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NBC is making some big changes to its second season sitcom, Up All Night, beginning early in 2013. The show starring Will Arnett, Christina Applegate and Maya Rudolph is in a bit of a sophomore slump, so the network decided to mix up the format to see if the audience will respond.
The show has been filmed in a single-camera format which means it has a more cinematic look, and the sitcom uses multiple locations. Current shows that use this format include: New Girl, Community and Modern Family.
Beginning next year, Up All Night will become a multi-camera sitcom, and will sound different to the audience at home. That's because the show will be shot on an indoor set in front of a live studio audience. The audience's laughter will be recorded as a part of the show. Other shows currently using this format are The Big Bang Theory, Last Man Standing and Two and a Half Men.
NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt told EW, “This was an idea we and [executive producer Lorne Michaels] came to in order to infuse the show with more energy. We know what the multi-camera audience does for the live episodes of 30 Rock, plus after seeing both [Up All Night co-stars] Maya [Rudolph] and Christina [Applegate] do SNL within the past few months, we knew we had the kind of performers — Will Arnett included — who love the reaction from a live audience."
The show was also given an order for three more episodes to bring their season total to 16 episodes. After the cast wraps Episode 11, they'll take a three-month hiatus as the crew preps the studio for their new multi-camera format for the final five episodes of the season.
The creation of multi-camera techniques is attributed to Desi Arnaz and his cameraman, Karl Freund, during the I Love Lucy run in the 1950s. Arnaz and Freund were told it was impossible to house an audience on a sound stage, but their creation was so successful it set the standard for most sitcoms filmed today.
Up All Night airs as a part of NBC's Thursday night comedy block at 8:30/7:30c.
