From the moment NBC’s primetime schedule was announced last spring, it seemed only a matter of time before “Up All Night” got moved to Thursdays at 9:30 in place of “Whitney.” From the single camera format to Lorne Michaels’ presence as a producer to the wattage of stars Christina Applegate, Maya Rudolph and Will Arnett, it just seemed a more obvious fit for Thursday nights. And when it debuted in the fall to solid reviews and better-than-expected ratings given its placement in NBC’s no-man’s-land Wednesday lineup, it seemed even more clearly destined to do the timeslot switcheroo with “Whitney.”
Well, the move has finally happened, and “Up All Night” gets the post-“Office” timeslot this week. Though we’re now a couple of weeks into 2012, this week’s episode is called (and about) “New Year’s Eve,” and features Reagan and Chris spending the holiday night with their friends, including Ava and her new boyfriend Kevin. (Adding Jason Lee as Kevin was one of the smartest moves creator Emily Spivey has made to date, as it creates a more natural bridge between Reagan’s work and home lives and allows Ava to appear more frequently on the home front.)
In this clip from the episode – exclusive to HitFix for the next few hours – we are reminded of just how competitive Reagan can get, and also of how good Applegate is at playing crazy. Enjoy.