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- NBC
- Dec 13, 2021
- NBC
- Dec 13, 2021
Summary A new CEO (Ana Gasteyer) takes the helm of Payne Motors as the company seeks to revive its fortunes in this workplace comedy from Justin Spitzer.
Created By: Justin Spitzer
- NBC
- Dec 13, 2021
- NBC
- Dec 13, 2021
American Auto
Season 1
Season Premiere: Dec 13, 2021
68
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Where to Watch
Summary A new CEO (Ana Gasteyer) takes the helm of Payne Motors as the company seeks to revive its fortunes in this workplace comedy from Justin Spitzer.
Created By: Justin Spitzer
Where to Watch
Season Episodes
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
68
64% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
36% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
68
64% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
36% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
I wouldn't buy a used car from these people, but I'll relish watching them dig their own graces in a future auto graveyard. [17 - 30 Jan 2022, p.8]
It’s “Veep” at a car company. You could do worse. The cast is strong and the characters become clear in the opening episodes. ... Early episodes are a bit loose, but creator Justin Sptizer knows workplace comedies.
Like Gasteyer, the rest of American Auto's cast—including Harriet Dyer (The Invisible Man) as a promiscuous publicist, Jon Barinholtz (Superstore) as a corporate heirhead and Tye White (NCIS: Los Angeles) as a bemused assembly-line worker yanked up into management so there will be at least one person there who knows something about cars—is uniformly hilarious.
Though Katherine’s people skills are sorely lacking, Gasteyer is likable and has a light touch. ... The rest of the cast – including Harriet Dyer, Tye White, and Michael Benjamin Washington – are talented, even if we’re still getting the hang of who they all are, and what their characters do.
It’s easy to conceive of either American Auto or Grand Crew, or both, becoming the next broadcast show to attract a steadily growing cadre of defenders, like ABC’s Single Parents or CBS’ The Unicorn did in recent years. It’s also quite possible to imagine either or both of these shows failing to ever quite find their gear, and getting relegated to the dustbin of little-remembered sitcoms.
There are plenty of funny character-based situations, and the cast is displaying good chemistry in the first two episodes. But the “been there, done that” feeling of American Auto is pervasive, even if the first two episodes have some funny moments.
Despite the laminated edginess (sex jokes, drug jokes) and timeliness (systemic racism jokes), there is something oddly antique about it and a little labored; given the faint air of mothballs, it’s not surprising to learn that the show was originally developed in 2013.
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