Foreverisacastironmess I watched all of this show properly for the first time a little while back and I really consistently found it to be a very fun and calming show to just chill out with and frequently get a good laugh out of. It's tone is very mellow and lovable, even as some characters get hilariously worked up! Everything about it is minimalistic but I adored the dry sense of humour and I kinda found it to be a perhaps ironically therapeutic show to watch. I saw it as a kid a little but I never really appreciated it's distinct brand of comedy until I saw it with a more adult perspective. The animation was probably a big issue for most viewers and I could see how that style could turn some people off right away, but I didn't particularly have a problem with it, how the show looked and the way the characters appeared like they were constantly squirming around was its trademark, the animation complemented and heightened the humour, if the show had been blessed with better animation then it probably wouldn't have felt the same or maybe even not have been as funny. Dr Katz just wouldn't have been Dr Katz without the famous squiggles that made everything about the show feel so distinct and memorable, I certainly never found them nauseating to look at like some claimed to have been, if you're into the show it's something you don't even register after a while. Something that I did not like at all was that particularly in the early seasons they'd often tend to reuse little parts of scenes, which to me made things feel a little too cheap at times.. Someone said that the show "was only as good as its guest stars." Perhaps but I always loved the interactions between Dr Katz, Ben and Laura, they all played off each other brilliantly. If there happened to be a great guest voice, to me it only really made an already good episode that much better. My favourite of the regular patients was definitely Dom the aggressive yet freakily sensitive man with the thick Brooklyn accent and weird crush of sorts on Dr Katz that frequently saw him getting a bit too close for comfort and even one time dancing the flamenco! The guy was effortlessly hilarious and stole every scene that he - or rather his voice - featured in! I also loved the voice actor as "Ernie" from Hey Arnold. I loved Ben and his relationship with his father who probably was a bit too easy on him and treated him like a big kid too much. It was so funny how Ben was the kind of guy that always acted like he knew about everything even though he barely did anything, and how whenever he would manage to accidentally accomplish something or half-heartedly take up some temporary hobby he'd get a superior attitude about it, usually aimed right at his long-suffering dad! To me the humour wasn't about satire or clever metaphors but just for the most part the honest and bare bones interactions of quirky folks just sitting and talking and I loved that kind of unpretentious blandness of it? You got the humour of it without the need for a lot of 'flash.' I think it may have got better with age. Some things in the overall plot that I think could have been improved upon would have been if they'd have got Ben to start moving towards getting his s**t together, and they should have had a moment where Laura acknowledges and gently puts to pasture Ben's little crush on her, I know it really wasn't that kind of show but it's frequently the little things that can make good animated shows into great ones. Something else that bugs me is that the final episode is just like any other and has absolutely no sense of finality to it at all, and maybe at the time they didn't know it would be the last episode I don't know, but they should have put a little more effort into it instead of the show just getting unceremoniously ditched with a rather unremarkable episode about Conan O Brian showing up again to steal Katz's jokes! The show is what it is, some episodes came together a little better than others and were funnier and the guest voices didn't always exactly shine quite the same way, but overall I really loved it, it was a great show and a very endearing piece of work and it has its own place in time in the history of animated shows that were aimed more at adults, do yourself a favour and check it out, I promise you'll get at least one good laugh out of it and believe me there's plenty of them! Nice one Doc. X

eddiez61 As a life long sufferer of chronic sadness, I hold tight to anything, ANYTHING, that helps lift, for even a few moments, that pesky dark cloud hovering over my head. I've tried drugs - legal and otherwise, illicit sex, adrenaline fueled extreme sports, petty crimes, felonious crimes, Zen Buddhist meditation, Cabalistic incantations, Indian sweat lodge retreats, and even once watched Oprah, but nothing works quite so magically as quality TV comedy. Dr. Katz is my prescription to you for whatever has got you down. There's no mood too blue, no funk too sunk that a dose of Dr. Katz can't fix. It's a sure fire, works-every-time, miracle cure for the blahs that carries no side effects, other than maybe a cramped face from all the prolonged intense grinning.It's such an outrageous conceit to have top comedians - the majority of which are clearly disturbed individuals - venting the same annoyances, anxieties, fears, and phobias that constitute their acts, but as sessions with a mental health professional. Putting these peculiar characters on the couch is a stroke of genius. How crazy is it that what easily passes for legitimate therapeutic conversation is actually the stuff of inspired comedy routines?! The are a few exceptions to the parade of stand up pros such as when actresses Winona Ryder and Lisa Kudrow appear as patients, and they, too, are marvelously compelling and witty. There are a few comedian patients with whose work I was not previously familiar, and I was motivated to seek out examples of them in real world action.All the regular characters are absolutely superb with long time stand up comedian Jonathan Katz voicing the titular doctor. The doctor is divorced and living with his unemployed son, Ben, played by H. Jon Benjamin who has created the archetypal Gen X slacker loser. Ben's self obsessed, self deprecating, self loathing version of post-adolescent angst is poignantly endearing, when it's not comically tragic. Dr. Katz's equally self obsessed, but self satisfied twenty-something secretary, Laura, is a sly creature of the most sinister design, who is perhaps repulsive in attitude but undeniably alluring in appearance and style. Ben incessantly makes awkward advances to a decidedly disinterested Laura who is voiced by Laura Silverman, sister to the also maniacally designed Sarah Silverman. Dr. Katz often ends his working day with drinks with an amiable acquaintance, Stanley, served to them by an attractive and pleasant bartender, Julie, who seems to genuinely enjoy the gentlemen's glib conversation. It's a great treat for me to compare all the performers' real faces to their weirdly squiggly animated ones.This show never fails to brighten my day. It shines a very warm ray of light onto my burdened heart. Dr. Katz truly is the comedic equivalent of chicken soup for the soul.

buckyboy28 I watched this show from time to time in the late-90's, but I didn't get Comedy Central at home until around 2001. When I was flipping through the shows that were free with on demand, I was pleasantly surprised to find episodes of "Dr. Katz". This show is basically a half-hour animated sitcom/ stand up comedy showcase. Dr. Jon Katz is a therapist who anaylizes stand up comics and actors/actresses. Various elements of the conversations are literally animated out to make for an often hilarious story. In addition, H. Jon Benjamin plays Dr. Katz's son, Ben who is a loser who often hangs at his dad's office because he has a crush on the receptionist. And in case this wasn't enough, the show is presented in the acid-tripping animation style, Squigglevision, which can also be seen in the first few seasons of "Home Movies" (occasionally on Adult Swim). This show is a hidden gem, so if you happen to find it on on demand, watch it because chances are it won't be released on DVD.

ktl-1 This was television's shining moment. Too bad nobody saw it. I taped these in a haphazard, there'll-always-be-another-chance way and have forever-after regretted not realizing that, like life, it could end in an instant. The Comedy Channel has a long, regrettable history of axing the best stuff and rerunning National Lampoon's vacation 5 times a day. Of course maybe it wasn't their decision to end the show, but I stopped watching the channel altogether the day the Katz stopped. It was a dark day in television history. Would give anything to have the entire series on dvd.