In the faded glow of stadium lights and long-buried headlines, a once-electric NFL running back—disgraced by a scandal that tanked his career and his legacy—steps back into the spotlight with one audacious plan: a raw, unflinching documentary to rewrite his story.

The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins Review (S1:E1)

Some programs are exactly what you expect, while others exceed your expectations. The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins is the former.

Mockumentaries have been around in one form or another for decades. 1933’s Land Without Bread, a French surrealist, satirical travelogue, is often cited as the earliest precursor, but it was Monty Python’s Flying Circus that truly cemented the format. The English satirical troop regularly played with the idea of cameras following regular people into ridiculous situations, faux interviews, and the like. Since then, and once This is Spinal Tap turned it up to 11, the faux documentary has become a tried-and-true theatrical tool for satire.

Unlike Rob Reiner’s genre-defining film, the first episode of The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins brings very little new to the table. Of course, being unoriginal doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s bad, and that’s more or less where TFARORD lives: unoriginal but ok.

Tracy Morgan plays that one character that Tracy Morgan plays, only this time with something to prove, while Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe plays a believable straightman to Morgan’s clownish antics. The two work fairly well together and have decent chemistry from the outset. However, Morgan’s character’s wife is relied upon to keep both on the straight and narrow.

Little else happens in this first episode beyond establishing the premise and introducing the players. The rest is largely a string of gags, many of which are amusing but rarely surprising. The show hits the beats one expects from the format with practiced precision, but almost never deviates from them. The result is something comfortable, occasionally funny, and ultimately a bit forgettable.

Still, there is one element that suggests the series might have something more going on beneath the familiar surface: its heart. Both Morgan’s Reggie Dinkins and Radcliffe’s increasingly reluctant partner are clearly searching for redemption of one kind or another—whether professionally, personally, or simply in the eyes of the fans and family they’ve disappointed along the way. That thread is hardly groundbreaking, but it provides a grounding that many mockumentary comedies lack.

Whether The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins can build something meaningful on that foundation remains to be seen. For now, the premiere delivers exactly what it promises: a handful of decent laughs, a likable pair of leads, and a premise sturdy enough to carry a season if the writers can find ways to push beyond the obvious. It may not reinvent the mockumentary, but familiar formulas sometimes work for a reason.

WOKE REPORT

What Would We Do Without Her

• Tracy Morgan’s character’s wife is the only non-idiot in the core cast. Directing the two hopeless male leads in reviving their careers seems likely to fall mostly on her shoulders.