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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed shows.
Back to You
EMAILPRINTSERIES: Fox, Wednesday 8:00p (30 minutes)

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 27 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 40 votes
Read user comments
Rate this show >
Show Info
Genre(s): Comedy
Created By:
Christopher Lloyd
Steven Levitan
First Air Date: September 19, 2007
Summary
Starring Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, Fred Willard, Ayda Field, Josh Gad, Laura Marano, and Ty Burrell
Kelsey Grammer's back on TV, this time as an anchorman returning to Pittsburgh after an on-air incident ruins his career in LA.
Episode Guide & More Info: More about this show at TV.com
Also On The Web: Official Show Site
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...
Entertainment WeeklyKen Tucker
I'd rather just watch Grammer and Heaton trade barbs in the newsroom. [21 Sep 2007, p.71]
Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron
There's no such thing as a sure thing when it comes to new TV series, but Back to You is as close as it gets.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles TimesMartin Miller
Fox's Back to You is back to TV comedy basics: multiple cameras, live audiences but, mostly, laughs.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray
Grammer and Heaton slip easily into characters who won't be easily mistaken for Frasier Crane or Debra Barone, the writing's professional, the supporting cast dependable (and in the case of Fred Willard, another "Raymond" veteran, dependably hilarious).
Read Full Review >Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan
This is one of those comedies in which the actors’ and writers’ skills are so sharp that the whole enterprise feels effortless.
Read Full Review >Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin
You just can't get through two minutes of Back to You without a belly laugh.
Read Full Review >SlateTroy Patterson
Back to You doesn't have a mandate to be inventive--to try new comedic beats or to attempt daring flights of absurdity. It just needs to be uninventive in a snappy way, a feat readily accomplished.
Read Full Review >San Jose Mercury NewsCharlie McCollum
What really makes the opening episode work, though, is the chemistry between Grammer--as Chuck Darling, an egotistical newsman who has returned to Pittsburgh after his career stalled--and Heaton as his uptight longtime co-anchor, Kelly Carr, who isn't thrilled by his return.
Read Full Review >USA TodayRobert Bianco
Still, even when Back is faltering, you flash back to the skill of its stars and to moments when the show succeeds in making you laugh out loud.
Read Full Review >Detroit Free PressMike Duffy
The snap, crackle and pop of witty dialogue well delivered. That is the consistently amusing, escapist pleasure of Back to You.
Read Full Review >Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf Smith
What Back to You lacks in bite, it compensates for with chemistry and pure talent. The center of it all is the relationship between Chuck and Kelly, and Mr. Grammer and Ms. Heaton work together like they have been doing it all their lives.
Read Full Review >The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley
Together Mr. Grammer and Ms. Heaton lift Back to You, a comedy that begins tonight on Fox, into a surprisingly amusing half-hour.
Read Full Review >Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
The pilot's plot leads them in a direction where "this just in" becomes an obvious sexual metaphor--some of it is funny, but there's just too much.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-IntelligencerMelanie McFarland
Absolutely nothing about it is original or seeks to transform the half-hour genre. Still, the fact that it is executed by sure-footed comedy veterans more than makes up for the sin of familiarity.
Read Full Review >VarietyBrian Lowry
Grammer and Heaton spar like old hands, but the punches (and punchlines) are so consistently telegraphed, the series seldom rises above the mundane.
Read Full Review >New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
So many parts of the pilot, though, seem dumbed down or sacrificing character for punch lines, you wonder why things weren't retooled in time for launch.
Read Full Review >San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman
Three sitcom veterans can elevate comfortable mediocrity only so high. There's probably not one setup, premise or joke that you haven't seen before (or will see coming) in the entirety of your sitcom-watching life.
Read Full Review >Washington PostTom Shales
Yes, they're wicked wacky, this group, but they also seem to have been torn from the pages of the Sitcom Writer's Handbook, their status as foils and fools having been measured out in carefully calculated amounts, the final goal appearing to be not so much nonstop hilarity as the reassuring guarantee of No Surprises.
Read Full Review >Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall
None of those jokes serve any purpose except to be jokes, and they suffer for the fact that real people don't talk, think or act this way.
Read Full Review >Arizona RepublicRandy Cordova
Whenever the action drifts away from Heaton or Grammer, the show starts to feel slack.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm
You have to admire Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton for holding up their end of the bargain, even if the material in their show, Back to You, is such a drop from "Frasier" and "Everybody Loves Raymond"
Read Full Review >NewsdayDiane Werts
There's just too much shtick and not enough personality, especially when the stars' previous hits found their funny in relatable human behavior.
Read Full Review >Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert
This comedy is painfully broad, not to mention unimaginative and derivative of every newsroom sitcom from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" to "LateLine" to "NewsRadio" to "Less Than Perfect."
Read Full Review >New York MagazineJohn Leonard
After twenty years of stalwart service, Kelsey Grammer should be allowed back on television whenever he likes. But on a show like this, why would he want to be?
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-TimesDoug Elfman
Back to You stinks, shames the sitcom form, is written and directed with smelly gusto, and is not original, funny or redemptive by any universal standards known to science, creation or TV executives.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this show is 5.4 (out of 10) based on 40 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Diego gave it a7:
The sitcom era was so dead with each new one being killed that I had hope for this one. Kelsey Grammar AND Patricia Heaton; bring it on! And it wasn't so bad. Surely wasn't good but all sitcoms have generally sucked for the first few episodes, at least it was watchable. In the end it just didnt pick up the pace fast enough, hense the death of this show.
Big J gave it a9:
Very funny show. Much better now than at the beginning of the series
Thomas H. gave it a10:
Excellent, fresh, and imaginative. This show has definate potential. Good to see Kelsey Grammer back on the box :)
Rick E. gave it a1:
I was tired of the show within 5 minutes. The whole show revolves around the tension between Grammer and Heaton. Unlike Frasier and Everybody Loves Raymond, where there were multiple tension points between the characters, which made for so many comedic moments.
Ann R gave it a2:
I only watched the pilot. Chuck and Kelly were fighting too much. It was stressful to watch. Heaton's character was very annoying.
Donald S. gave it a10:
GREAT new show. Laugh out loud may time every week.
Brian T. gave it a5:
Not terrible, but I expected something a lot sharper, considering the people involved. Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, and Fred Willard are fine, they can deliver an insult with the best of them. But something is really missing here. There is no originality, no edge. It stays very safely within the confines of the sitcom format, a dumb character, a nervous character just like Miles in Murphy Brown, and a pompous character. The writing is very conventional and only mildly funny. The sitcom genre has definitely seen better days.
