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Worst Week
SERIES: CBS, Monday 9:30p (30 minutes)


6.2

based on 22 reviews
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based on 33 votes
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Get more information on this show at TV.com.

Starring Kyle Bornheimer, Erinn Hayes, Kurtwood Smith, Nancy Lenehan, Jay Malone, and Tamara Mello

In this remake of a British comedy, everything that can go wrong will go wrong in the life of Sam Briggs (Kyle Bornheimer).

GENRE(S):	Comedy
CREATED BY:	Matt Tarses
FIRST AIR DATE:	September 22, 2008

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

Newsday Verne Gay

You can't go wrong with Smith ("That '70s Show") or Lenehan, pros with impeccable comic timing, which leaves relative newcomers Bornheimer and Hayes. Thumbs-up here, too. Worst Week may be the best new comedy on network TV this season.

Entertainment Weekly Gillian Flynn

Bornheimer absorbs every setback with such a beaten-puppy air that each fresh misery feels ludicrous, rather than merely annoying. Will it work, (worst) week after (worst) week? With Bornheimer, it's strangely possible. His is a feathery touch on wrecking-ball comedy.

Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron

This is one of the rare situation comedies that relies almost entirely on situations, each of which is more bizarre than the next and at the same time perfectly plausible. It's almost too good.

Kansas City Star Aaron Barnhart

Worst Week is Rube Goldberg meets Murphy’s Law meets the parents. And it’s hysterical.

Los Angeles Times Robert Lloyd

The show moves fast without seeming to rush you. The timing, on the part of actors and editors alike, is excellent--both Bornheimer and Smith are good physical comedians--so that even while you can set your watch by the Next Bad Thing About to Happen, tension is created, suspense maintained.

Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm

Worst Week is a dandy confection, as slight and silly and flat-out hilarious as anything that's come along on TV in a few years.

Variety Brian Lowry

As adapted by Matt Tarses, there's something refreshing about seeing an utterly screwball comedy mounted on an episodic scale. Bornheimer, meanwhile, comes across as the kind of likable schlub who can't figure out why these awful things keep happening to him

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen

It's too soon to declare Worst Week the fall's best new sitcom, but if the show's writers can find a way to sustain its seemingly unsustainable premise, it may overcome all doubts. It's certainly off to a strong start.

Time James Poniewozik

There are signs that the premise may not sustain for long (the title, after all, gives it only a week), but it still shows that a good pratfall is the universal language.

USA Today Robert Bianco

Yet for all that it revels in catastrophe, the most promising aspect of Worst Week is a sweet-tempered empathy that allows you to identify with all four characters.

Newark Star-Ledger Alan Sepinwall

The journey from Point A to Point B is both surprising and funny in spots, thanks to Bornheimer's likable doofus vibe and the usual waves of contempt coming from Kurtwood Smith (last seen as Red on "That '70s Show") as his prospective father-in-law.

Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker

Smith perfected the style on "That '70s Show." This time, he plays a mean judge who holds Sam in contempt. But the evidence suggests that Worst Week is the fall's best new sitcom.

Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert

It won't insult your intelligence, and it has a completely likable lead actor in Kyle Bornheimer; but Worst Week is nevertheless completely predictable and unambitious.

LA Weekly Robert Abele

Even though it's obviously well-made and Bornheimer has a flinty wit that prevents him from being just another Ben Stiller–ish sap....if I'm being truthful, the original British version of this series was funnier.

Chicago Sun-Times Misha Davenport

Worst Week, a new entry in CBS' Monday lineup, is a luke-warm sitcom about a schleprock of a magazine editor named Sam Briggs (Kyle Bornheimer) who becomes nervous and accident-prone when around his fiancee Melanie's conservative parents Dick (Kurtwood Smith, reprising the gruff father figure he played on "That '70s Show") and mother Angela (Nancy Lenehan).

PopMatters Michael Abernethy

That the pilot fails to provide a foundation for the show’s future direction does not bode well. The only thing that is clear is how much the Claytons dislike Sam.

San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman

Though there are plenty of hard-earned (some might say forced) laughs here and Bornheimer is a real find, you can't help but wonder how they'll keep up the pace.

Washington Post Tom Shales

Worst Week has the primal simplicity of a Road Runner cartoon but less depth and, of course, far fewer laughs.

Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan

All in all, this is a much-watered down version of "Meet the Parents," and the only watchable things are the slow-burn looks of disgust from Dick (Kurtwood Smith), Sam's displeased future father-in-law.

Miami Herald Glenn Garvin

Worst Week certainly has some genuine laughs, but they run out well before the pratfalls and pee-pee jokes do.

New York Daily News David Hinckley

The lesser problem is that all the gags are telegraphed. We see them coming long before they arrive. The bigger problem is that when they get here, they all feel forced, as if someone thought of the gag first, then tried to manufacture a situation, however contorted, that would lead to it.

New York Post Linda Stasi

One of the worst new shows of the week.

The average user rating for this tv show is 6.2 (out of 10) based on 33 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Drew H gave it a10:
I absolutely LOVE this show. I do wonder how the writers will be able to keep it funny. You do see most of the disasters coming, however. I think it's worth a second season.

Christopher K. gave it an8:
The fact that it feels like a sitcom version of meet the parents is why it works so well! its the humor that makes you want to look away from the TV set, but you cant because you want to see the reaction from the rest of the cast. It is one of the best new sitcoms on TV this season!

frank v gave it a4:
The pilot was funny at first, but the humor started to get annoying towards the end. I was saying enough already with the stupid decisions and bad luck the main character was having. This kind of humor is funny for one episode, but its going to go downhill from here. Its amazing how writers would think this show to be successful. I will have to reevaluate myself or the rest of the tv viewing world if this show is picked up for another season because something must be wrong with one of us.

Stuart M. gave it a0:
This show was very bad. The situations were so predictable and it is unbelievable that all this stuff would happen to one guy. If you compare it to Meet the Parents moves the writing is a lot worse. In Meet the parents they give you time to think everything is fine instead of having something bad happen every 5 seconds. They need to develop the story without their being something wrong all the time. Pound for Pound Minute for Minute this show was stupid Patrick and I'm 16. The office is 10 times better and Scrubs is even better than that.

Elias C. gave it a7:
A guilty pleasure. Repetitive as it it, it is still more amusing than most sitcoms.

John S. gave it a10:
I laughed and cringed all the way through 3 episodes. I hope this one makes it!

patrick f. gave it a10:
As far as laughing out loud at a television sit com, this is where it's at. I watched four episodes in a row on cbs.com and loved each one of them. Granted, the premise is predictable, but it remains funny even when you see it coming. I read all of the critics' reviews and it seemed that the ones who didn't like it are those in the 55 and over set who yearn for the days of M*A*S*H* and Thirty Something to return to the airwaves. Pound for pound, minute for minute, the only show on tv that is funnier is The Office.

Worst Week SERIES: CBS, Monday 9:30p (30 minutes)

Worst Week
SERIES: CBS, Monday 9:30p (30 minutes)