Critic Reviews

Clueless pulls off the balancing act of being bright and sophisticated while remaining almost squeaky-clean. [20 Sept 1996, p.1E]

Blanchard is lovely and plays Cher so well that you'll never miss Silverstone. Many of the key supporting actors from the movie reprise their roles in the TV series, but the chief saving grace is the clever script. [20 Sept 1996, p.3E]

Yet tonight's pilot retains the supporting cast and all else that made Amy Heckerling's film a delight, especially its unexpectedly tangy one-liners and eye-candy production values. This sitcom looks as if it were shot through Kool-Aid, and is, in sips, just as refreshing. [20 Sept 1996, p.D10]

Lighthearted lessons are learned all around. It's all very sweet. [20 Sept 1996, p.10E]

Rachel Blanchard plays Cher (Emma), and while she still isn't up to Alicia Silverstone's standard for merging self-involvement and philanthropism she does a much better job with the new, stronger material, tonight dispensing bad advice in a guest stint as her school paper's Ann Landers. [20 Sept 1996, p.1]

The kids are allowed to be smart, one consequence of which is that the show features the most literate p.c. kids, black and white, on TV; their references are as likely to be to John Keats as to Jim Carrey (often in the same sentence).

Fans of the movie should beware. Tonight's opener feels like a vague replay of the film. [20 Sept 1996, p.E1]

The painfully blank Blanchard may look like Silverstone, but she has none of her flair or personality. It's like watching a copy of a copy of a copy. All she does is make you appreciate how good Silverstone was in the original. [20 Sept 1996, p.28]

Cute, but frothy, and not nearly as charming as it thinks it is (or as the movie was). Rachel Blanchard tries as Cher, but she's no Alicia Silverstone...This one could grow on you, but I doubt it. [20 Sept 1996, p.8E]

Blanchard was witless and charmless in the original -- and so far unaired -- pilot program. But her performance as pampered Cher has improved in "As If a Girl's Reach Should Exceed Her Grasp,' tonight's debut episode. [20 Sept 1996, p.39]