I’m not much of a sitcom guy. The only commercial network sitcom on my DVR is "30 Rock," which, by the way, isn’t really doing it for me this season. Anyone else feel this way?
Anyway, I was more than skeptical about "Up All Night," a new NBC sitcom set around a new baby and her parents. Sitcoms about kids and families are usually horrible and ones about babies, don’t even try it. Yet, for some reason, I’ve watched "Up All Night" on Time Warner Cable's Primetime On Demand all season long. And, I’m here to tell you that it’s darn good.
The series follows Reagan (Christina Applegate), a producer on her best friend Ava's (Maya Rudolph) talk show, and Chris (Will Arnett), Reagan's stay-at-home husband, as they adjust to life with their newborn baby girl Amy. Ava is a Oprah type character that was very annoying in the first several episodes but has mellowed and actually become pretty funny. Applegate still looks good and her and the highly likable Arnett have a connection that makes their relationship humorous and as real as a 24-minute network show can portray a marriage.
Minor characters like Missy (Jennifer Hall) and Kevin (Jason Lee) are solid too and add good moments to the show. And, since Lorne Michaels produces alongside Emily Spivey the show is tightly and neatly packaged. It also usually ends with a good, upbeat message/solution which in this day of too much complaining and not enough love is a nice touch for TV show.
For a show that I truly thought would suck, I’m somewhat shocked that I’ve watched nearly episode. So, if you’re looking to add something fairly mindless and rather funny to your watch list, check out "Up All Night."
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
