Critic Reviews

Apple TV’s “Central Park” is a glorious gift for comedy and musical fans and, well, everyone. ... It’s the best show on Apple TV by some stretch, and one of the best shows of 2020 anywhere. I can’t wait to see more.

Its jokes are rat-a-tat yet unpredictable, its characters are quick to understand yet ever-deepening, its performances are delightful, its animation is crisply fluid, and its songs? Wowee, its songs. They get you right in the heart upon first listen, and I promise you the first listen will not be your last listen. Simply put: Central Park is a knockout.

There’s joy in the music, aided by the bright elastic animation, and a sense of purpose, too: “Central Park” openly defies, with tongue in cheek and a skip in its step, billionaire culture, arguing that it’s the duty of the people to stand up against their culturally smothering cupidity.

The series has all the pieces, and in season three it’s better than ever at putting them together.

Central Park is funny and warm, and has songs that will stick in your head.

Creators Loren Bouchard, Nora Smith (Bob’s Burgers), and Josh Gad (Frozen) apply brainy, Broadway-style whimsy to the daily dramas of life. The result is a show that has a good heart, and you can dance to it, too.

There’s a lot of potential within an already streamlined package, even if it’s threatening to burst open at any minute. So long as the season settles into a groove and manages to avoid overwhelming itself, “Central Park” looks to be a worthy successor to a landmark sitcom — even if there’s still room for improvement along the way.

It's jam-packed with invention in performance, craft, structure, songwriting, and raw comedic power. It will fling you on a journey while staying exactly where you are. Just like these characters.

The show loses out on a big mysterious arc, but the nuanced storytelling, intelligent humor, and evolving animation creativity solidify its place as one of Apple TV+’s successful original series.

“Central Park” took a big step forward in Season 2 by prioritizing its episodic arcs over its long-term storytelling; it’s weirder, sharper, and more endearing. Now, it just needs time to create additional stories like these, to keep finding its flow, and to get noticed — hopefully, by lots and lots of families.