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  1. Trae Patton
    Trae Patton

    UP ALL NIGHT -- Pilot -- Pictured: (l-r) Will Arnett as Chris, Christina Applegate as Reagan -- Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC

  2. Trae Patton
    Trae Patton

    UP ALL NIGHT -- Pilot -- Pictured: (l-r) Christina Applegate as Reagan, Will Arnett as Chris -- Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC

  3. Trae Patton
    Trae Patton

    UP ALL NIGHT -- Pilot -- Pictured: (l-r) Christina Applegate as Reagan, Maya Rudolph as Ava -- Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC

TV Review: Up All Night

Will Arnett and Christina Applegate star as new parents who still love to party in the season's best new comedy series.

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Up All Night has one of the most impressive teams of any of fall's new shows. The small cast is loaded with the comedy royalty of Will Arnett, Christina Applegate and Maya Rudolph and was created by former Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation scribe Emily Spivey. All of that talent is put to great use as Up All Night delivers some of the biggest laughs of the new television season.

Chris (Arnett) and Reagan (Applegate) are not the typical new parents we're used to seeing on TV. From the outset, it's clear that this is a couple that was happily married and not looking to change anything about their lives. When the pair find out they're pregnant, they are mostly perplexed, as if the concept of being parents had never crossed their minds. After some consideration, they decide it's not a bad idea after all and, nine months later, they welcome their daughter Amy into their lives with open arms.

Up All Night fast forwards past Reagan's preganancy and maternity leave to bring us straight to the big day, when she returns to work and she and Chris get their first taste of what life is like while trying to raise a child. Chris has elected to be a stay-at-home dad, though he makes mention of doing work from home. Reagan returns to her job managing an Oprah-esque talk show hosted by her boss, Ava (Maya Rudolph). In the midst of work and parenting, the couple struggle to find time to party like they used to and make plans to celebrate their seventh anniversary in their old style.

Arnett and Applegate make an adorable couple and their fumbling attempts at parenthood are winning without being overly cutesy or so horrifying that you wonder when child protective services is going to show up. Watching the two of them attempt to change their daughter in the midst of horrendous hangovers is incredibly hilarious. Rudolph's character has, thankfully, been toned down from the original pilot, where she seemed like she had walked out of an SNL sketch. She now bears a greater resemblence to a human being, if a quite needy one with no boundaries. It will be interesting to see how she interacts with Amy when the two meet in the second episode.

Up All Night takes a familiar sitcom premise of a couple struggling with a new baby and breathes life into it with characters that are vibrant, funny and lovable.

Up All Night premieres Wednesday 9pm on NBC, it will air regularly on Wednesday nights at 7pm.

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