Class, The

Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm

The best sitcom this year, and one of the best in a lot of years.

USA TodayRobert Bianco

Juggling such a large ensemble won't be easy, and the producers have to guard against crowding too many stories together at the cost of depth and development.... If they can get the balance right, though, Class should be an ideal fit for CBS' successful Monday lineup.

Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker

Not since Friends has a comedy been blessed with so many appealing performers matched to sharply drawn characters.

Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron

In addition to some screwball comedy, it also has a lot of heart.

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen

Cute but not cloying, funny but not overflowing with gratuitous sex jokes, "The Class" earns a B+, which easily puts it in contention for valedictorian among fall 2006's freshman comedies.

Detroit Free PressMike Duffy

It arrives fresh, charming and consistently funny.

Chicago Sun-TimesDoug Elfman

"The Class" is a good example of how any premise can be turned into good fiction, even if it's cluttered with tired cliches.

People WeeklyTom Gliatto

The Class doesn't necessarily generate more laughs than other sitcoms, but it has more charm--like a kinder, gentler How I Met Your Mother--and that's incentive enough to stick with it. [16 Oct 2006, p.39]

San Jose Mercury NewsCharlie McCollum

The writing has picked up considerably since the pilot. But the real reason to try this show is the cast.

Baltimore SunDavid Zurawik

A comedy with lots of charm.

NewsdayDiane Werts

Watch the first few minutes of "The Class" in its CBS sitcom debut tonight, and you may not believe me when I say this, but here goes. I think they might have something here.

Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray

And though there are a few clunkers along the way... the largely theater-trained cast is as solid as the writing, which only grows stronger in two subsequent episodes.

Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin

Poignantly funny.

VarietyBrian Lowry

In the mostly undistinguished roll call of new comedies, it goes to the head of the class.

Entertainment WeeklyGillian Flynn

While [Lizzy Caplan's] pretty great, the show remains merely somewhere on the edge of good. [3 Nov 2006, p.67]

The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley

“The Class” has appealing characters and funny lines, but it has some problems. The jokes move along slowly, and at times the acting turns very broad and very loud, as if it were dinner theater.

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

The best thing to say about "The Class" is that it improves by quite a few notches as it goes along.... The worst thing to say about "The Class" is that requiring viewers to come back and try, try again is asking a lot.

Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall

A sometimes-promising, sometimes-frustrating, always-overpopulated new sitcom that kicks off this season's odd new trend of shows about relative strangers who become best pals in a hurry.

New York PostAdam Buckman

There's a nice idea in there somewhere. Now, if CBS and the show's producers can get together on changing most of it, they might have something.

Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd

If "The Class" feels calculated, unrelated to life outside sitcoms, and encased in amber, it's a competent American product, ultimately, no harder to watch than, say, a Dodge is to drive.

Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan

The crass elements of “The Class” threaten to drag the whole show down.

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

"The Class" will never be smart, or clever, or original, but it does have a chance of becoming inoffensive and diverting.

Seattle Post-IntelligencerMelanie McFarland

Hang out for a while... and you may quickly realize why you didn't stay in touch with most of your fellow third-graders. People like these suck the life out of you.

Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart

The punchlines fell flat more often than not.

TimeJames Poniewozik

Almost none of [the characters] shows signs of becoming an actual person rather than a high-concept joke.

San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

The best that "The Class" can muster is a kind of cookie-cutter familiarity (also known as lameness) that gets prodded by the laugh track to make everyone at home feel like a good time is being had. It's not.

Washington PostTom Shales

"The Class" has very little. Considerably worse than being classless, however, is being laughless, at least if you happen to be a sitcom, and "The Class" does, albeit one that's about as rib-tickling as a migraine.