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| USA Up All Night | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | Up All Night Up All Night with Rhonda Shear |
| Genre | Variety Sketch comedy |
| Created by | Hilary Schacter |
| Written by | Alex Bernstein Trace Burroughs Marty Byk Tim Conway, Jr. Michael Eisenbaum Bob Hilgenberg Rob Muir Angela Muto Billy Romary Tim Maile Caroline Schlitt |
| Directed by | Marty Byk Lou Chagaris Michael Eisenbaum Kerry-Ellen Meehan Brad Kriesberg |
| Presented by | Gilbert Gottfried (1989–1998) Caroline Schlitt (1989–1990) Rhonda Shear (1991–1998) |
| Composer | Edd Kalehoff |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 10 |
| No. of episodes | over 900 |
| Production | |
| Producers | Kerry-Ellen Meehan Marty Byk Michael Eisenbaum Antoinette Ribisi Christy Davis |
| Production locations | New York City (1989–1998) Los Angeles (1989–1995) |
| Running time | 4–6 hours |
| Original release | |
| Network | USA Network |
| Release | January 7, 1989 (1989-01-07) – March 7, 1998 (1998-03-07) |
USA Up All Night (also known asUp All Night andUp All Night with Rhonda Shear) is an Americancable television series that aired weekly on Friday and Saturday nights on theUSA Network. The show aired from 1989 to 1998.[1] Throughout its run, the program was hosted byGilbert Gottfried, Caroline Schlitt, and finallyRhonda Shear.
The program consisted primarily of low-budget films, bookended by in-studio or on-location comedy skits featuring the show's hosts. In addition to skits, the hosts would also provide sardonic comments about the featured film(s), and observations on variousHollywood- and/or New York City-area clubs and attractions (when the series was shooting out of studio). Including commercials, the program typically ran from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.[2]
The films aired ranged fromcult classics, toB movies, to other fare not appearing on television frequently.Up All Night would regularly showsexploitation films, with the explicit content edited out.
The series began on January 7, 1989, with comicGilbert Gottfried hosting on Saturdays fromNew York City. In that first show, Gottfried was seen in an empty office building in Manhattan. The first two films that night wereCheerleaders Beach Party andStuck on You!.[3] Halfway through the first season, a Friday night show broadcast fromLos Angeles hosted by actress/comedian Caroline Schlitt (fresh off the short-livedCamp Midnite) was added. When Schlitt left the program in December 1990, comedian/B-movie actressRhonda Shear replaced her on Fridays, beginning on January 4, 1991. In 1995, the Shear edition moved to New York City (home of the Gottfried edition), and stayed there for the remainder of the run.[4]
Originally, the show aired at 11 p.m. on Saturdays, and featured two movies (with in-studio or on-location comedy skits in between), which were then followed by a repeat of the first movie. When the Friday night edition was added in mid-1989, the format now consisted of three different movies, with the third one being unhosted (the bumpers for the third movie were simply narrated by the host, depending on the edition). Some episodes did not have a "third" movie. The Friday show originally began at midnight and ran until 6 a.m.; in July 1991, it was changed to the same time as the Saturday edition. In December 1994, the format was changed slightly to incorporateDuckman into the 11:00 p.m. timeslot, prior to the first movie. This trend of incorporatingDuckman into the show continued on occasion untilDuckman ended in September 1997.
In April 1996, the Saturday edition was moved to 12 a.m.; July 1996 had it move back to 11 p.m., and August 1996 had the Friday show move to 12 a.m. In January 1997, the Saturday show moved to 12 a.m., with the Friday show moving back to 11 p.m. a month later in February. For a short time in 1997, there was no third movie.
Occasionally, the show did special episodes which were often hosted by Shear and Gottfried together. They included Grad Night specials at Universal Studios Florida during 1992 and 1993, a mock B-Movie Awards special during 1993, and New Year's Eve specials during 1991, 1992, and 1993.
In 1998, USA came under the new management ofBarry Diller, and decided to go for a more general and upscale viewership. This meant many of USA's long-running series were either overhauled or canceled –Up All Night ended up among the latter. The network relieved Shear and Gottfried of their hosting duties (while still showing theUp All Night imagery before/after commercial breaks), and began airing re-runs of mainstream films that appealed to a broader audience. By 2002, theUp All Night name, music, and graphics were completely removed from the films.
From December 1988 to February 1998, a grand total of over 900 episodes ofUSA Up All Night were shot.
In 1993, for about a year, Rhonda Shear hosted a Spanish version ofUSA Up All Night for the Latin market.