Critic Reviews

Wonderful. ... It is a realistic drama, the sort of thing you might see occasionally on experimental "American Playhouses" on public TV. But nobody does realistic drama on commercial TV today. [1 May 1990]

Winfrey's appeal is considerable and should, for a time, guarantee curiosity-fueled high ratings. It's a warm and serious show, a television time capsule that takes us to a quieter, safer and better place. [1 May 1990]

"Brewster" improves on the original and has the look of a warmhearted winner. ... It's corny, it's old-fashioned, it's predictable, and it works. [1 May 1990]

Brewster Place has chosen to forgo sophistication or subtlety in favor of little homilies that come off just a tad heavy-handed. [30 Apr 1990]

Although off to a sluggish start, Brewster Place represents an Olympics-sized leap in prime-time programming.

Winfrey ... displays some of the appealing humanity that also characterizes her work on her syndicated talk show. ... But "Brewster Place" is so saccharine and enervating and [Winfrey's] Mattie so sorrowful and subdued that you feel weary just watching. Not too weary to change channels, however. [1 May 1990]

The show reduces some of its actors, notably Cole, to stereotypical shtick. There are too many characters and too many emotional shifts, but not enough depth. Viewers who visit the neighborhood of Brewster Place won't get close to its people. [1 May 1990]

"Brewster Place" is dominated by a feeling of softness. A sweet gentleness pervades the air and issues are avoided, rather than confronted head-on. The characters that gave the original drama its sharpest bite, including the desperate welfare mother and the lesbian couple, have been dropped entirely. [1 May 1990]

It could as easily be Sesame Street as Brewster Place, the way everyone has become so doggone lovable and earnest in this transformation from dark- edged 1989 miniseries to sunny weekly half-hour drama. [1 May 1990]