TV Review: Up All Night, 1.03-- "Working Late and Working It"

Another successful installment of this show, which is really starting to find its groove.  The writers are figuring out the balance between the three main actors, and let's be honest, a guest appearance by Will Forte is almost never a bad thing.  This episode had Chris struggling to maintain the romance in his and Reagan's marriage, assisted by a neighborhood friend who provides sage advice about just about everything (including an underwear analysis) in order to help him seduce his wife.

To be honest, I would have been willing to watch this entire episode if Will Arnett's had been the only plot line, but we also saw Reagan trying to coach Ava through dealing with the news of her ex-fiance's engagement.  Who is this fiance, you may ask?  Why, none other than a once-popular boy-band member played to hilarious perfection by Jorma Taccone, who you might recognize from The Lonely Island.  Ava naturally has a meltdown, leaving Reagan to pick up the pieces.  Also, there's a terrible, 90's inspired music video involved.

And how did Reagan react to Chris' over the top attempts to spice up their evenings?  She tried to beat him at his own game, escalating his need for them to be "dressed up" at home to a full-on Victorian bit, complete with a cringe-worthy English accent.  Fortunately, Ava was able to take her experience with her ex and use it to help Reagan, convincing her that Chris is "one of the good ones", which certainly seems to be true (he reads an adorable and hilarious poem about what his life would be like without her, complete with photo slideshow!). 

This episode didn't feature baby Amy at all, but that more than worked out.  It was all about the relationship between Chris and Reagan, and it was truly well done.  I'm glad that the writers have taken what could easily have become a weekly dose of crazy antics and have carefully laid a groundwork for something much richer.  Up All Night is definitely becoming one of the better comedies on television.

TV Review: Up All Night, 1.2: "Cool Neighbors"

This show is definitely showing potential to only get better, and I'm so glad, because I love seeing this cast on my television every week.  In this week's installment, we see Chris and Reagan doing their darndest to impress their new young, hip neighbors, and as you might expect, hilarity absolutely ensues.  As if that weren't enough, there's also a generous side serving of Maya Rudolph's character Ava being absurdly inept at relating to her friends' new baby.

I could not stop laughing at Chris and Reagan's almost instantaneous assessment of their neighbors as hipsters, nor at how they sought to connect with them, from updating their Facebook pages (Chris occupied himself "liking" numerous pages such as "soup" and "the news", but don't worry, it was only ironically), to trying to conceal their role in trying to shut down their new neighbors' housewarming party.  Also, it led to one of the episode's best moments, with Chris standing in the middle of the crowded, silent party with "Hey Soul Sister" blaring from his pocket (revealing that he'd been the one to phone the police), which he again insisted was an attempt at irony. 

When the two protagonists weren't busy obsessing over their neighbors, we saw them visit with Ava, to whom baby Amy did not immediately take.  Ava was affronted by this, first accusing the baby of being uncomfortable around people of color (debunked when another staffer at her show, a young African American man, hit it off with Amy instantaneously), and later attempting to win the baby's affections by bearing gifts, such as a "baby wallet."  By the episode's end, however, Reagan orchestrated some one on one time between her friend and her daughter, and they finally managed to connect.

What I loved most about this episode was the insight it gave us into the different relationships between the adults on this show.  As ridiculous as their schemes and actions were, Chris and Reagan play off each other really well under almost any circumstances, and manage to balance each other's personalities almost effortlessly.  The Ava storyline also impressed upon us how strong her friendship with the couple and particularly with Reagan really is:  despite being very full of herself and adored by her fans, Ava really does want baby Amy to like her, and she wants her friends to think she is capable of bonding with their child. 

Another witty installment, and one which gave us a much better idea of the tone and shape this show is going to take as the season continues.  I'll be watching next week, and barring any disasters, will probably be incorporating this show into my regular reviews.

TV Review: Up All Night

In Up All Night we've got another show with a premise that has definite potential but which makes its debut with an underwhelming pilot.  Will Arnett and Christina Applegate are Chris and Reagan, new parents to baby Amy, who has some kind of weird thing going on with her hair (or does all baby hair look like that?).  Whatever the case, the hair was distracting.

I really enjoyed the cold open with Chris and Reagan waiting for the pregnancy test results (and especially Reagan's monologue about her bleak future in a nursing home), and the reversal of the stereotypical roles (Chris stays home with the baby while Reagan goes back to work).  Maya Rudolph's character freshens things up a bit with her trademark over-the-top humor.  She plays an Oprah-like talk show host, complete with inflated self-importance, who is heavily dependent on Reagan to do basically all her work (example:  "we're going to put our heads together and Reagan's going to come up with something"). 

We see some of Chris' adventures in childcare, which are amusing but which don't dominate the episode, which I think really does it a favor.  He also busies himself coming up with an elaborate plan (and a fantastic invitation/itinerary) for his and Reagan's 7th anniversary celebration, which of course never come to fruition.  Reagan gets caught up at work and Chris stays home and apparently eats an entire pizza by himself (I really liked the shame he played this scene with).  They eventually decide to go out later in the evening to reclaim their lost "idiot" years, bar-hopping and singing karaoke which, despite being an obvious play for laughs, works because who wouldn't enjoy Arnett, Applegate, and Rudolph performing a drunken rendition of "It's Raining Men"?  That's right, no one.


While this show has to prove itself by showing a little more range in its subsequent episodes, there is a definite motif here begging to be explored.  What all three of the main characters have in common is a kind of perpetual adolescence, a desire to remain their young, hip selves even whilst they navigate the waters of adulthood and the responsibilities therein.  This obviously isn't going to work, at least for the new parents (as they learn when they wake up to vicious hangovers and a screaming baby), and I am interested to see how this development continues as the show wears on.  It's not a lesson any of them will learn overnight, and it will be fun to watch these hilarious actors try to find their way toward maturity.