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Winner, The
SERIES: Fox, Sunday 9:30p (30 minutes)

Winner, The
Critic Score
Metascore: 44 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
3.8 out of 10
based on 24 reviews
read critic reviews
how did we calculate this?
based on 60 votes
read user comments
rate this tv show

Starring Rob Corddry, Keir Gilchrist, Erinn Hayes, Linda Hart, and Lenny Clarke

Set during the 1990s, "The Winner" stars The Daily Show's Rob Corddry as an immature 32-year-old loser who lives with his parents and whose best friend is a 13-year-old boy. He'll later go on to become the richest man in Buffalo.

GENRE(S): Comedy
CREATED BY: Ricky Blitt
FIRST AIR DATE: March 4, 2007

An extra premiere episode airs Sun 3/4 at 8:30p. Full episodes are also available at Fox.com.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
New York Post Linda Stasi
Not only the funniest new show this season, but the strangest one since "Get A Life."
Read Full Review
83
Entertainment Weekly Gillian Flynn
Even at its yuk-yuk-kiest, the show is elevated by Corddry. [9 Mar 2007, p.96]
75
Detroit Free Press Mike Duffy
Thanks to Corddry's social misfit charisma, Ricky Blitt's affable lowbrow lunacy flashes with a sharp, dizzy wit.
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75
USA Today Robert Bianco
Funnier and unexpectedly sweeter than the current norm.
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70
Kansas City Star Aaron Barnhart
It’s a hoot.
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70
Philadelphia Daily News Ellen Gray
It's surprisingly charming, not to mention funny.
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70
Newsday Diane Werts
The emotional reality is so true here that not only do they get away with an assortment of gags about condoms, massage parlors and other juvenile fixations, but they make them resonate endearingly.
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70
TV Guide Matt Roush
Deeply silly, endearingly sweet, a little creepy and undeniably weird.
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60
Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan
Overall, the new Fox sitcom is surprisingly winning, and the skilled Corddry is the main reason.
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60
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen
"The Winner" may not be able to go the distance, but it's a fun little show in the here and now.
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50
Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman
"The Winner" quickly metastasizes into a routine sitcom with laugh tracks and Ye Olde Storylines.
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40
Hollywood Reporter
There's something ominous about running out of fresh ideas in the second or third episode.
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40
San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum
Corddry manages to make scenes work that otherwise would have viewers reaching for the remote.
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30
Salon Heather Havrilesky
The overall feeling is, "How did Rob Corddry wander onto the set of a shitty sitcom? Quick, someone get him back to 'The Daily Show' before they replace him!"
Read Full Review
30
Variety Brian Lowry
The more you see of it, the less there is to like.
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30
The New York Times Virginia Heffernan
So far, it’s only abrasive.
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25
New York Daily News David Hinckley
It would be obvious and unfunny to dismiss Rob Corddry's new Fox sitcom, "The Winner," by saying it's a loser. But since the alleged humor in this new series is even more lazy and less amusing than that, it seems only fair.
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25
People Weekly Tom Gliatto
It's like watching a marionette with one set of strings operated by John Lithgow and the other by Pee-wee Herman. [12 Mar 2007, p.39]
20
Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm
You can only hope that Blitt, a first-time executive producer, will tire of middle-school humor and move to something a little more satisfying for grown-ups.
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20
Slate Troy Patterson
Consider it proof of Corddry's superb resourcefulness that he somehow manages to wring the occasional drop of comedy from these dreary situations.
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10
Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert
"The Winner" isn't, by any stretch of the imagination, and it's sad to see Corddry pour his likable comic style -- a form of ironic cluelessness -- into such a feeble and misguided project.
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0
Miami Herald Glenn Garvin
Smutty at its best, downright creepy at its worst, this dreadful attempt to mock the coming-of-age genre could well be the first TV show to get an entire day of the week canceled.
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0
San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman
Insipid, poorly written and saddled with an onerous laugh track, "The Winner" is lame even by Fox's standards.
Read Full Review
0
Washington Post Tom Shales
Probably the most mistitled sitcom of the decade.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this tv show is 3.8 (out of 10) based on 60 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Blake gave it a0:
Literally the worst sit com in years. It was not clever. It was not funny. It was not imaginitive. I'd guess they thought they could take another great Daily Show person and have automatic sucess. But the writing was just terrible. I'm guessing some demographic found this funny. But not me. I really expected better out of Cordry than this junk.

elena a gave it a10:
Loved it, howled with laughter..

Eric C gave it a0:
Another Daily Show anchor goes on to star in a show. Cordry now joins the likes of Colbert and Carell. The only difference is that The Office and Colbert Report are easily the most hilarious shows you'll find. The Winner is all out crap. The most unfunny sitcom I have seen since The War At Home. And that is very unfunny. I can't wait to see this show fail, and oh, it will fail. The only thing I enjoyed was seeing Cordry, my least favorite Daily Show correspondent, end up in a pile of vile smelling burning trash like this. Atleast with a laugh track, guys like Jeff H and Dave M won't feel so alone in their laughter, even though they desperately and hopelessly are. I avoid watching Fox now because I might see a comercial for this offensively bad show, a comercial which would only promise another 30 minutes in television hell.

Jeff H gave it a10:
so funny I was in tears. Corddry is hilarious.

Greg H gave it a2:
A total waste of a talented Cordry. Horrible. Cheesy.Awkward dated laugh track. Not a laugh anywhere. Make it go away. And Rob, go back to the Daily Show!

john s gave it an8:
I really enjoy acting and writing but the laugh track is so offensive it makes the show hard to watch...dump the fake lughs and let the show quietly entertain ...and succeed! That guy is good!

Dave M gave it a10:
What makes the ironic satire of this show simmer even more is the fact that many detractors cite the use of a "lame laugh track," or "stale ideas," completely oblivious to the sarcastic purpose of these devices in the show. Like Andy Kauffman taunting wrestling fans, the Winner manages to cause critics to become self-caricatures by reaction.

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