Tracy Morgan (30 Rock and Saturday Night Live) stars as the titular character, Reggie Dinkins, a former professional football player whose reputation has fallen. He comes up with the idea to have a documentary made about him, one he'd pay to be a puff piece that he hopes to redeem him in the media and world. What proceeds is a mockumentary, much like The Office (2005) or Parks and Recreation (2009). However, creators Robert Carlock and Sam Means, with executive producer, Tina Fey, haven't done a mockumentary before. Aside from The Comeback (2005), most mockumentaries on television rarely have the characters comment or interact much with the behind-the-scenes crew. Aside from The Comeback, the behind-the-scenes crew normally aren't characters in the narrative. This show perhaps proves why most don't.
There is an episode, the ninth episode, where the behind-the-scenes crew, particularly the director, named Arthur Tobin, played by Daniel Radcliffe (Merrily We Roll Along and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone), realizes that he's too much in the documentary. The documentary is supposed to be about Reggie Dinkins but Arthur sees that he's in all the footage, which could make anyone think that the documentary is about Arthur instead. Carlock and Means are self-aware enough to make an episode that acknowledges this dynamic. Unfortunately, this doesn't change the fact that a show that is ostensibly about an African American family is taken over by a White British man. The show's writers are smart enough to want to avoid cliches like the "magical negro" trope, but it doesn't avoid the "white savior" trope, not entirely.
The show goes the route of making Arthur a part of the family where he even professes his love to the Dinkins. They profess their affection for him in return. The show further solidifies Arthur's role by making him like an embedded journalist but he's an embedded filmmaker where he lives in Reggie's house or veritable mansion. In The Comeback, the protagonist, Valerie Cherish, did not have her filmmaker living in her house. There probably wasn't enough room in Valerie's house, nor would her husband have liked it. Reggie clearly has a big enough home to accommodate, so his financial stability isn't really in question, unlike Valerie Cherish in The Comeback. Valerie needed to keep working. Reggie is a retired football player. Obviously, he can't play football anymore, but we never see him working otherwise. Other retired players have TV hosting gigs or have endorsement deals, but we literally see Reggie doing nothing. He seems to have been in commercials, but it's not clear if those are present or back when he was still an active player. If so, he's wealthy enough to sit around and basically bond with Arthur.
This is fine, but again, it further underlines how the show leans more toward Arthur and his relationship with Reggie rather than much else. This again would be fine, but the show falls short on delving deeper even into that. It becomes a running joke that Arthur isn't really getting to know things about Reggie's past or much of his life prior to his current situation. It's a running gag that is arguably funny, but again, it only underlines how the show really isn't about getting to know Reggie in any significant way.
Erika Alexander (Wu-Tang Clan: An American Saga and Living Single) co-stars as Monica Reese-Dinkins, the ex-wife and current sports agent for Reggie. The show does a good job on peeling back the layers for her character. The show does a common thing where even though she's divorced from Reggie and even though he has a fiancée, Monica is at Reggie's house pretty much everyday. Even though she's his agent, most agents don't visit their clients daily. Her son lives in Reggie's house, so her daily visits make some sense. It's not clear, but she could also be living in that house too, but that would negate her having much of a separate life and having divorced him in the first place. There's an episode about her getting back into the dating world, but there's no follow-up. Monica is seemingly there just to orbit Reggie and Arthur.
Bobby Moynihan (NCIS: Origins and Saturday Night Live) plays Rusty Boyd, a former pro-football player who is Reggie's best friend. He lives with Reggie. When it comes to what Rusty does, that's not exactly clear. Does he have a job? Does he work for Reggie? Or, is he simply mooching off Reggie? Does Rusty have a life beyond Reggie? He seems to exist as a satellite orbiting Reggie with no existence that is outside Reggie's. He seems to have a connection to Reggie, which predates Reggie's fame and fortune. As such, I'm more curious about that connection and history. The show hints at it, but it hasn't been fully explored.
When it comes to Reggie's history, the only person, particularly the only Black person, other than Monica, is a rival, named Jerry Basmati, played by Craig Robinson (Hot Tub Time Machine and The Office). Reggie and Jerry's rivalry fuels the plot in two episodes, but it begs the question. Are there people in Reggie's past who aren't rivals but friends? Are there family members? Does Reggie still have his parents, siblings or cousins? That may come in the next season, but Arthur is doing a documentary about Reggie and investigating his past is a plot point. Yet, no exploration of Reggie's family beyond the ones living in his house is ever done or even asked.
Precious Way (Queens and Days of Our Lives) plays Brina, the fiancée to Reggie. She's planning the wedding to Reggie. The show won't get to it till next season, but it's a question of whether she's met Reggie's family beyond the ones living in his house. Presumably, that family will be invited to the wedding. Whether she has met them or not is inconsequential to the overall arc of this first season, but again, if the focus is about Arthur making a documentary about Reggie, no knowledge about his extended family becomes symptomatic of the show's premise being a pretense.
Rated TV-14.
Running Time: 30 mins. / 10 eps.
Available on Peacock.
