This Tracy Morgan and Daniel Radcliffe sitcom is 30 Rock for 2026
The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins ★★★★
This crackerjack american sitcom He knows exactly what he wants to do. How about a no-nonsense classic television commercial from a fast food giant, featuring the disgraced former football superstar as lead character Tracy Morgan? You will have to wait the full 32 seconds for this. In this mockumentary, the jokes start early and never stop: absurd reasoning, ridiculous digs, glimpses of past embarrassments and pop culture punchlines. The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins. It’s a really funny mix.
Unsurprisingly, the show has some highlights 30 rocks the legacy, both in terms of the structure and the stupidity and people involved. Reggie Dinkins creators Robert Carlock and Sam Means, 30 rocks the writing staff, the former serving as showrunners alongside the creator Tina FeyHe is here as a non-writing executive producer. Morgan was live on the screen 30 rocksCheerful, unpredictable comedic superstar Tracy Jordan creates a larger-than-life persona that she now wears again like a second skin.
Reggie, like Tracy Jordan, is prone to saying ridiculous but somehow logical things; “books are brain movies” is an early favorite. But what Reggie lacks is confidence. The NFL running back’s stellar career ended in scandal two decades ago when Reggie accidentally admitted on live television that he had illegally bet on himself and his team to win games. He is a pariah in his hometown of New York, where he plays for the Jets, and has developed an obsession with daytime television.
This is rich thematic fodder for Arthur Tobin (Daniel Radcliffe), the Academy Award-winning British documentarian whom Reggie hires to save his image. The initial problem is that Reggie wants a rave movie with an action movie finale, while Arthur is a meticulous observer who won’t leave no stone unturned. But Carlock and Means aren’t particularly interested in the conflict, as the series soon reveals that Arthur is hiding from his own scandal. Reggie and Arthur need to help each other.
No matter how snappy the jokes are, this is a gentle comedy (unless you’re Jared Leto). Reggie, for example, is still safely wealthy because his hard-working manager and ex-wife Monica (Erika Alexander) protects him, and Monica gets along well with Reggie’s young influencer fiancée Brina (Precious Way). Reggie and Monica’s son, Carmelo (Jalyn Hall), is a good-hearted young man. Reggie’s former teammate and basement tenant Rusty (Bobby Moynihan) is definitely a jerk, but he’s basically a devoted teddy bear to Reggie.
The enemies here are the character’s respective inner fears and protective delusions. Reggie wants to save his reputation, if only for Carmelo’s sake, while Arthur tries to escape his professional low so he won’t have to continue teaching at the University of Maryland Center for Documentary, Anime and Pornography. The 21-minute episodes deftly skip over A and B plot lines and find entertaining character combinations even as Reggie and Arthur make tentative progress.
No one can play the role of Tracy Jordan/Reggie Dinkins quite like Tracy Morgan, considering she has patented her performance style. Harry Potter Star Radcliffe is a formidable foil, leaning on Arthur’s British reserve and professional pride. Even as Arthur gently explains the ethics of documentary filmmaking, Radcliffe seems more than happy to take part in the on-air comedy. The show isn’t that much of a comic masterpiece 30 rocks It was, but it expertly hits a nice sweet spot of 2026. Hopefully The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins works for many years.
The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins It is broadcast on Wednesdays at 23.10 on Seven and 7plus channels.
Want more TV? We caught you.
Craig Mathieson is the TV, film and music writer for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect with: X.
