Some sitcoms have to rely on laugh-laugh-laughs to keep you hooked; they’re joke machines. Up All Night is more of a character sitcom: If you like the people in it, chances are, you’ll like the show. Which is one way of saying that, while I didn’t always laugh my tail off at this new show, I liked the characters a lot, and want to see how they develop. Which in turn could lead to a richer, more satisfying sitcom experience over the long haul.
Christina Applegate and Will Arnett as panicky new parents Regan and Chris captured the sometimes-elated, sometimes-exasperated exhaustion of having a new tiny person in the house. The show, created by Emily Spivey, is trying to capture that transitional moment that’s not often addressed for more than one episode in other sitcoms: The period in which a couple must abandon old, possibly enjoyable habits (staying up late, partying, just laying around idly, reading) and adopt new, unfamiliar ones (civility while sleep-deprived, remembering that just because the baby is wearing fresh clothes doesn’t mean you remembered to wear some yourself).
About Maya Rudolph: After the pilot was shot, someone obviously took a look at this thing — and, I would bet, at the movie Bridesmaids — and said, hey, you know who the funniest person really is in this show? Maya Rudolph, initially cast as the head of a P.R. firm Regan works for. So the producers changed and expanded Rudolph’s role, or at least that’s the way it seemed to me in watching both versions. Now Rudolph plays Ava, a rather Oprah-like talk-show host who makes her employees tremble in the wake of her powerful we-are-all-wonderful-but-I-am-more-wonderful-than-you philosophy.
Up All Night will have to take care that Rudolph doesn’t run away with the show. It’s done such a good job of giving us a new aspect of Will Arnett — a less self-absorbed, nutty side of his acting — and has enabled Applegate to be even more of a madcap than she was in Samantha Who?, that I have confidence that Up All Night will integrate Rudolph’s Ada eruptions without having them push the baby stuff to the margins of the series.
All in all, it’s off to a good start, don’t you think?
Twitter: @kentucker
UP ALL NIGHT is no MODERN FAMILY in a good way. This new sitcom has a lot of prove to NBC and its recent track of top notch comedies like COMMUNITY, PARKS and RECREATION and 30 ROCK.
When was Up All Night trying to be Modern Family?
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I REALLY wanted to like it. I really, really did. But it sucked.
Up All Night shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same company as Modern Family, Parks and Rec, or 30 Rock. It was an unfunny mess of tired cliches and old jokes.
Hey Karate Pants…remember how AWFUL the 30 Rock pilot was?! (which has been admitted by Tina Fey AND Lorne Michaels) and how many Emmy’s does it have now??? Give this a few more episodes before you dismiss it completely.
I miss Outsourced.
oops I missed it. It looks terrible to me anyway. You think I need to see trumped up baby issues. I had enough of my own.
I feel like this could be as good as Community and Parks and Rec. It had the same kind of feel to me. I think this show will have a core following like Parks and Rec and Community do but won’t get a huge following and will probably be a bubble show every year. Have to see how it plays out!
I was prepared to be underwhelmed, and while I wasn’t OVERwhelmed, I was at least whelmed. The funniest stuff was almost throwaway, lines said under a character’s breath, or something going on in the background….I love stuff like that. Stuff that isn’t knock-you-over-the-head, but that takes patience and time to notice.
I gave up after 15 minutes.
@Chris G – me too. I was completely annoyed when I wasn’t actually bored. I’m happy about crossing this off my must see list. Free agents was a little better just because I adore Kathryn Hahn. She gets more beautiful every year.
I’m with @Karate Pants. I really wanted to like this more than I did. I just didn’t. I like Applegate and Rudolph, and can take Arnett. They’re all funny, but this show was not. I don’t remember laughing once. Maybe it was because what was supposed to be the funniest parts were all seen in the NBC promos so there was nothing surprising. I will give it another shot, but right now, I won’t be recording and won’t be watching unless there’s nothing else on to watch.
I also agree with Tucker regarding Rudolph. She can be funny, but—with what there was—she almost stole the show. Though, she is playing a toned down version of her SNL Oprah. If she goes too over the top, it will ruin things.
Completely agree. Wanted to like it far more than I did. Sitcoms don’t have to be joke machines but they should have SOME moments that are genuinely funny. And even when they aren’t telling jokes, it should be entertaining. Up All Night was neither.
As much as I like the people involved with this show, I have to say this episode was painfully unfunny. Was this the best they could do? If they’re going to have it concentrate on the concept of the “clueless boss and the assistant who makes her look good”, count me out. Watching Will Arnett given nothing funny to do or say really made me miss “Arrested Development” and yes, even “Running Wilde.”
This just wasn’t very good… it doesn’t have to be laugh, laugh, laugh but I wouldn’t mind a smirk now and then. Even as a drama, it was just sort of boring and awkward. Is it a show about having a baby, or a show about ‘my wacky boss’ because they didn’t go together too well. Maya Rudolph wasn’t ‘running away with the show’ she was just doing SOMETHING… unfortunately, I don’t care too much for the self-absorbed celebrity bit. I think my “favorite” part was when the couple went on a date and the “wacky celebrity” boss just happened to show up for Karaoke? Really? They didn’t invite her, she wasn’t there when they left… why was she there? And even stranger, I kind of liked Will Arnett tonight, even if I kept thinking he was going to snap at any moment. But overall, I think its a role for him that would have been great for a film. Honestly, I couldn’t see why I’d want to watch next week.
If you watch the scene again, you will see that she calls her boss (or maybe text her) right before she shows up at the party.
Oh dear god, not “Running WIlde” — the worst comedy of last season. I really love Will Arnett, he is an EXTREMELY funny man and a great character comedian — but with his voice and smarmy charms and lack of vulnerability, he should never be the romantic lead in a sitcom. Kiss of death.
I’d like it a lot more WITHOUT Maya Rudolph.
agreed! she just annoyed me! show could have gone on without her and no one would have noticed!
I really think some one thinks she is hilarious and the rest of us are paying the price for this assumption. I hate to kick an SNL vet but damn. There are a lot more Ellen Cleghorn’s than Tina Fey’s.
Last piece of Rudolph bashing then I’ll bounce. Anyone ever wonder why there is no Best of Maya Rudolph for SNL? She was on the show for years and did hundreds of sketches where she was the featured cast member. They couldn’t find 45 minutes of decent material in all of her stuff. I don’t think it’s because she is not talented as a performer, I think she doesn’t always know what is funny and often thinks she is being funny when she is not.
Lorne will never let me be on the show now. Swear to god I will audition and he will bring this crap up. meh. I’ll go write for Apatow or something.
thought the first half was just okay, but loved the second half! so it ended on a good note for me. i’m excited for next week. hoping it’s good throughout this time.
I was thoroughly underwhelmed. Nothing fresh or interesting that I haven’t seen before. I didn’t laugh once and I don’t think I even cracked a smile. I like these actors and I’ll watch another couple of eps, but I can easily see myself not sticking with this one. As far as shows with babies go, Raising Hope was instantly far superior.
Completely agree, I was hugely underwhelmed, I live the life they are trying to portray and while I get the moments of sweetness and exhaustion, I’d rather experience them wth my own kids. I also found Maya Rudolphs character completely annoying. I can relate and didn’t find the humor, I don’t think that bears well for this show, which I really did want to like. I also watched Free Agents which didn’t getting a glowing review and enjoyed it much, much more, I could see the characters and where it might be going, even though some are stereotypical, I’ll give them the chance to flesh it out and I’ll totally watch anything Giles
Word on Free Agents. That show was solidly funny. Hank Azaria and Kathryn Hahn are awesome.
I was on the fence about watching the show. I loved Christina in Samantha Who but not in the commercials. I also love Will and Mya. But the ads just made me NOT want to watch. Was going to give it a try but I think my subliminal mind made me skip it. Maybe it knew what it was doing
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Amen. Raising Hope is awesome.
Yikes. I feel like I was watching a different show than everyone else. I liked it. Like Ken, I thought it was fresh and the characters are great. I thought it was fantastic to see that Will Arnett can be just as funny playing a regular guy.
I agree. I also enjoyed it, and it will be interesting to see what happens.
The first episode of any show is bound to be a little awkward. So, I was delighted when the second half of the show had me not only laughing but caring. I’ll definitely stick with this one.
I agree. Pilots are tough…..they have to establish the characters and the plot, and in this case, be funny. I laughed a few times and smiled a lot. I will give it another shot
I second that. I’ll watch again….I am a little concerned with the chemistry between Christina and Will though. Hope it improves.
I’ll third it. First episodes are awkward. I think this show will be fun to watch.
Since America loves crap, and this is better than crap, it probably will fail.
AW LOL, you said something semi-positive. It’s like watching when the Grinch’s heart grew.
Up All Night is the funniest thing on NBC since Will & Grace used to be funny.
I liked this show, my favorite scene of the episode is when Arnetts character was in the georcry store and the old lady was staring at him, that was really funny. It was nice to see Arnett a little more down to earth (Even though I do perfer his werider characters) Applegate and Rudolph were also nice but I want to see where they go with the characters. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.
What’s a georcry store? Where you go when you’re sad?
Or when he didn’t know where the regular cheese was and then came home with a wheel of expensive cheese.
You thought that was funny? I think that’s when I turned it off. YIKES! Hope this show isn’t a harbinger of the Fall season. If it is, I guess I’ll have to start talking to my husband again.
was ok just not into the man thing
Just watched it. It was ok. It’s gonna be a tough one to keep on-the-air without some major improvements. The premise is good, Applegate is good, but the laughs were kept to a minimum. Maybe this should have been pitched as a light drama. Then they could ditch the desperate comedic attempts like bleeping out curse words. Wishing them the best, and I will give it one more episode to spruce things up a bit. Otherwise I’m all done.
I didn’t like the first episode. It did not make me laugh once.
Interesting, but I felt exactly the opposite as Ken with both this (didn’t care for it at all) and Free Agents (kinda liked it).
But I love the three leads, so I’m still rooting for it and hoping it gets better. I’m still going to give it some time to find its footing. After all, even Parks and Rec took a season before it really became Parks and Rec.
I totally agree. I think the pilot was a little rough but it has goods bones and could flesh out into something special. I can’t wait for P&R to be back! Whooomp There it is!
I thought it was hilarious. I loved the scene he calls her at the grocery store because he can’t find the cheese…so something my husband would do. And the scene at the bar where she is doing high kicks…freaking hilarious. Maybe I’m just an American who loves crap. I’ll take that.
Yeah my hubby would do that too, which is exactly why I won’t be watching. He tortures me enough. I don’t need to be mocked by TV
If you watch the scene again, he actually lost the baby…then made the excuse about the cheese because he found her with the old lady.
Isn’t the routine about the man being so clueless that he needs his wifes help to even find the dairy section of a supermarket kind of old and tired?
What the heck was that? Is this what NBC is calling comedy now. I was really looking forward to this show because I like all the actors involved, but this was awful. I think the worst part had to be the constant bleeping of the curse words. I know it suppose to be cute, but it was just plain irritating. I don’t see a long shelf life.
I liked the show except for the bleeping of the curse words. I hope they don’t do that in every episode.