NBC’s Up All Night is pretty much done for, and TV Guide has a piece out today looking at the show’s life and, more interestingly, its death. After NBC and the producers decided to turn it from a single-camera sitcom to a multi-camera one with a live audience, that apparently wasn’t big enough of a change as several high-concept 2.0 versions of the show were pitched and even written. Here’s an excerpt from the piece:
“[New showrunner Linda] Wallem and the writing staff began brainstorming ideas for the multi-camera version. One pitch placed a portal between the two worlds — the single-cam and multi-cam versions — that only baby Amy could see. Another idea put Wallem and her real-life partner, [rock star Melissa] Etheridge, in front of the camera, perhaps with the action taking place in their living room.Ultimately, a script was written in which Applegate, Arnett and Rudolph played actors portraying the characters Reagan, Chris and Ava on a fictional show called Up All Night. Off the show-within-a-show, Arnett’s character would live at home with his mother, and Applegate’s would be dating. Rudolph’s real-life pregnancy was being written into the storyline — and included a “who’s the daddy?†twist.
So, there you have it. Just when you thought the Up All Night story couldn’t get any crazier, there’s another layer of absurdity.