Up All Night

It's surprising that two of the best recent sitcoms both feature actors who first came to fame through that horrible 80's thing call Married With Children. It's even more interesting that they are both mining somewhat the same vein in their new shows - a sendup of the modern family.

Christina Applegate is wonderful in this role, unafraid to be unattractive and conveying the tribulations of new motherhood with an odd, but realistic, combination of grit, excitement, wonder and denial. Hers is the most believable portrayal of motherhood I've seen in a long time. Even Will Arnett (who was in that other show that explored modern families and that remains astonishingly over-rated)is at his best.

There are shows that are exceptional right from the word go!

Then there are shows that start with potential and deteriorate badly.

This show is neither of the above. While it is not exceptional from the word go it does start with obvious potential. However, it does not deteriorate and instead goes above and beyond the potential it showed in the first place.

I just watched the season one finale and it was an absolutely sublime 21 minutes of television.

I know that there are tons of shows out there to watch and you may have watched the first episode or two of this show and thought "this is not as funny as the cast promises" and then again you may have seen the potential but decided that you didn't want to waste your time seeing if it lived up to its potential. But trust me this show does get to the point of being as funny as you'd expect the ensemble cast to be and as I said already more than lives up to its potential.

This show is very much worth watching. At the start I would maybe have given the show a 6 or 7, I wasn't quite sure. But now after getting used to the characters and having watched them mature and deepen, especially in the last few episodes, I would easily rate this show at a 9.

The first season finale episode itself is worth 10 out of 10 and had me in tears. It was brilliant and well worth making your way through the whole of the first season just to experience. A point had to be dropped because that quality wasn't there from day one (or maybe it was and I just didn't understand the characters enough yet).

So if you've tried the show already and decided to move on before it hit its groove or if you've never watched the show yet, I heartily recommend watching every episode of this show and I do not believe you will be in any way disappointed.

Considering the talent in this show I had higher hopes. But sadly most shows centered around being new parents and a baby are usually failures. This show continues to rehash the same themes of new parenthood (ie finding time for each other, no sleep, loving/hating your child, etc). Which is too bad because Will Arnett is wonderful but still has yet to do anything better than his character Gob in Arrested Development. A show so far superior to this one that I'm afraid to mention them in the same sentence. Christina, well, yeah, she has had more sitcom failures than any one person cares to admit. I'm not sure this is really a reflection upon her. Just poor projects that come her way and poor writing. And lastly Maya Rudolph who was hysterical in Bridesmaids does a very made for TV portrayal of Oprah. Her character is cringe worthy in nearly every scene. It is kind of like her very own worst of SNL reel put into a role. Painful.

Sadly this show could have had potential due to the people involved. But this recycled material was destined for failure because apparently the writers are trying as hard as Maya Rudolph in this show resulting in a painful and predictable show. I wish it was better but it's not.

I think this show is positively hilarious. Although I am a 23 year old college student, no where near any of the demographics in this show, I find myself laughing out loud during almost every scene. Yes, it's a bit silly and sometimes over the top and the comedy is a bit slapstick-esque but I can definitely see why older people relate to it and I obviously understand why the younger generation finds it comical. I also think Christina Applegate is an amazing actress and does comedy like nobody's business. Her one-liners are as flawless as she is. Will Arnett is also pretty funny--I'd love to have a husband like that at home. Finally, I see everyone commenting about Maya Rudolph attempting to "steal the show." I agree with this, she tries too hard to be funny and I think she has too big of a part in the show considering what it's about...but hopefully with time the writers will recognize that and fix it. This show definitely has potential to be a classic and I hope it continues for many more seasons.

Reagan Brinkley (Christina Applegate) and Chris Brinkley (Will Arnett) are a couple of hard partying professionals who were surprised into parenthood and suburbia. Ava Alexander (Maya Rudolph) is a host of her own show and Reagan's boss/friend/dependent.

This is a show led by SNL veterans like Emily Spivey. And surprisingly it's just not that funny. The leads Christina Applegate and Will Arnett have some good chemistry together. They have some good exchanges. Maya Rudolph is a one note character, and never gets much depth. They try various characters to add as support like the loser brother played by Luka Jones. Most of these efforts end in failure.