Bornheimer, meanwhile, comes across as the kind of likable schlub who can't figure out why these awful things keep happening to him Read full review
80
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Season 1 Review: It's too soon to declare Worst Week the fall's best new sitcom, but if the show's writers can find a way to sustain its seemingly unsustainable premise, it may overcome all doubts. It's certainly off to a strong start. Read full review
75
USA TodayRobert Bianco
Season 1 Review: Yet for all that it revels in catastrophe, the most promising aspect of Worst Week is a sweet-tempered empathy that allows you to identify with all four characters. Read full review
75
TimeJames Poniewozik
Season 1 Review: There are signs that the premise may not sustain for long (the title, after all, gives it only a week), but it still shows that a good pratfall is the universal language. Read full review
70
Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker
Season 1 Review: Smith perfected the style on "That '70s Show." This time, he plays a mean judge who holds Sam in contempt. But the evidence suggests that Worst Week is the fall's best new sitcom. Read full review
70
Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall
Season 1 Review: The journey from Point A to Point B is both surprising and funny in spots, thanks to Bornheimer's likable doofus vibe and the usual waves of contempt coming from Kurtwood Smith (last seen as Red on "That '70s Show") as his prospective father-in-law. Read full review
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