Alan Pergament of the "Buffalo News" gave the programme a two-star rating. He hoped that "Azaria's narration will be a little slower than that of the British voice performer" but remarked that "Eric is such a bumbler and his life is so stressful that it isn't much fun to watch." He also thought the comparison to "South Park" in the series' promos was foolish, noted that it ran against another Americanized version of a British series—"Whose Line is it Anyway?"—and remarked that "as good as it is to get some original programming in the summer, 'Stressed Eric' is so routine that it's difficult to understand why it has won awards across the ocean."