Disney+ axes comedy series from creators of Frozen – leaving fans devastated
THE musical romantic comedy series from the creators of Frozen, Up Here, has been axed just after one season.
The series has eight episodes and stars the Good Girls protagonist Mae Whitman and The Flash’s Carlos Valdes.
Debuting on Hulu in March, the story follows as a couple navigating life and their budding relationship in 1999 New York, all whilst dealing with the ever-present (singing) voices in their heads.
Idealistic writer Lindsay decides that she should really be living in New York to follow her career ambitions.
There, she meets the charming and wealthy Miguel. They click, but their path towards love is littered with obstacles, not the least of which are the voices in their heads that just won’t shut up about what a bad idea this new potential relationship could be.
Up Here was developed by New Girl and My Name is Earl writer Danielle Sanchez-Witzel and Steven Levenson, who penned the book for the musical Dear Evan Hansen.
And Broadway director Thomas Kai, who also directed Hamilton and In the Heights, was behind the camera.
The series also had original musical numbers from Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the songwriters of Frozen and Frozen 2.
The synopsis reads: “The extraordinary story of one ordinary couple, as they fall in love and discover that the single greatest obstacle to finding happiness together might just be themselves — and the treacherous world of memories, obsessions, fears, and fantasies that lives inside their heads.”
The series received mixed reviews from critics upon its debut, garnering a 56% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
However, in Daniel D’Addario’s review for Variety, he wrote: “Assaying a time just before the social web allowed loners to find one another, ‘Up Here’ presents a winning and lovely pair of oddballs singing their hearts out, in disbelief at having found one another.”
Fans were left devastated by the news of the cancellation.
Taking to Twitter, one said: “NO!! I loved that show!”
Another wrote: “Carlos & Mae’s chemistry was adorable throughout had me begging them to get married and have them babies. Yeah we got the dream sequence but I was not expecting that ending. You cannot leave us hanging. Miguel & Lindsey deserve a 2nd season!”
A third penned: “@hulu PLEASE RENEW #UpHere PLEASE!!!”
As well as acting, Mae has also taken an interest in directing and even directed an episode of Good Girls from the third season.
When asked if she would like to direct again, she told Vanity Fair: “One hundred and fifty million per cent. It’s funny: ever since I can remember, people told me I should direct.
“People would call me Tiny Director because I’d sneak over to the camera people or to video village and be like, “If you put a camera back here, you wouldn’t even have to move out for the wide because you could get everybody,” and they’d be like, “Yeah. Okay. Thank you. We get it.”
“I prepped for seven or eight days before the episode. We were two days away from principal photography when the rest of the season got cancelled.
“It was horrible. It was like the most traumatic thing. Of course, there was a rainstorm as I was taking my stuff out of my office and all my paper got wet. It was like a comedy.
“I’m always going to want to act. I’m always going to want to play the weird old lady at the end of the block that the kids are scared of. But I also have a deep dream of transitioning into more behind-the-camera stuff.”
Up Here is available to watch on Disney+.