Parents' Guide to All Night

The stranded-together-just-for-one-night setup is a teen-comedy classic (some would say cliché), and this likeable series makes it work thanks to its underlying sweetness. Viewers will at first fear that every character in All Night is a "type:" the hot popular girl, the not-as-hot-or-popular guy who's hoping she'll be his by night's end, the jocks, the nerds, the wanna-bes. With a cast this large, it can be difficult to sensitively sketch realistic characters and instead default to stereotypes -- and yes, there are some stereotypes on display here, like the way the nerd group intends to celebrate graduation with a single-sex game of cards in a basement. But there are plenty of trope-busting moments too, like when the school bad boy brags he wants to "bang the prom queen -- with her consent, of course," and when the agreed-upon prize in a bro-down game of pool is a $50 donation to the Sierra Club.

Creator Jason Ubaldi, who's also behind YouTube Red high school-set series Youth & Consequences, is making something that's both more thoughtful and more modern than a Sixteen Candles, or a Can't Hardly Wait, despite the similarity in theme. These teens -- they're supposed to be teens, anyway, though all the actors portraying them are in their 20s -- are looking for something deeper than casual sex or getting wasted (though most want both of those things too). In the first episode, Christian quotes Melinda's valedictorian speech to her ironically. "You listened to my graduation speech?" says Melinda, school loner. "Yeah," says confident Christian. "It was great." The smile she rewards him with is exactly how we feel, and more than enough reason to try this show on for size.