| 80 |
Miami Herald Glenn Garvin
Crumbs' approach to the foibles of the family, though not for the tender-hearted, is raucously funny. |
| 75 |
Detroit Free Press Mike Duffy
It's actually rather funny, broadly entertaining and blessed with a sweet screwball spirit. It's a promising farce with heart. |
| 75 |
Entertainment Weekly Nicholas Fonseca
Crumbs has promise. [13 Jan 2006, p.71] |
| 70 |
Newsday Verne Gay
"Crumbs" is surprisingly good. |
| 70 |
Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron
There is a dynamic of affection and caring that makes the series more than just a collection of witty lines effectively delivered. |
| 70 |
TV Guide Matt Roush
An offbeat show that veers between wacky and truly poignant extremes. |
| 60 |
Los Angeles Times Paul Brownfield
Feels like an indie feature idea crammed into a sitcom. |
| 50 |
New York Post Linda Stasi
Since the show stars all these great TV actors... the show sustains some laughs that it wouldn't otherwise be able to wring out of bad material. |
| 50 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland
"Crumbs" is hideously overscored.... That's unfortunate, because the sappy swells detract from the series' wicked dialogue, and scenes oozing with the brand of dark, twisted humor only family can inflict upon one another. |
| 50 |
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen
"Crumbs" elicits laughs from time to time, but given the subject matter, I still think this particular story would have been better told as a comedic drama than as the occasionally dramatic comedy that it is. |
| 50 |
San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum
Next Thursday's outing is much better [than the pilot], suggesting the series could generate some laughs over the long haul. |
| 50 |
USA Today Robert Bianco
To the extent Crumbs works at all, it works because of Curtin. |
| 40 |
The New York Times Virginia Heffernan
Still, if it's not funny, why give "Crumbs" any attention at all? Because it's an unusual experiment: not only is the show set among a fraction of the American gentry that few would consider relatable, but it also exhibits more gravitas than any sitcom in television history. |
| 40 |
Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan
Though it's admirable that ABC took a chance on a family that does not revolve around a dumb, doughy dad and sassy kids, the tragedy at the core of the Crumb clan ensures that the comedy doesn't quite get off the ground. |
| 40 |
Variety Brian Lowry
Credit the veteran cast with making the series barely tolerable, but for the most part "Crumbs" is pretty crummy, the sitcom deconstructed to its most primordial form. |
| 40 |
Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker
To its credit, Crumbs tries to go deeper in depicting conflicted characters. That, unfortunately, doesn't make this series any funnier. |
| 38 |
New York Daily News David Hinckley
Every year, there's at least one sitcom that takes an extremely talented cast, and wastes all that talent in an extremely disappointing series. |
| 38 |
People Weekly Tom Gliatto
It just doesn't work. [30 Jan 2006, p.38] |
| 30 |
Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert
These actors deserve better material. |
| 30 |
Washington Post Chip Crews
In the end, the one-note antics grow wearisome. |
| 25 |
Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman
You have no idea how much restraint I'm using not to call it "Crummy." Oops. Lost the restraint. |
| 12 |
San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman
We watched a second episode of "Crumbs" just to make sure there wasn't something hilarious for you under a rock, some morsel of humor left over. Um, no. |
| 10 |
Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm
Not only do you get insufferable comedy, but phony drama, too. |
| 10 |
LA Weekly Robert Abele
It mistakes boorishness for zaniness. |
| 10 |
PopMatters Stephen Kelly
A relentlessly unfunny mid-season replacement comedy from ABC that sucks all the fun out of dysfunction, the show could have been pitched to network execs as "Arrested Development meets Ordinary People." But it shows none of the former's wit or latter's intelligence. |
