Nostalgia Critic

Nostalgia Critic is an American review comedy web series created, directed by and starring web comedian Doug Walker. The series initially launched on YouTube and television on July 3, 2007, before moving to Walker's own site, That Guy with the Glasses, then to Channel Awesome. The show follows Walker as the title character, a bitter and sarcastic critic who mostly reviews films and television shows from his childhood and recent past, usually with comically exaggerated rage. The show often alternates the Critic's angry rants and humor with analysis of the episode's subject. Some of the films he reviewed (such as "", "The Garbage Pail Kids Movie", and "Batman & Robin") are generally considered as the worst films ever made.
Walker briefly retired the series on August 14, 2012, to work on other projects, even writing the character out of existence in the Channel Awesome film "To Boldly Flee". On January 22, 2013, Walker announced the show's return in a narrative video called "The Review Must Go On". The show subsequently returned with a more narrative and sketch-driven sixth season, beginning on February 5, 2013, with a review of "The Odd Life of Timothy Green". Some episodes still retain the original clip using format.
History.
The series was initially launched on YouTube on July 3, 2007 with a review of "Transformers", but episodes were frequently removed by the website following complaints of copyright infringement. In April 2008, the videos were removed from YouTube but an arrangement between the company and content host Blip in 2009 resulted in them being featured on YouTube once more.
The announcement of a spin-off, called "The Nostalgia Chick", was created in "The Search for the Nostalgia Chick" (August 10, 2008). The concept was for a female host to review female-targeted "nostalgic" films and television. The contest ended in a three-way tie between Lindsay Ellis (who reviewed Disney's "Pocahontas"), Krissy Diggs (who reviewed "Sailor Moon"), and Kaylyn Saucedo (who reviewed "The Last Unicorn"). The competition was won by Ellis, then using the name "The Dudette", as announced on the site, "Nostalgia Chick Winner!" (September 15, 2008). Diggs and Saucedo would still join That Guy with the Glasses as That Chick with the Goggles and Marzgurl, respectively.
On September 14, 2012, Walker announced the retirement of "Nostalgia Critic" and that it would no longer be a weekly production, as he and his brother felt that they had gone as far as they could with the series. Walker then focused his efforts on another web series called "Demo Reel", but on January 22, 2013, Walker released a sketch short film titled "The Review Must Go On", announcing the return of the "Nostalgia Critic"; Malcolm Ray and Rachel Tietz of "Demo Reel" joined the series as side characters. On December 30, 2015, Nostalgia Critic aired its 300th episode, a review of "". On October 10, 2018, "Nostalgia Critic" aired its 400th episode, a countdown of the top 11 Stephen King movies.
Episode format.
The series focuses on the Nostalgia Critic, a short-tempered film reviewer looking back at films usually from his childhood and adolescence. GigaOM describes it as "high energy and shamelessly nerdy". Reuters described him as having "offbeat personalities". In each episode, the Critic restates important plot-points, guiding the viewer, while making jokes out of notable or questionable scenes. The reviews are interspersed with recurring memes, false or satirical dubbing of dialogue, comedic sketches and pop culture gagssuch as making fun of famous actors who starred in lesser-known roles before their rise to fame. The show also features special episodes, such as the "Top 11" list countdowns for his favorite or least favorite films, villains, or moments in television shows; and "Old vs. New" which compares the reboot of a popular film or series to the original.
Since the revival of the series in 2013, Walker occasionally produces an editorial which discusses relevant film topics; while still featuring the Critic persona, these videos are much less comedic and contain no sketches or other actors. Beginning with "Jurassic World" on June 23, 2015, the series also occasionally features "clipless reviews" of films that are still currently in theaters to avoid copyright infringement instead of stills and clips. These reviews instead feature scenes from the movies re-enacted comedically by Walker, his family and other Channel Awesome contributors.
Walker describes his philosophy thus: "[We need a critic of nostalgia] because everybody already does it. When we look at movies and shows from our youth, they're rarely as good as we remember them, and oftentimes it's quite humorous to compare what you liked then to what you like now. That's basically what the Nostalgia Critic is about, looking back at just how much nostalgia cloaked our vision in heavenly bliss and how bizarre the reality is." This is mostly reflected in the series, but sometimes he reviews whatever is popular at the moment.
Walker has stated that the Nostalgia Critic character is primarily inspired by Daffy Duck and the Queen of Hearts, as well as by comedians Lewis Black, Stephen Colbert, and Bill Murray.
Reception.
"Nostalgia Critic" received a positive response with many praising the humor, characters, and Doug Walker's performance. Greg Weisman, producer of "Gargoyles", stated that he enjoyed the Critic's review of the show. Roger Ebert called the episode "A Tribute to Siskel and Ebert" "the best, funniest video about Siskel & Ebert I've ever seen". Walker later stated in his editorial titled "Farewell to Roger Ebert" that he has since had the quote framed and hung up on his wall, and in "The Making of a Nostalgia Critic Episode", it can be seen on his desk. Animation writer Paul Dini also thanked the Critic for his episode "The Top 11 "" Episodes". Seth Kearsley, director of "Eight Crazy Nights", praised the Critic's review of the movie on his Twitter account.
In 2014, Walker and Dante Basco collaborated in a countdown of the top eleven best episodes of the television series "Avatar: The Last Airbender", on which Basco had played the character Zuko. Both Bill Farmer, the voice of Goofy, and Jason Marsden, the voice of Max, praised Channel Awesome after watching the Critic's editorial, "Is Goofy Secretly Badass?" On August 27, 2017, the Critic did a crossover with fellow Channel Awesome critic, Nash Bozard. For "Here There Be Dragons", Bozard's review series about fantasy films and adaptations, the Nostalgia Critic and Nash reviewed the short-lived Syfy series "The Dresden Files".
Upon the Critic's release of a parody rendition of Pink Floyd's album "The Wall" in September 2019, music critic Anthony Fantano panned the album, and questioned the quality of its critiques, calling the album "petty". Despite this, he praised Rob Scallon for his "faithful" reinterpretation of the original album's instrumentation. He went on to name it as his third-worst album of the 2010s, calling it "hideous", and "detestable".