Primetime Emmy® nominee Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?), Maya Rudolph (Bridesmaids) and Will Arnett (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 unexpected arrival of their daughter. Follow their wild and relatable journey through parenthood with phenomenal guest stars Jason Lee (My Name is Earl), Molly Shannon (Saturday Night Live), Megan Mullally (Will and Grace), and music icons Alanis Morissette and Stevie Nicks. Written and produced by Saturday Night Live veteran Lorne Michaels, this is one show worth staying up for!
For thoughts on Up All Night: The Complete Series, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:
Video Quality
Up All Night: The Complete Series arrives on Blu-Ray courtesy of Mill Creek Entertainment with a decently strong AVC encoded 1080p transfer. The series is pretty bright with a lovely, natural color palette revealing vibrant colors within the elaborate production design. Black levels are fairly deep, giving way to a pleasing amount of detail in more dimly lit scenes. The whites of the show are luminous, but do not fall victim to any blooming in this presentation. Skin tones appear very natural throughout the series, revealing a good amount of textural nuance in the face. Mill Creek has done a bit of their typical overstuffing of each disc with too many episodes, which means you are served up some unappealing compression artifacts. This transfer has some minor inconsistency, but this Blu-Ray presentation is a solid enough effort for a show that is frankly shocking to have on the format.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray comes with a charming DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that recreates the sounds of this world with ease. Dialogue is the driving force of the show, and it always comes through crisp and clear without being clipped by any competing sounds. The music on the show is used to create a buoyant atmosphere which fills the room during transitional moments. The jaunty opening theme music always hits hard in a really exciting way. There is not much in the way of action on this show, but the environmental sounds of the world engage the surround speakers in a really pleasing way. The sounds of the office environment at The Ava Show stand out in the mix. Ambient noises are precisely placed in the rear channels. The audio track does what it is asked to do and nothing more. There are optional English SDH subtitles provided.
Special Features
There are no special features included in this release.
Final Thoughts
Up All Night had a bit of an identity crisis throughout its brief two-season run, but at its core it was always an enjoyable time despite what executives may have thought. It is not quite to the level of comedic mastery such as the whip-smart 30 Rock, but it circumvents typical sitcom tropes to have a bit of a fresh perspective on old standards. It does not hurt that this cast was terrific and elevated the strong material even higher. Mill Creek Entertainment has released the complete series on Blu-Ray with a pretty good A/V presentation but nothing in the way of special features. This one is a huge surprise to have on Blu-Ray, but we fully support the release of TV shows big and small on the format. Recommended
Up All Night: The Complete Series is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Mill Creek Entertainment has supplied a copy of this set free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.