Still Up - General Discussion

[AnimeMania]

Still Up is an 8 episode Comedy TV Series with the first 3 episodes streaming on September 22, 2023 on Apple TV+. Still Up is an almost romantic comedy that follows the exploits of Lisa, an impulsive and free-spirited aspiring illustrator whose questions over her daughter’s future start keeping her up at night, and the socially anxious yet gifted journalist Danny. While the rest of the world sleeps, these two friends spend their long nights talking, and despite being apart, they have come to rely on each other in the hazy, heightened evening hours. The pair have no secrets, except their feelings for each other, and while the world sleeps they spend their long nights talking despite never meeting. Will they end up sleeping together, will they end up sleeping period?

Antonia Thomas as Lisa, an impulsive and free-spirited aspiring illustrator, currently working as a waitress and raising her young daughter Poppy, with her loving partner Veggie.  

Blake Harrison as Veggie, Lisa's reliable, kind, eternally optimistic partner

Sam Spiro as Christine, Veggie's overbearing but fun-loving mother. A retired physiotherapist desperate to be close with Lisa.

Craig Roberts as Danny, a music journalist with neurotic anxiety 

Lois Chimimba as Amy, the forthright and funny woman Danny meets on a dating app 

Luke Fetherston as Adam, Danny's helpful fireman neighbor who lives across the hall. Adam is on hand to save the day when Danny's anxieties get in the way.

Rich Fulcher as Cat Man, Danny's strange neighbor with a penchant for cats.

[AnimeMania]

[AnimeMania]

Episode 1 can be watched for free on AppleTV+.

Still Up     September 22, 2023      Apple TV+  

Episodes 1-3    Titles and Descriptions         

Spoiler

S01.E01: The Pharmacy

While Danny invents new ways to avoid a neighbor, Lisa gets creative on a midnight medical mission.

S01.E02: The Dress

Lisa’s bus ride takes an unexpected turn. Danny aims to impress a dating app match—and makes a not-so-charming mistake.

S01.E03: The Date

Danny hosts a special guest for the evening. Lisa attempts to help from afar as she battles a bad case of boredom.

[AngieBee1]

Cute enough. I'm a fan of both Antonia and Craig's so it's fantastic watching them in a series together.

[aghst]

OK, I've watched all 3 episodes.  I'm unfamiliar with these actors, they're natural enough on camera and they play these quirky characters whose connection is that they both have insomnia so they're FaceTiming with each other all the time while their partners and children are asleep.

I probably missed how they know each other.  Lisa is a mother of a young girl who lives with Veggie.  Danny seems to be a total recluse, who doesn't even want to deal with his neighbors.

Lisa gets Danny to try online dating and sets it up so that he can have a relationship.  His last one was 3 years ago and apparently hasn't dated anyone since, because for one thing, he never leaves the house.

Lisa though finds that the dating app returns Danny as a very high match.  In fact higher than the match score she got with Veggie, her live-in bf.

So the trajectory of this season at least appears to be that both realize they're into each other.  Lisa deletes her dating profile, probably suggesting that she felt it but since she has a bf, she is going to ignore the match as well as probably her own feelings.

Danny has his dating app match over for dinner but he's nervous and FaceTIming with Lisa right up to the last minute before his date Amy arrives and even during the date he steps into another room to communicate with Lisa.

Amy thinks Lisa is Danny's ex that he's still not over.  So she won't see Danny again and Danny wonders if she's right, that he's really interested in Lisa.

 

Again the actors are good and it could be interesting the way they discover that they like each other, that they're not just insomniac mates.

But their convos aren't that entertaining and the antics they get up to aren't particularly interesting.  She goes to a 24-hour pharmacy, has problems paying for the meds she buys, discovers that the pharmacist is dead.

Then she's on a very long bus trip and some other bus riders steal her dress she had under her seat, because they were noisy and she shushed them.  So to make them give the dress back, she starts to undress and throw her clothes out the window of the double-decker bus.

Yeah I scratched my head at that one, why would her threatening to become naked make these random bullies relent?

In the third episode, Danny accidentally slams the door on his date Amy, severing her finger.  He calls his neighbor to bring ice and looks for the severed finger tip, finds it and puts it in his mouth?

WTF?

In any event, the potential for antics is limited in these 3 episodes because one of the main characters never leaves his flat.  So they're just FaceTiming all the time and Lisa is out in the public while they FaceTime, holding her iPhone up and just talking loudly.  She has AirPods but no, she uses the speaker and she's walking down the street staring at Danny in her iPhone screen while oblivious to other pedestrians.

Yeah one of those people who walks while looking only at their phone.

I think it will be very rough if they keep Danny in his flat the whole season and they FaceTime the whole season.  I know this is an Apple TV + show but that's not good way for the two main characters to interact.  Again they're good enough to be natural on the FT camera and all that but it's questionable.

 

Only other thing that's striking to me is that I happen to be watching Dreaming Whilst Black on Showtime, where the main characters are Brits of Jamaican descent and some Nigerians.

The depiction of the lives of black people in the UK on that show is completely different from the depiction on Still Up.

Lisa is black and her bf Veggie is white.  Danny is white and his date Amy is black.  Race doesn't seem to be a factor at all, it's completely frictionless.

On DWB, it's just the opposite, the main male character and the main female character both quit their jobs because their white officemates constantly make racial faux pas in their presence and eventually they both decide they can't continue and quit.

Maybe the difference wouldn't be so noticeable if I weren't watching these shows at the same time.

Still Up isn't trying to depict the lived lives of ethnic minorities.  It's just a coincidence that one of the main character is black.  Otherwise, one would think that black people are treated much better in the UK than in the US and one doubts that's the case.

[Anela]

I used to be agoraphobic, so I can relate to Danny.  
I’m enjoying this. 

[AnimeMania]

S01.E04: The Sleep Clinic

Eager for change, Lisa agrees to a sleep study. Danny prepares for a pivotal interview… while looking after an overly sensitive dog.

Premiere Date: September 29, 2023      Apple TV+    

[AngieBee1]

Still good and still cute, but each episode reveals how slight the premise is. It would strain if not for the cast.  I can't wait for a chance to see Lisa and Danny actually in a room together. 

[aghst]

Lisa was shook when she found out that Danny could leave for LA.

Danny becoming attached to Daisy so quickly may be a sign that he really didn't want to leave either.

So she just couldn't quit Danny for the one night she was in the sleep clinic.

Maybe it's more of an addiction to devices or the dopamine from FaceTime that they can't give up more so than insomnia.

Or we're suppose to believe they're into each other, unwilling to admit it and that's the main addiction.

 

 

 

[AnimeMania]

S01.E05: Veggie Veggie Bing Bong

Lisa embarks on a complicated camping trip with Veggie’s family. Danny endures an endless bathroom repair.

Premiere Date: October 6, 2023      Apple TV+    

[aghst]

Why would they tote all that stuff for the weird game?

And she goes camping but she can’t quit Danny.

Meanwhile Veggie is going to propose.

It’s odd, after half the season or more than half the season, the two main characters, who supposedly are meant for each other, have never been in the same scene together, meaning never in the same room, same place.

Yet each have interacted in person with many other people.

Is this really about two close friends who could become a couple or just a long commercial for FaceTime?

[Harvey]

Well, the they are already sowing the seeds of jealousy Veg will feel, he noticed that Lisa was sharing her joy with Danny, not him.

I thought the bahtroom repairman's storyline was really funny and also cute with that small-stake marital debate. The best plotline of the series so far.

[AnimeMania]

S01.E06: The Road Trip

When Lisa gets tipsy — and lost — during a ladies’ night, Danny goes all out to help her get home.

Premiere Date: October 13, 2023      Apple TV+    

[AngieBee1]

I loved the huge leap Danny did in dealing with his agoraphobia. I was as anxious as he was because I was worried he'd freak out.  

It feels as if the writers only felt that they would only get one series so it seems that Danny and Lisa's relationship is galloping towards telling each other how they feel.  If not, I don't know how they will drag that out should they get a renewal.

[AnimeMania]

S01.E07: The Horse

Distance weighs on Lisa. Danny gets a second chance. Veggie starts to spiral.

Premiere Date: October 20, 2023      Apple TV+    

[AngieBee1]

I am going to have to go back and watch the first few episodes because I am still on clear on how Danny and Lisa met. As it stands now I'm thinking he was Veggie's friend and/or Lisa was friends with Danny's ex.

I really like Amy. I know and want Danny and Lisa to be endgame, but Amy is great for Danny.

The bark of laughter I let out when Cat Man said his cat was Rebecca DeMornay. 

[aghst]

This show is making me appreciate Trying and Bad Sisters a lot more.

Also Platonic and even Shrinking, which was just okay for me.

 

[AnimeMania]

S01.E08: The Wedding

(Season Finale)

As Lisa and Danny reminisce about the night they met, a candid revelation shakes everything up.

Premiere Date: October 27, 2023      Apple TV+    

[AngieBee1]

This season blew past.  I hope it gets picked up.  There's a ton of promise here. 

And as much as I like the idea of Lisa and Danny together; I think they both need to give Veg and Amy a chance before they can really pursue a relationship with each other. 

[aghst]

You mean Danny and Amy.

Or Lisa and Veg?  Lisa was terrified that Veg would propose to her a couple of episodes.

Now she's glad that Veggie came back and she doesn't care that Danny came over to see her?

If Lisa and Danny got together, the premise of the show would end and they'd just be a couple who are both insomniacs so they do things together at night.

So they left it alive for another season but will this show get renewed?  Lisa is likable enough but her identity as a mother was touched on the first episode or two and dropped, no more scenes with the daughter.

Do they have another trick beyond the fact that they spend a lot of time virtually at night when others have gone to bed?

 

 

 

[Anela]

On 10/27/2023 at 5:43 PM, aghst said:

You mean Danny and Amy.

Or Lisa and Veg?  Lisa was terrified that Veg would propose to her a couple of episodes.

Now she's glad that Veggie came back and she doesn't care that Danny came over to see her?

If Lisa and Danny got together, the premise of the show would end and they'd just be a couple who are both insomniacs so they do things together at night.

So they left it alive for another season but will this show get renewed?  Lisa is likable enough but her identity as a mother was touched on the first episode or two and dropped, no more scenes with the daughter.

Do they have another trick beyond the fact that they spend a lot of time virtually at night when others have gone to bed?

 

 

 

I think she was too scared to go there with Danny, so she was relieved when Veggie came home. He knew she was freaked out by the idea of marriage, and still came back. Then Danny lets her know he’ll be there anyway. A really good friend, no matter what.  I thought really sweet, and kind.  A really good guy, not a “nice guy”.  

*thought it was.   The ads keep messing up my typing.  

[aghst]

I think they wanted to leave it hanging so that if they more seasons, they can continue this insomniac theme where they are FaceTiming each other all the time.

I don't know, can they use that gimmick for another half dozen episodes without things really going anywhere?