Now Playing Online: ‘The Critic,’ a Revival

For many in Hollywood, the Internet is the minor league of entertainment--a place to show your stuff and earn a shot at a TV series or film. For the producers of “The Critic,” though, the Net brought new life to a character that already had two shots at the big time--and blew them both.

Canceled by ABC in 1994 and by Fox in 1995, the animated “Critic” has cranked up again at https://www.shockwave.com. It’s an early sign that the Internet might grow into a cyberspace version of “Nick at Nite”--a home for shows with cult followings nonetheless rejected by the networks.

Of course, there’s no proof yet that TV-style entertainment can survive on the Web. Consider the wave of “dot-com” collapses in 2000. But if the new version of “The Critic” gains a foothold on the Web, it could show other producers how to navigate their programs around the TV networks and into homes.

“The Critic” is ostensibly a cartoon about a pudgy, lovelorn movie reviewer, Jay Sherman, who thinks most of today’s films stink. But it’s also a collection of wry sight gags and one-liners about pop culture and the media’s infatuation with stars.

The half-hour show attracted its share of devotees on ABC and Fox, but not enough to keep it on the air for more than 23 episodes--13 on ABC, 10 on Fox. Usually, getting canceled by one major network--let alone two--is enough to kill any show. But in December, two short new episodes popped up on Shockwave.com, and at least seven more are slated to run in the coming weeks.

“As long as they keep inventing new technologies, we’ll keep coming back with ‘The Critic,’ ” said Al Jean, one of the show’s creators.

It doesn’t hurt that the new version costs a fraction of the old one, thanks in large part to much shorter episodes and computer-driven animation. The original episodes credit dozens of animators, while the new ones list a team of eight from Seattle-based Jet City Productions.

Shockwave hasn’t committed to running more than the nine episodes, which add up to only 30 minutes of programming. So “The Critic” might not last long on Al Gore’s favorite network either.

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Still, the show’s revival on the Net is interesting for a couple of reasons.

First, it illustrates one of the less-heralded aspects of convergence--the blurring of currently distinct pipelines that distribute entertainment. Today, programming on cable is quite different from what’s on the Internet, largely because the Internet can’t yet deliver broadcast-quality video to the masses.

The Net can deliver a sharp-looking cartoon, though, and at least one Web-based toon is making the leap to TV: “Zombie College” from Icebox.com. “The Critic” shows that animated programs can also move in the other direction--from TV to the Web--with no discernible change in how they look. (The show sounds the same, too, because the title character is again voiced by “Saturday Night Live” alumnus Jon Lovitz.)

Second, “The Critic” tests whether entertainment on the Internet needs to be fundamentally different from what people get from their TV sets. As Web companies vainly search for profits from online entertainment, some analysts argue that the key is to use the Internet’s unique two-way capabilities to let people interact with the material and other viewers. Others say the formula is the same as in any form of entertainment: good stories well-told, with production costs appropriate to the size of the audience.

There’s only one interactive element of “The Critic” on Shockwave.com: a series of mock “Fun Facts” and trivia questions about Hollywood that users can flip through while waiting for an episode to load onto their computers. Other than that, it’s a straightforward narrative.

Michael Yanover, senior vice president for entertainment at Shockwave, argued that even without interactivity, the show has one of the elements needed for success on the Net: a community that cares about it. “ ‘The Critic’ is a great example of something with a built-in audience,” Yanover said, adding that fans have already sent e-mails to thank Shockwave for bringing the show back.

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For Shockwave, the show is just the first in a series of projects with Hollywood writer-director-producer James L. Brooks and his Gracie Films production company. “I don’t think we’re trying to make this into a series to last forever and ever,” Yanover said. But, he added, “If it’s a colossal first step, who knows?”

(If the new Shockwave bits whet your appetite for more, the original episodes air on Comedy Central from midnight to 1 a.m. Sundays.)

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Times staff writer Jon Healey covers the digital living room.