While many moms and dads spent a portion of their Wednesday night watching the pilot episode of the much-buzzed about new NBC parental sitcom Up All Night, I was Out All Night reliving a bit of my younger days at an indie rock show in a Philadelphia church basement. Unlike the characters played by Will Arnett and Christina Applegate, my evening out on the town didn’t involve shot glasses, champagne, karaoke, or even my significant other but I was still pretty wiped out and groggy when I found myself up before 7am getting lunches ready and a spot of breakfast for my kids. I probably dropped a few F-bombs along the way as well.
No, relating to Up All Night isn’t going to be an issue for most modern parents. This in spite of it’s TV-biz, LaLa land setting where reality is a relative term. I mean, who can dial up a babysitter at that hour and with such swiftness? I haven’t been able to obtain one in 5 years let alone 5 minutes!
Still the new baby/voluntary at-home dad/working mom arc is clever, the acting sharp, the humor sly and quick witted in a Parks & Rec kinda way. I appreciate the almost immediate tension regarding who has the harder “job”; the parent on a payroll or the one on a playground. That is at times a real, um, heated discussion in this house and I’m guessing in many others as well.
Since I’ve bailed on Modern Family, find Parenthood a bit to over-wrought dramatically, and cannot seem to stay focued on Men of a Certain Age, I think I’ll give Up All Night a few more episodes to see how the characters round out and if the creative team behind it can continue to avoid portraying papa as an oaf.
Did ya miss Up All Night last night, like me? Catch it right now on Hulu, as I just did this morning:
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