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TV Junkie: 'Up All Night' & 'Free Agents' Premiere on NBC Tonight
Hank Azaria and Kathryn Hahn star in NBC's "Free Agents" which premieres tonight at 10:30pm
Premieres of note this week are tonight's "Up All Night" and "Free Agents" on NBC and tomorrow's premiere of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" on FX. I love Will Arnett and I have tentative hopes that "Up All Night," essentially a series about new parents, will be worth your time despite the fact that Nick Cannon is in the cast. The problem is that Christina Applegate's presence on "Up All Night" will take away from the much more interesting cast of "Free Agents" (Hank Azaria, Al Madrigal, Kathryn Hahn, Mo Mandel, and Natasha Leggero), a show about office romance at a PR agency. If the star power of Arnett and Applegate's "Up All Night" means sustainable viewership for "Free Agents" which has this great collection of stand-up comedians manning the supporting roles, I'm all for the pairing. One of the challenges these shows have is that they are premiering during a late primetime slot but will regularly be airing from 8-9pm. People expecting something appropriately risqué for that hour might be disappointed.
Tomorrow on FX "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" begins what may be its last season - will the gang pull out all the stops? With Rob McElhenney deliberately gaining 50 pounds one can only assume this will be true. I remember seeing some complaints last season about the show "not being funny anymore" - compared to what? I think we're familiar with this cast of characters and their dynamics, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is in a similar bind - but both shows continue to push the limits of the 1/2-hour comedy genre. We'll be tuning in.
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The Emmys have added some more presenters for this weekends awards show including Jon Cryer, Scott Caan, Bryan Cranston, and Claire Danes - everybody's got something to promote in that list. My toes are still curling at the thought of having to endure Fox's "Glee"-ified edition of the show, but that's what cocktails are for.
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While we can't wait for HBO's "Bored To Death" to return, we really enjoyed the preview video at the end of this post.
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On Monday we reviewed HBO's Sunday finales which all finished on high notes in terms of viewership. I'm hopeful that Larry David gets the message that people love "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and that he brings it back before 2013.
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The TV Junkie Must-Watch Plan: "Up All Night," "Free Agents," "Conan," "Jimmy Kimmel Live"
8:00pm Survivor: South Pacific CBS - Season Premiere. I Need Redemption The new castaways have mixed reactions to the return of Coach and Ozzy; a close immunity challenge leads to a debate at the Tribal Council.
9:00pm America's Next Top Model The CW - Season Premiere.
10:00pm Up All Night NBC - Series Premiere.
10:00pm Top Chef: Just Desserts Bravo - Pure Imagination The 40th anniversary of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
10:30pm Free Agents NBC - Series Premiere.
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11:00pm Chelsea Lately E! - Actress Kate Bosworth; comic Natasha Leggero; TV personality Ross Mathews; comic Mo Mandel
11:00pm Conan TBS - Actress Tyra Banks; actor Glenn Howerton; the Sklar Brothers perform.
11:30pm The Colbert Report Comedy Central - Interview guest author Michael Moore
11:35pm The Tonight Show With Jay Leno NBC - Actress Jane Lynch; comic Demetri Martin; NeedToBreathe performs.
12:05am Jimmy Kimmel Live ABC - The Little League World Series champions; Cake performs.
12:35am The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson CBS - Dancers from the Moulin Rouge; actor Danny DeVito; actress Olivia Munn.
12:35am Late Night With Jimmy Fallon NBC - Actor Greg Kinnear; adventurer Bear Grylls; Neon Indian performs; Trombone Shorty performs
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