Up All Night - Episode 1.01 - Pilot - Review

"We're trying to help you!" —Reagan

I didn't think that Christina Applegate's delivery of that line would still make me laugh for the umpteenth time (as it was used generously all over the promos) but I suppose it's sort of like Awkward.'s "you're welcome." Infinitely hilarious.

That said, "infinitely hilarious" isn't what I'd use to classify Up All Night, but I will say this: it's pretty darn good.

I was smiling from the very first scene where Reagan and Chris are sitting in the bathroom overanalyzing pregnancy tests. "Is it smiley face you have a baby in there or smiley face you don't have a baby in there?"

"Stop saying 'baby in there'!" And with that, I bellowed my first laugh — and it came from the depths of my stomach; this was no chuckle.

Then, Will Arnett and Chrisitna Applegate are sitting on the floor… floored… by the fact that she's got a baby in there and with the flip of a switch, they smile about the baby they've got in there. It's so human and subtle, and it completely changes what I thought the show could become, which is a crude look on parenthood.

For example, somewhat of a live-action Family Guy but passable with infants. This feels more like The Simpsons (in terms of how far they're willing to go with humor). I hope that allegory works for you, but if it doesn't let me try to clear it up. In Family Guy you probably won't ever hear the parents genuinely say they love their children, and mean it; in The Simpsons, you would. There's a lot more heart here than I thought there couldn't be and the show is definitely better for that.

What may feel a little off, however, is Maya Rudolph's Ava who was promo'd as this anti-baby friend the couple was just stuck with. Somewhere between the show's greenlight and its premiere (so, basically around the success of the hilarious film Bridesmaids), Rudolph's role was amped up. Previously Reagan and Ava worked together in a public relations firm; now, Ava is a talk show host and Reagan is her producer. How much funnier could, or was, the public relations job as compared to the talk show? I obviously don't have much of an idea. But the writing may seem a bit out of place which I'm guessing was due to a fast-paced rewrite and reshoot.

For example, Reagan gets home from work and Ava comes in just a couple of minutes later claiming she was on a date and remembered she never got them a gift for their baby so drops off a basket of very inappropriate non-baby gift items. Then, she pops open a bottle of champagne. Wouldn't Ava have been at work with Reagan? Perhaps talk show hosts don't work as hard as the producers, I get that. But nothing really in Ava's character made it seem like she'd forget getting Reagan and Chris a gift for their baby. In fact, she seemed quite excited to see Reagan for the first time when she returned to work, almost as if she'd been on her mind during her maternity leave. And could a (I'm assuming) famous talk show host just show up at a karaoke bar and act ridiculous without there being some sort of tabloid repercussions?

Regardless, Rudolph was hilarious as always (I know that others don't exactly agree with that). She made me laugh with her Stevie Nicks cover and shouting out to the office "We're going on a cleanse!"

And as for Up All Night as a whole, the mockumentary style feels quite refreshing here. No one looks at the camera and breaks the fourth wall, there's no interviews; it's like you're peeking into someone's life. That's exactly how it's acted out. And it's f---ing funny.

Whoops, got to work on my cursing.

(Thankfully I've got nothing else to watch on Wednesdays at 8pm because it would have been hard to choose between this show and something else next week. Hopefully Up All Night's pretty stellar ratings continue next Wednesday, as well.)

You can find more of my reviews at NoWhiteNoise.com, if you feel so inclined, or follow me on Twitter @MichaelCollado.