Sometimes I Wonder...
...whether Lorne Michaels has a picture of Someone Very High Up in the NBC Hierarchy having sex with an orangutang.
It's the only explanation I can come up with for NBC rootling Up All Night as a multi-cam sitcom.
My problem with Up All Night from the start was that it was basically Raising Hope, but with Rich People and their Rich People Problems (I gave up in the middle of an episode where the characters decided that Mommy's sports car was impractical, and were deciding between buying a new four-door and a new SUV. Ugh.)
Which is not to cast aspirations on Raising Hope, by the way. I really like Raising Hope. I don't love it. It doesn't tug my heart the way, say, My Name Is Earl did. But growing up I knew some people who were like the characters on Raising Hope, which kind of gives you a clue about the mix of people I knew in my socioeconomic background. While I don't identify with the Raising Hope gang 100%, I kind of know what it's like when the whole family's gotta live within a tight budget. Raising Hope is my go-to when I need something funny, sad, and sweet and I don't want to think about it too much.
But Up All Night? Infuriated the fuck out of me with it's self-satisfied, smug version of Rich People comedy. Which is too bad, because I love the hell out of Will Arnett, Christina Applegate, and Maya Rudolph. I desperately wanted to like it because these three working together is like having the Dream Team on a comedy.
Now I understand that NBC is fueling a third (count 'em, third) retooling of Up All Night in a desperate attempt to save it.
They're making it multicamera. With "a live studio audience." While upping the episode order from 11 to 16 episodes.
I can't even begin to understand the thought process behind this. Just switching the set-up and the redoing the sets to accommodate a multi-camera is going to cost money. A lot of money for filming just five episodes. What few fans the show has will be alienated. And I'm pretty sure that a change in format isn't going to draw new ones in.
It's mystifying. Utterly mystifying.
But then again, it has been pointed out in the past the NBC seems congenitally unable to say "no" to Lorne Michaels. If Lorne wants it, he gets it.
Meanwhile, Community is still languishing in a hell-ish limbo without even a return date.
It's the only explanation I can come up with for NBC rootling Up All Night as a multi-cam sitcom.
My problem with Up All Night from the start was that it was basically Raising Hope, but with Rich People and their Rich People Problems (I gave up in the middle of an episode where the characters decided that Mommy's sports car was impractical, and were deciding between buying a new four-door and a new SUV. Ugh.)
Which is not to cast aspirations on Raising Hope, by the way. I really like Raising Hope. I don't love it. It doesn't tug my heart the way, say, My Name Is Earl did. But growing up I knew some people who were like the characters on Raising Hope, which kind of gives you a clue about the mix of people I knew in my socioeconomic background. While I don't identify with the Raising Hope gang 100%, I kind of know what it's like when the whole family's gotta live within a tight budget. Raising Hope is my go-to when I need something funny, sad, and sweet and I don't want to think about it too much.
But Up All Night? Infuriated the fuck out of me with it's self-satisfied, smug version of Rich People comedy. Which is too bad, because I love the hell out of Will Arnett, Christina Applegate, and Maya Rudolph. I desperately wanted to like it because these three working together is like having the Dream Team on a comedy.
Now I understand that NBC is fueling a third (count 'em, third) retooling of Up All Night in a desperate attempt to save it.
They're making it multicamera. With "a live studio audience." While upping the episode order from 11 to 16 episodes.
I can't even begin to understand the thought process behind this. Just switching the set-up and the redoing the sets to accommodate a multi-camera is going to cost money. A lot of money for filming just five episodes. What few fans the show has will be alienated. And I'm pretty sure that a change in format isn't going to draw new ones in.
It's mystifying. Utterly mystifying.
But then again, it has been pointed out in the past the NBC seems congenitally unable to say "no" to Lorne Michaels. If Lorne wants it, he gets it.
Meanwhile, Community is still languishing in a hell-ish limbo without even a return date.