What do you do when an integral character leaves your show? That's what NBC has to consider as Christina Applegate has decided to call it a day on her time at Up All Night, giving the network a real head-scratcher.

"It's been a great experience working on Up All Night," Applegate said via a statement. "But the show has taken a different creative direction and I decided it was best for me to move on to other endeavors. Working with Lorne Michaels has been a dream come true and I am grateful he brought me into his TV family. I will miss the cast, producers and crew, and wish them the best always." But how can the show continue with such a core piece missing? They could recast the role; just have a different actress play the part and act like nothing ever happened. They could kill her off, somehow, off camera, or just suggest she's on an indefinite sabbatical - like British comedy The Thick of It dealt with the Chris Langham scandal. So far, NBC have had no comment on their plans for the show, but, E! suggest "an official cancellation sometime between now and May," and we concur.

Looking back, it was clear that Applegate had reservations before she even joined the show. "As you saw, that's all the time I got to see my baby today," she explained. "And that's it. So that's the part that really still to this day is like, 'Uggggh.'...That was the quality time that we got today, so it's hard. I'll get to see her for a minute here and a minute there, and then it's nap time and she has to go home."