Friday Fall Preview: Up All Night

For the past few years, I’ve wanted to do a summer feature where I took a look at one upcoming show each week. Come back every Friday for a new Fall Preview, and suggest an upcoming show to be featured if you’re looking forward to it!

Up All Night – Wednesdays at 8pm (NBC)



In my research thus far, I’ve found that most of the fall’s forthcoming sitcoms look pretty abysmal. This show, while it may not be excellent, at least has a few things going for it that should prevent it from being totally awful. The two stars, for starters, are both enormously appealing, and have proven that they are able to carry a show (and offer support on at least one more). Christina Applegate was charming and endearing on “Samantha Who,” and having her back as a hard-working young mother should be a great fit. Will Arnett recently came off of “Running Wilde,” a peculiar attempt at originality that just didn’t fly, and this should be a much better part for him. This show appears to be quite heavy on the deadpan, but I think that will work in its favor. Maya Rudolph is going to be taking a break from playing down-to-earth women in “Bridesmaids” and “Away We Go” and appearing as Applegate’s nutty boss, which looks like a fun part. I especially liked recognizing Reid Ewing, better known as Haley’s boyfriend Dylan from “Modern Family,” as the famous actor in the pilot, who presumably will only appear from time to time, if even more than once. This show is hardly wholly original, but with the right people, it could be just right. What’s slightly puzzling is it placement on Wednesday nights rather than Thursdays, since it could be the perfect companion to NBC’s other Must-See TV fare. Hopefully it will do well and thrive on another night, since NBC and these stars could sure use a hit.