| 75 |
Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman
There's peril in traveling the well-worn path of unrequited love and adulterous wives. But what makes this beginning of "Brian" work is that the characters are nicely drawn archetypes, not stereotypes. |
| 75 |
Detroit Free Press Mike Duffy
It's styled as a sort of laid-back Gen X updating of "thirtysomething," replacing that show's neuroses-fueled, East Coast edge with a more casual, lighthearted California vibe. |
| 75 |
Entertainment Weekly Gillian Flynn
Brian's writing, while witty, tends to be oversize. [21 Apr 2006, p.64] |
| 70 |
Washington Post Tom Shales
Most of the actors make their characters zesty and likable, if on occasion too glib for their -- and our -- own good. |
| 60 |
Variety Brian Lowry
While "What About Brian" strikes some of the familiar chords about love, angst and the terror of young adulthood that have viewers swooning over "Grey's Anatomy," the show does so in a more laid-back tone, which should make its leap from a post-"Desperate Housewives" launch to its regular Monday moorings a commercial challenge. |
| 60 |
Chicago Tribune Sid Smith
"Brian" is easy, harmless viewing, sliding down the gullet as smoothly and reassuring as a glass of California merlot. |
| 60 |
Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron
Ironically, the differences among the characters that make the show interesting and even, at times, compelling, also test its credibility. |
| 50 |
San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum
There's not a lot wrong about "Brian.'' But there's not a lot right about it, either. |
| 50 |
People Weekly Tom Gliatto
This is all nicely produced with mild offbeat tweaks along the way... But none of this is original either. [24 Apr 2006, p.39] |
| 40 |
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen
"What About Brian" isn't a terrible show, it just doesn't offer enough unique reasons to make a weekly appointment with this gang of friends. |
| 38 |
New York Daily News David Hinckley
It's not only unimpressive. Parts of it are uncomfortable. |
| 38 |
USA Today Robert Bianco
The dialogue ranges from ridiculous to tiresome. |
| 30 |
Los Angeles Times Paul Brownfield
"What About Brian" is "Prison Break," except the prison is a man's feelings and escape involves eluding the warden of his doubts, and we're talking maximum-security misgivings. |
| 30 |
TV Guide Matt Roush
Like a sunnier version of thirtysomething, lacking only the inspired casting, the insightful writing and the wrenching realism. |
| 30 |
The New York Times Alessandra Stanley
The series is sentimental in a sleek way, and there are surface glints of humor in the script, but mostly, "Brian" is a blander, less distinctive version of "Thirtysomething." |
| 20 |
Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert
[It] looks like a TV commercial with plots. The people are pretty, their homes are pretty, their problems are pretty, and it's all pretty shallow. |
| 20 |
Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker
What About Brian traffics in flimsy liaisons, soapy squabbles and sophomoric sexuality. |
| 20 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland
Beautiful people, perky and unrealistic dialogue and male characters who have all dropped their huevos in jars of vinegar. |
| 20 |
Newsday Verne Gay
"What About Brian"... wants to be "thirtysomething" for twentysomethings, but it is clichesomething. |
| 10 |
Arizona Republic Bill Goodykoontz
It [is] such a cloying, annoying mess you can barely expend the effort to hate it. |
| 0 |
New York Post Adam Buckman
[The] characters are so charmless, it's as if they were created on purpose to actually repel viewership - a TV first. |
