Up All Night

There's a sweet, good-hearted minuteness of observation to the show, which manages to work in middle-of-the-night wakings and diaper changes without going for obvious gags.

Up All Night is adorable without being cute. [3 Oct 2011, p.41]

It's by no means a flawless show, and there's no certainty that even a trio as strong as this one can float the series by sheer force of will, but if the last 10 minutes are any indication, Up All Night may just find itself the most elusive trophy of all: an audience.

Applegate and Will Arnett, who plays her husband, Chris, are very good, which is no surprise. It's nice to see Arnett playing something other than an emotionally stunted man-child, and if the pilot for Up All Night didn't make me guffaw all that much, it passed by pleasantly and it was good to see that creator Emily Spivey was able to wring comedy from the new-parent situation without using the same dozen baby jokes we've all seen 200 times before.

While there's definite potential in the show, there were a few things about it that just didn't work.

Up All Night could use more backup players and more imaginative writing. Most of all, the show has to get over its fear of offending.

Clearly, responsible parents will put the kids to bed early, unless they want to brave exposing their offspring to an uninspired if harmless piece of (bleep).