Up All Night: Cabin Fever

Up All Night is a charming show, mostly thanks to the chemistry between Christina Applegate and Will Arnett as Reagan and Chris. In last night’s episode “Week Off”, we got to see a little more of that dynamic at play since Reagan had the week off from work. (A pipe burst or something at the Ava studio, so everyone got a free vacation.)

With nothing to do and a Type A personality, Reagan started making things around the house “better” – the junk drawer, the closet, Amy’s laundry. But it had been the way Chris wanted it, and he’s the one that’s in the house every day. I liked how the disagreement wasn’t an actual fight between the two, it just highlighted the differences in their personalities and also addressed Chris’s changing identity now that he’s a stay-at-home dad instead of a lawyer.

Meanwhile, Reagan helped Ava bond with her new boyfriend’s daughter McKenna. I’m still not sure I buy Ava dating an everyman, and it’s certainly a device to give her an excuse to be in Reagan and Chris’s hood more often, but the writers and Maya Rudolph really sell it as she feels super attracted her Kevin every time he utters some kind of manly phrase like “load bearing wall” or touches her with his rough, calloused hands.

Up All Night is a simple show, but it delivers a lot of jokes. I found myself laughing out loud a bunch of times this week. Here’s a few things I liked:

• An Occupy Wall Street joke! It happened quickly, but it was there. And Chris’s reply “Yeah, don’t left-wing tweet at me please.”
• Ava was really funny this week. She told Reagan the kid was “a real butt – with two t’s” and offered to sing for McKenna instead of giving her advice, but was also very sweet when she told McKenna it was all about confidence and showed her a hilarious clip of Ava bungling “Luck be A Lady” in front of important statesmen.
• The sock fight was pretty funny – whereas some shows create conflict between spouses that makes you sometimes wonder if they even like one another (Hi, Phil and Claire Dunphy!), Reagan and Chris’s spats always have an obvious sense of love beneath them.
• Reagan couldn’t help but trim the old war vet’s lawn. I could relate – it was bugging her! She was making it better!
• Husband and wife Terry and Jean are actually husband and wife Gene and Terri.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Couchtime/~3/TxqqwTVFU1Q/up-all-night-cabin-fever.html