Making It

Poehler and Offerman’s off-screen friendship translates to a wonderful on-screen dynamic that lends itself well to the sort of off-the-cuff riffing that speaks to both a deep bond and strong improvisational skills. As hosts, they bring an irreverence that keeps the tone light, positive, and natural.

It brims with nice, talented people making impossibly crazy beautiful things. It’s charming and sweet and might just inspire you to make something.

In Poehler and Offerman, Making It has the funniest and most accomplished hosts a competition show could ask for, and it makes the most of them.

As promised, they’ve made a show that makes you feel good. If for some reason you’re still not sure whether to watch or not, I’ll leave you with a final piece of Parks and Recreation–style advice: Go ahead, treat yo self.

The pacing is brisk (there’s tension-building soundtrack music that sounds a lot like a Muzak version of Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up”) and the cutaway segments with Poehler and Offerman are used to full advantage. ... Making It should strike a chord for viewers who love to work with their hands--or wish they possessed that talent.

Making It, a crafting competition show premiering Tuesday on NBC, is so genuinely good-hearted and adorably inventive that it’s darn near impossible to criticize. ... For all its mutual happiness, Making It could pay a little more attention to the actual work that goes into the crafting and the wide range of personal styles shown by the contestants.

The show itself is a charmer--full of color and vitality, while the craftsmen and women clearly have the talent and skills to make something worth looking at. The actual crafts part, however, is rushed. You hardly ever see the detailed process of making something but instead the finished product.