A boy wizard no more, Daniel Radcliffe has carved out a career for himself in some of the most outlandish and entertaining projects. Swiss Army Man, Guns Akimbo, and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story are just some of the films in his iconic second act as a performer. Now the former Harry Potter star heads to television in NBC’s newest mockumentary, The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins.
Teaming up with SNL royalty, Tracy Morgan, Radcliffe stars as a documentary filmmaker who sets out to redeem both himself and the titular football player who has fallen from grace. Morgan plays Reggie, a former NFL star who was banned for life after a gambling scandal. Initially wanting only a puff piece about his life, Reggie eventually agrees to a more honest portrayal. It should come as no surprise that Radcliffe and Morgan deliver on the premise in the hilarious new series. The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, however, doesn’t just unite these two comedic talents. It has more ambitious territory in mind.
NBC Has Another Hit Thanks to ‘The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins’
NBC has been one of the many networks struggling to keep up in the streaming age. With so much content to parse through, shows have to stand out to get even a measure of success. The stakes are high, but Reggie Dinkins has officially become a success. As of this writing, the series has had 20 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and is holding strong with a rating of 100%. Parks and Rec was arguably the last NBC series that rose to such quality, and critics agree that Reggie Dinkins is well on its way to becoming a classic.
NBC was once the home of must-see comedies such as 30 Rock and The Office. The new show is a natural progression of comedy, even when its fans could be emotionally fatigued by the mockumentary genre. The Office wasn’t the first piece of media to use the model, but it has become the benchmark by which others are measured.
To the credit of Reggie Dinkins, the mockumentary is completely aware of the audience’s expectations and plays with those expectations. John Krasinski‘s character Jim Halpert is name-dropped in the series, smartly getting these comparisons out of the way. Reggie Dinkins has all the enjoyment of its predecessor, but none of the uncomfortable, cringeworthy humor. Reggie Dinkins also sets itself apart by putting the director in front of the camera.
Radcliffe plays Arthur Tobin, the documentary director who is a highly entertaining figure for Tracy Morgan to play off of. While the character of Reggie is commenting on the sensitive athlete trope, Arthur is just as ridiculous. He is a once-promising director who buckled under the pressure of making a Marvel movie. Arthur is just as zany as he tries to get material out of the Dinkins family. Likely, any other actors in the project wouldn’t have garnered the same success, but it seems that with Radcliffe and Morgan, the NBC show has struck gold. This could be another age in comedy where NBC is once again king.
