Up All Night follows brand new parents, Reagan and Chris. The sitcom comes from Lorne Michaels' production company I anticipated the series would be about new parents who complain and complain about the struggles of raising a baby. My expectations were wrong. The show's about how much a couples life changes when a baby enters their life. Reagan (Christina Applegate) juggles her job as a parent with her professional job. Chris (Will Arnett) left his job in a law firm to stay with his daughter during the day. The parents adore their baby, Amy. They look at her with awe in their eyes as if they can't believe they made someone so precious and beautiful. It works, its heart-warming, and it makes me care about these two people.
Maya Rudolph portrays Ava, an Oprah-esque talk show host. The talk show fell apart during Reagan's maternity leave. When Regan returns to work, she's busier than ever because her brilliance carried the show to the top of daytime television. Without her, Ava drove the show into the ground because she was ignorant of what made it work. The busy lifestyle further complicates the change in her and Chris' relationship and also threatens to take more of her time with Amy away.
Various events happen and Reagan learns that she needs to make decision about her life. For example, she and Chris went out for a night to celebrate their 7th anniversary and woke up to a screaming baby with hangovers. The lesson: they can't live as they once did--a baby changes everything. The pilot's about Reagan's journey towards an epiphany about her new life as the mother of a baby. Ava insists she join her on a road trip to Santa Monica to lock a guest for an upcoming episode. For the first time in her professional life, Reagan tells her boss 'no.' Ava understands. The moment feels earned and natural, and that exchange encouraged me to continue watching the show. If Reagan juggled her two lives every week, it'd become tiresome quickly.
The scenes at the offices of Ava's show worked within the episode, in my opinion. I've read critics who argued the home life and professional life seemed like two different shows. I thought the Ava stuff was integrated well. It showed Ava's not only Reagan's boss but a friend as well. The scenes showed glimpses of Reagan's old life which helped explain the character's choice to return to work. They were funny too. The highlight of the Ava scenes is Nick Cannon's cameo as Ava's sidekick.
The final scene in the episode completely won me over. Reagan and Chris took their baby to the park. Reagan promised her daughter that she'd be with her in the mornings; she'd be with her when she loses her first teeth, and she'd move near her when she leaves for college. And when she's old and in a home, she'll proudly tell everyone that her daughter came to visit her. Christina Applegate's wonderful throughout the scene, delivering the words with so much love.
The casting's terrific. Will Arnett's performance is understated and genuine. Chris isn't Gob 6.0. Christina Applegate's natural and seems like she's been playing Reagan for years. Maya Rudolph's terrific as Ava--her portrayal of this iconic woman with a complete lack of self-awareness is very enjoyable. Personally, I think the series is worth people's time Wednesdays at 8PM.
Free Agents was imported from our friends across the Atlantic in England. The series follows two lovelorn individuals who find comfort in their occasional sex. Alex (Hank Azaria) and Helen (Kathryn Hahn) were drunk and had sex. Afterwards, Alex becomes emotional because he's in the midst of a divorce. Helen's uninterested in saving the man from his current despair. Helen, though, lost her fiancé one year ago and continues to grieve.
The comedy's set within a PR firm with sex-driven characters. One character longs for a night out so he can remember what it's like to be separate from the family. The entire workplace wants Alex to rebound from his divorce by sleeping with the first available woman. The staff gathers in a meeting room to strategize Alex's rebound as if they're strategizing how to spin a damaging story to the press. The scenes aren't funny. In fact, I didn't laugh once. Anthony Stewart Head's Stephen's potentially funny. The show's three main actors are very funny but it doesn't work.
Helen's personal issues are problematic because we're supposed to root for her move past her deceased fiancé. I find that idea troubling because grief's a complicated and involved process. The suggestion that she simply needs to 'get over it' doesn't endear me to the employees at the firms, and I'm reluctant to spend anymore time with them in the workplace. I briefly considered watching the original BBC series but the fiancé back-story is a deal breaker.
Alex is a decent protagonist even though he's only defined by his divorce. There's nothing particularly charming about him. I appreciate his desire to find one woman he can be with rather than multiple women just because he needs to 'get over' his divorce. His sadness about the distance the divorce created between his kids makes him a sympathetic figure. Hank Azaria, though, exhibits little pathos during his emotional scenes mostly because they're being played for laughs. Again, this is problematic because there isn't humor in someone who can't see his children because of a divorce.
Free Agents isn't worth your time until the supporting characters are written more humanely and the show shifts away from its insistence of trying to find humor in depressing situations.
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.