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The new comedy series The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins stars Tracy Morgan as a disgraced former football star and Daniel Radcliffe as a documentary filmmaker who team up to make a movie.

The twist, Radcliffe's filmmaker has also been publicly shamed, and the documentary you will watch getting made is his attempt to put the past behind him. I know what you're saying. Another mockumentary sitcom. Well, what if I told you that the co-creators and show-iners come from shows like 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Girls 5 Eva? And that the joke density kind of bears that out? I'm Glenn Weldon, and today we're talking about the fall and rise of Reggie

Dinkins on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.

Support for NPR and the following message come from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation,

investing in creative thinkers and problem solvers who help people, communities, and the planet flourish.

More information is available at Hewlett.org.

Joining me today is one of the hosts of NPR's Code Switch podcast, Gene Demby. Welcome back, Gene.

What's good with you, Glenn? It's so good to see you. And with this is culture writer Margaret H.

Willis and also great to be seen. Hey, Margaret. Such a joy to be here, Glenn.

I'm glad you're here. In the fall and rise of Reggie Dinkins, Tracy Morgan is Reggie Dinkins, former New York Jet, who was banned from the NFL for gambling. Daniel Radcliffe is Arthur Tobin, an Oscar-winning documentarian whose implosion on a major film set went viral, destroying his career.

The two men need each other, so Arthur embeds himself in Reggie's palatial mansion to make a documentary about him. Reggie's high-strung ex-wife is still his manager. She's played by

Erica Alexander. Reggie's former teammate Rusty lives in his basement. He's played by the

great and good. Bobby Moynihan. Robert

Carlock is one of the showrunners. He was the showrunner on 30 Rock and Kimmy Schmidt. Sam Means is the other. He wrote on 30 Rock, Kimmy Schmidt, and Girls Fight Eva. The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dickens airs on NBC and streams the next day on Peacock because that's the new normal. Margaret, what do you think? I loved this show so much. The only thing that slowed me down when I was watching it is that I did have to keep stopping and, like, looping other people into it. I'm a Carlockhead, a Carlockian, I'm locked in for Carlock. So, you know, I had a good feeling. I was optimistic. You tell me, Girls Viva, I'm like, obviously I'm going to watch all of that. That's my new personality. You tell me a football player, I'm like, well, I'll give it an episode. Or 10, in this case, because I certainly watched the whole season. I've watched a few episodes multiple times. And two things here,

I feel are exceptional. One, there is the carlock, joke density and joke success. And the other

thing that really, really, really delights me about this show is Daniel Radcliffe. I've known that

he had something like this in him for a long time because he's from the

Carrie Fisher School of using FU money and cultural cachet from one big franchise to sort of

make whatever career you want for yourself.

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