Thursday, September 15, 2011

Up All Night

The new fall shows are finally starting to roll out. Can't say that I'm thrilled. If the shows live up to the promises of their promos, they should all royally suck. One ad that really drove me crazy was the one for Up All Night—the promos made the show seem stupid and really old hat. So when it premiered last night, I watched purely out of a sense of duty. Well, well, well. It didn't suck. Not that it was great. But maybe in three or four shows? Because it has a lot of promise.

Up All Night is a lot like 30 Rock, which isn't surprising because it's written by Emily Spivey who wrote for SNL. It also stars Maya Rudolph, also a SNL alum. But while 30 Rock makes fun of corporate TV, Up All Night makes fun of parenthood, and that's harder. I'm sure that within two shows they'll have run out of diaper jokes and the kid will disappear in the same way the kid pretty much disappeared in Raising Hope. And before we know it, the show will be about all the zany people at work, which would turn the show into 30 Rock And A Baby.

Mom is played by Christina Applegate. Dad is played by Will Arnett. Christina was pretty predictable but Will was a surprise. It's nice to see him in a role where he isn't entirely stupid or venal.