Rhonda Shear on ‘Up All Night’ Network Launch & Memorable TV Spots

Rhonda Shear steamed up late-night in the 90s with USA: Up All Night. The bombshell actress and comedienne has since grown the show into a full-on network on Roku. Launching September 11, the Up All Night Network features 24-hour programming plus on-demand collections featuring independent films, comedy shows, horror content, podcasts and music videos. The launch also coincided with an all-new season of Shear’s iconic reboot show featuring the 2025 film OnlyFangs starring Kansas Bowling, Nina Lanee Kent and Jessa Jupiter Flux, directed by Paul Ragsdale and Angelica De Alba.  

New episodes will premiere bi-monthly on the channel featuring full, uncensored films from the network’s growing collection of cult movies and franchises including Rick Sloane’s Vice Academy series, Chris Seaver’s Warlock Home Video catalog and films from legendary cult filmmaker Jim Wynorski.  

In addition to new episodes, the network will also be home to episodes of the original 90s USA: Up All Night show via on demand alongside an expanding lineup of independent comedy, horror and action films made for both emerging filmmakers and established favorites. The next generation are also cultivated through the Scream Queen Collection, a horror hub celebrating the women who have defined and continue to shape the genre, each with her own dedicated mini-hub for movies, appearances and interviews. 

The inaugural Scream Queens class includes Linnea Quigley, Michelle Bauer, Jessa Jupiter Flux, Brinke Stevens, Felissa Rose, Jennifer Nagle and Mel Heflin, with Nagle also bringing her beloved Malvolia character to the network in an all-new weekly series. Other debuts include Midnight at Refinery, starring Miss Jenna, a weekly series that takes viewers into the “haunted classroom” to discover standout independent short films and give emerging filmmakers a shot at a national streaming audience.

Shear has built an impressive resume with appearances on some of the most beloved shows including Cheers, Dallas, Married with…Children, Full House, and more. We sat down with the star to talk about her latest venture and reflect on her favorite sets to be on over the years. 

The Roku channel just launched. What’s it like for you to provide a platform for creators who may not have gotten the chance to showcase their work otherwise? 

Rhonda Shear: I’m excited to be able to bring back an iconic show from the 90s like Up All Night. We’re wrapping it around movies, original films, some oldies but goodies, brand new films with brand new creators. We license the films, so it’s done completely. We want everybody in on the profits of this Roku app. We charge $3.99 a month. We are producing all new Up All Night episodes with me and a lot of the stars from some of the new films. We’re looking for podcasts. We’re looking for music videos. We’re looking for shorts. We have comedy specials up on the site already. It’s almost like MTV back in the day. So you’re getting this incredible variety. You get video on demand as well as live programming. So, we’re really excited. We’re calling it a network, as opposed to a channel, because we have everything.

What has the response been? 

It has been great. We’re mainly getting the word out through social media at the moment and word of mouth through the horror community. Not that it’s only the horror community, but they seem to be the first ones to latch on with a huge response. Subscriptions are really flying, and every week there’s more and more. We did just launch, but the submissions are through the roof. So my distributor, who’s actually going through every one of those and getting back to people. He can’t keep up. It’s a great partnership with Anthony Hudson and Scream Go Media, which is programming. We’re just getting the right mix of all kinds of programming, so very exciting times for me as a creator myself. Bring back a little nostalgia with a lot of new things as well.

You’ve found a fan base from your involvement in WWF, called WWE now. You’re definitely someone I could see as a candidate for their Hall of Fame. 

The wrestlers and fans are so beyond loyal. And USA Network was with WWF and showed so many WWF. The synergy was amazing. I would go and cover their events and their wrestling matches for USA Network, and then they would come on my show. So I had some of these icons. We had Randy Savage. We had  Dink and Doink. Just these amazing names from my past. Then the publicity team of both WWF and USA Network created this faux love affair with me and Shawn Michaels that went on for like a year. We were covered in magazines in Las Vegas, and the press, and there were all these pictures of us with him preening himself, and pushing me out of the way. It was just so much fun, and so many people remember these. I do a lot of wrestling podcasts. And we’ve done a wrestling show. Yes, I have a new friend, Nic Nemeth. We have a dear friend, who sadly is not doing well with ALS, who is Rebel Tanea Brooks, and we’ve been doing a lot for her along with AEW. We are celebrating her and putting it out there to raise funds for ALS and awareness. It’s a wonderful community because they’ve all joined in, even just to get the word out. 

I never realized there was such a close relationship between wrestling and horror, but there is. It’s really the same fans. So a lot of the conventions have a lot of wrestlers. There is definitely a crossover. I don’t know if it’s the strong characters, the fighting or a little bit of both, but I love it. We have done RhondaMania. There’s a lot of wrestlers in the Tampa Bay area where we’ve filmed.  We’re looking to do more. 

You’re also known for a number of guest spots you’ve made over the years. What were some of your favorites? Any particular set you wish you were able to be on more? 

When I got out to LA in the 80s, I did three episodes of Happy Days, and so I would have loved to have been on that set more. But my career was really flying in guest-starring roles. And they kept casting me as a sexy girl, and I was trying to play against type. So this is long before Up All Night came along where I was on Cheers and Married with…Children and Full House playing the grownup Kimmy Gibbler. I would have enjoyed being on that show a little bit more. I got to know some of those people and my makeup artist who did the show. I just really resonate with the sitcom genre. That’s why I moved to LA for films, or horror films. But I was a television baby, so I wanted to be in a sitcom. And then my daddy passed away when I was in my late 20s. It really really set me back. I had never lost anyone in my life. I went back to New Orleans. I didn’t move back, but stayed there. I put my sitcom goals off a little bit. When I came back after his funeral, it was about a year later that I came back to LA. I got into stand-up comedy. I worked my way up to headliner as I did the Comedy Store, Improv, and the Laugh Factory. Everybody kept saying you can’t be pretty and funny. By the time Up All Night came along in 1991, I was really heavily into the stand-up…I did the show. The network was just changed and sold, so they just basically canceled the whole show, but I had a nice run from 91 to 98. It was a great time with 450 episodes for me and I learned so much. 

You mentioned Happy Days. You appeared alongside another actress who was on that show, Roz Kelly, during a 1996 episode of Judge Judy [where Rhonda was a real-life defense witness]. With Judith Sheindlin retiring after 30 years, what do you remember about that experience? 

I thought she was great. When I went in there, it felt like it was in a real courthouse. She was very professional and very cool. I didn’t get to know her personally. When you work on a set like Happy Days or anything like that, you’re with those people for a week because you work on the script all week, and then you shoot on Friday. It’s like a little mini-play, which is why I love the whole sitcom world. But with her, it was basically going in, shooting, and getting out, but she was lovely, and that’s amazing that she’s retiring. Maybe she’ll do what I did. She’ll retire, and then you just keep coming back. I don’t see myself retiring. 

The Up All Night Network is available on all Roku devices for a monthly fee of $3.99.  For more information, visit https://rhondashearupallnight.com/