The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins Review: Pure Tracy

Is The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins worth watching?

Mostly yes. The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins is a fast, very funny workplace-meets-family sitcom built around Tracy Morgan at his most unfiltered, and its pairing with Daniel Radcliffe is inspired. The joke rate is high enough that even weaker scenes usually land something. The reservation is that the show is still finding its shape in the early episodes, and the emotional thread about a man trying to reclaim his legacy is sketched rather than fully explored.

What is The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins about?

Twenty years ago, a scandal ended the football career of running back Reggie Dinkins (Morgan). Now he wants his reputation back, and his plan is to hire Arthur Tobin (Radcliffe), a prestige documentary filmmaker, to capture his comeback without flattering filters. The comedy grows out of the mismatch: Reggie’s instinct is to perform for the camera, while Arthur keeps trying to make a serious film about a man who refuses to be serious.

The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins is an American network sitcom in English, created by Robert Carlock and Sam Means, and streaming on Peacock. Erika Alexander and Precious Way ground the home front, with Bobby Moynihan and Jalyn Hall rounding out the ensemble. This review covers season one, ten episodes from 2026; the show is ongoing.

The 30 Rock engine in a mockumentary chassis

Carlock and Means come from the school of comedy that made 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and the density is immediately recognisable: background gags, throwaway lines, cutaway absurdities and punchlines stacked on top of punchlines. The mockumentary format suits that style better than expected. Talking-head interviews give characters a chance to contradict what the audience has just seen, and the premise of a documentary-within-the-show lets the series poke fun at prestige non-fiction and the celebrity redemption story.

The writers understand exactly how to use Morgan. Reggie is vain, impulsive and cheerfully deluded, but Morgan plays him with enough innocence that the character never tips into cruelty. His delivery turns lines that look ordinary on the page into non sequiturs worth replaying.

Radcliffe as the perfect straight man

Daniel Radcliffe has spent much of his post-Potter career choosing odd, adventurous comic roles, and this may be the most natural fit yet. Arthur is anxious, principled and wildly out of his depth, a filmmaker used to sombre subjects who finds himself negotiating with a man who treats every scene as a personal highlight reel. Radcliffe commits fully to the character’s earnestness, and the chemistry between his buttoned-up restraint and Morgan’s chaos is the show’s biggest asset.

The two play so well off each other that the series is at its best when they share the screen. When they are apart, the energy drops.

Where the comeback story is still warming up

The show’s heart lies with Reggie’s family, and Erika Alexander brings real authority to those scenes, but the domestic material is not yet as sharp as the documentary side. Some storylines feel like conventional sitcom plots dressed in mockumentary clothes, and questions of accountability raised by the premise tend to be settled with a punchline rather than examined. The first few episodes also spend time setting up characters that later ones use far better; like its hero, the season improves as it goes.

Who should watch The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins?

It is a strong pick for fans of 30 Rock, of Tracy Morgan in general, and of mockumentary comedies that reward rewatching for jokes missed the first time. Ten half-hour episodes make it an easy weekend watch. Content is mostly mild network fare, with innuendo and comic crudeness but nothing graphic.

If you enjoy it, these are natural next steps from the comedy shelf:

• The Comeback for another comedy about a fading star trying to control their image in front of a camera crew.
• Ted Lasso for a warmer sports-world comedy about second chances.
• More titles on the Peacock hub.

The verdict

The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins is a reliably hilarious showcase for Tracy Morgan, with Daniel Radcliffe as an ideal foil and a joke rate few current sitcoms can match. The thinner family storylines and a reluctance to dig beneath the jokes keep it from greatness for now, but it is well worth a look.

Rating: 3.5/5