Critical Condition: Great News

Great News | Netflix, from Thursday

➢➢ “Tina Fey’s name is on the NBC workplace comedy Great News, and the workplace in question is a television studio, but adjust your expectations downward if you want to enjoy this silly series. It’s not 30 Rock II … This is an uneven show — a lot of sharp jokes jumbled with dumb ones. You will not feel smarter or hipper for having watched it. Sample it only if you’re in the mood for mindlessness.” — New York Times.

➢➢ “A delightful surprise, Great News immediately becomes one of network television’s best sitcoms with its NBC premiere on Tuesday night. Conceived by Tracey Wigfield (30 Rock, The Mindy Project), it takes a familiar TV setting — behind the scenes in the making of a TV news show — and populates it with fresh characters, none of whom is fresher-in-every-sense than star Andrea Martin.” — Yahoo TV.

➢➢ “Great News, a slightly too zany workplace comedy where Carol comes to work with Katie as a senior-citizen intern, would be less effective if it weren’t for the affection with which creator Tracey Wigfield renders the details of Carol’s life. Wigfield based Carol’s relationship with Katie on her own relationship with her mother, and the affection she has for Carol is the best element of the sitcom.” — Variety.

➢➢ “Rather than taking a scathing look at the CNNs or MSNBCs or Fox Newses of the world, the show is a much more gentle tweaking of local news and morning shows. The absence of cynical jaundice is probably where Great News most differentiates itself from [30 Rock] … One could do a show that tears this genre to shreds, and it’s possible that if Great News had been shot more recently, as opposed to in its entirety last fall [2016], it might have taken on more darkness in the place of what currently is close to affection.” — The Hollywood Reporter.

➢➢ “After a decently funny start, Great News quickly sinks into a sea of unspecific silliness … On the plus side, when it comes to terrible sitcoms, Great News is hardly the worst you’ve ever seen. The cast combines for a few laughs each week, and outside of the stray fart or feces joke, little of it is bad enough to make you cringe.” — USA Today.