Up All Night - Pilot

Last night NBC premiered one of its new sitcoms, Up All Night after the season finale of America’s Got Talent.

Up All Night stars Christina Applegate and Will Arnett as Reagan and Chris, a married couple who just had a baby and are now struggling to adjust to Reagan going back to work.  Reagan works for Ava, Maya Rudolph, an emotionally needy and over-the-top talk show host.  It seems in Reagan’s absence that show has fallen apart.  Reagan decides to that booking a doctor known for his cleanses would be perfect, causing Ava to make the cleanse mandatory to all employees.  Everything is looking great until news breaks that this cleanse is killing people.  This last minute reorganizing of the show puts Reagan and Chris’s anniversary celebration in serious jeopardy.  However, when Reagan gets back late, they decided to party like the old days.  They were not prepared for the startling wake and severe hang over the next morning.  Both Reagan and Chris are trying to figure out their new roles, working mom and stay at home dad. 

The idea that a couple’s dynamic changes once they have a baby has been done before, but Emily Spivey the creator puts a new spin on that concept in Up All Night.  Christina Applegate as Reagan gets to show-off her comedic timing, and she imparts great sarcastic tone into her one liners.  She has not been this good, since her days of playing a ditzy tramp on Married With Children and career driven anchor in Anchorman.  Will Arnett is at his best in this role.  Normally the zany and off-the-wall character, like in Arrested Development, Blades of Glory and his guest role on 30 Rock.  Those only worked for him because he had a supporting role, no one can handle that much zaniness all the time, which happened to be the problem in Running Wilde.  Then Maya Rudolph gets to play the wonderful role of the off their rocker talk show host, which is amazing for her because she the comedic timing to pull it off.  Also, it helps that she is the supporting character because all that emotional neediness would be overwhelming if she was on all the time.  I am just glad to see Maya back on TV as she is one of the four women who brought SNL back into the forefront in the early ‘00s.  Lastly, a lot of credit has to go to Emily Spivey for quick writing and full characters.

My only questions with Up All Night, is how long will the idea remain fresh?  How do the writers handle the idea of the baby growing up?  However, in the moment the show is funny and I think with Emily Spivey and Lorne Michaels involved these issues will be resolved.

Up All Night has the qualities that can define a generation, just not mine.  People who are in their early 30s and in the process of starting a family will find this new sitcom especially relatable.  As a 23 year old guy, I can relate to the stress that comes along with new a phase of life.  This show has the chance to play like the show Thirtysomething, but will hopefully have a longer run.