Up All Night: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Up All Night: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 8, 2022

Up All Night aired on NBC over a decade ago, premiering on September 14, 2011 and coming to an end on December 13, 2012. The brief 15-month run spanned two seasons, including a 24-episode first season and a truncated 11 episode second season. The show was a moderate success, one of NBC's more popular offerings at its time of airing. It was suspended in October 2012 in order to shift production from single- to multi-camera production to be filmed in front of a live studio audience, but star departures and new commitments during the downtime resulted in the series' ultimate cancellation a few months later. That's a shame, because this is a very relevant Comedy that handles its situational humor and scenarios with agreeable pacing, accessible plot lines, and relatable characters.

Official synopsis: Primetime Emmy nominee Christina Applegate (TV's 'Dead to Me'), Maya Rudolph ('Bridesmaids') and Will Arnett (TV's 'Arrested Development') star in this smart, irreverent comedy about adjusting to life with a newborn. Reagan (Applegate) and her husband, Chris (Arnett), have long enjoyed partying with their famous talk show host friend, Ava (Rudolph), but their glamorous lives change with the arrival of their daughter, Amy. Regan's the one going back to work while Chris is going to be a stay-at-home dad. Determined to prove she can be the perfect wife, mother, nd career woman, Regan spins a little out of control. Follow their wild and relatable journey through parenthood featuring phenomenal guest stars Jason and produced by 'Saturday Night Live' veteran Lorne Michaels!

If there was ever a TV show that was "me" in the right here, right now, it's Up All Night. I am a father of a four-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son. They've been a great joy and blessing in my life, but sleep has been just a little hard to come by these last few years. My daughter, of course, was frequently up at night for feedings and diapers and all of that fun stuff in her first months but gradually began to sleep more and more. Now, she is a perfect sleeper. She sleeps all night, every night, and very rare is it that she wakes us up for anything. I think I can count on one hand the number of times she has been up in the last three years, including from being sick. When my wife and I learned we were having a second, I said to her, "you know, she sleeps so well that the pendulum is going to swing and he's not going to sleep well at all." Well...call me Nostradamus. My son does not sleep well, at all. He's struggled with sleep since birth. He was born two months prematurely and spent six weeks in the NICU (in spring 2020 at that at the height of the Covid mania which only amplified difficulties and didn't allow my wife and I to bond with him, together, immediately, all the time, as he needed). But he has just never slept well, yet he never seems to run out of energy! Even now, having just turned two a couple of weeks ago, he's waking up at all hours of the night, not hungry or in need of a diaper change, just desperately wanting to be with mom or dad (lately me). He will sleep just fine if we snuggle him in a chair, but he has yet to truly sleep through the night on a consistent basis, and even when he does, like clockwork he's up at 5AM ready to go with his day. So, in short, this is a series I can relate to. Completely.

There is certainly room for escapist entertainment, in watching something completely beyond the realm of possibility or one's own life experience, but there's also room for absolutely relatable content, and that so many can relate to the ups and downs, trials and traversals, laughs and frustration in Up All night is why it works so well. The show's situational comedy obviously understands parenthood, and those chances to yell "yes! I know the feeling!" at the screen are incredibly rewarding and satisfying. Even therapeutic in a way, knowing that "I'm not alone" in these times. The characters and their specific life situations may not exactly line up with anyone else, but their parenthood experiences, antics, failures, and successes are certainly, if not fully universal, mostly universal, making for one heck of a fun and funny and fully relatable show that every parent will enjoy.

The performances are solid there is a feeling of investment into the characters and storyline and, likewise, a sense of understanding of what being parents to a newborn is really like. The pull away from routines and comforts, the combative early morning arguments, the sluggish dragging, the frantic phone calls, the general uncertainty of how things work are all captured and conveyed very well. Ava offers an interesting contrast character who is sort of like the bridge to the life that was, but Reagan and Chris are always pulled back to reality when the baby starts to cry or the alarm clock goes off way too early in the morning. Good stuff.

Up All Night: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This is a fairly typical Mill Creek television release presentation. The 1.78:1-framed image is presented at the 1080p resolution. It looks fairly good, generally, but some underlying issues are apparent upon closer inspection. Notably, compression artifacts are readily apparent. These are not so severe as to destroy the show, but they linger in the background, ever present but appearing aggressively bothersome only part of the time. Videophiles will balk, but really…is anyone watching Up All Night in hopes of finding a masterpiece of 1080p video perfection? Sure, better compression and more space (i.e. spreading the show around four or five discs, rather than three) would have allowed for a superior presentation and alleviated some of the core problems, but it's not like this a major afront to humanity. It looks good enough throughout. That includes good, crisp detailing and readily apparent textural muscle to essentials like clothing, faces, and environments. Colors are pleasantly bold, offering appreciable tonal pop and punch without appearing overly warm or in any way unnaturally vivid or desaturated. Black levels are fine, white balance is fine, skin tones are fine… this one looks fine. The compression issues are a bummer, but it's Up All Night…this serves it nicely enough.

Up All Night: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is fine, but rarely does it expand to take advantage of the surround and subwoofer channels. This is a front heavy affair, and a front-center heavy affair at that. There's simply not much stretch, and honestly not much reason for stretch. This is a dialogue driven show; the spoken word is adequately clear and center positioned. Music does offer good front end stretch but it never really pushes through the backs in any aggressive, or even most of the time tangible, way. There are a few exceptions, such as during an anniversary outing at a loud club in the first episode, but even here the sense of immersion and fullness is lacking, even if it's more present and purposeful than is found most anywhere else. The track certainly plays well enough, but like the video it's more than adequate even if it has no opportunity, or need, to be a technical marvel.

Up All Night: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements to be found on any of the three Blu-ray discs. The discs ship in a standard size Amaray case; two season one discs are double stacked on the left and the lone season two disc is on the right. No inner print artwork is included. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover. The main menu screen only offers selectable episode listings, a "play all" option, and a tab to toggle subtitles on and off.

Up All Night: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Of course, the show is not just about the rigors of parenting at home but also juggling those responsibilities outside the home. That the show flips the roles is a nice change of pace; this allows for not only the basic storyline of life balance to take shape, but from nontraditional perspectives, allowing for more situational humor but also a deeper story. Speaking of, this is hardly Shakespeare, but it's good fun, most of the time, and audiences who can relate to the situation should enjoy. Neither video nor audio are perfect but they're entirely serviceable. It's a shame there are no extras, but that's par for the course. Recommended.