The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins arrived early in the 2026 TV schedule to bring Saturday Night Live vets Tracy Morgan and Bobby Moynihan to primetime. They'd both already spent a long time on NBC thanks to the long-running sketch show (as well as 30 Rock for Morgan). According to the sitcom's showrunners, having these stars who know their way around comedy and are familiar faces to NBC audiences is pretty much a "cheat code" for getting laughs.
The new comedy stars Tracy Morgan as disgraced former football star who recruits filmmaker Arthur Tobin (Daniel Radcliffe) to help repair his image for the public, his ex-wife Monica (Erika Alexander), his son Carmelo (Jalyn Hall) and his much younger fiancée Brina (Previous Way). Reggie also has trusty pal with former teammate Rusty (Bobby Moynihan) on hand seemingly at all times. (You can find the premiere streaming with a Peacock subscription now.)
It's a winning combination from co-showrunners, writers, and executive producers Robert Carlock and Sam Means. While both have extensive writing credits, the most notable when it comes to Reggie Dinkins have to be their collaboration on 30 Rock and writing for SNL, although Carlock's stint on the sketch comedy series was much longer and overlapped with Tracy Morgan's time as a cast member.
When I spoke with the duo at SCAD TVfest in Atlanta, they opened up about how much of an asset it is to have these former SNL fan favorites. Carlock said:
Oh, it's amazing. I mean, Bobby and Tracy, and then we also have Heidi Gardner come on, and Chloe Troast does an episode, and Alex Moffat is on. Those are people who you know what they can do, and that's how funny they are. So having day to day, having Bobby to go to for the ends of scenes, just to get out of a scene, is an incredible luxury.
Prepare yourselves, SNL and Reggie Dinkins fans, because more familiar faces from Saturday Night Live are on the way. Both Heidi Gardner and Chloe Troast were cut from SNL rather than deciding to leave on their own, with Troast's reaction being "very Gen Z" and Gardner's shocking exit earning high praise from Bowen Yang. Those exits obviously didn't sour them from working on NBC, and Moffat left the late night show in 2022. Sam Means also had to give special credit to Bobby Moynihan for his ability to finish scenes, saying: "I like to say it's like a cheat code." Carlock agreed with his fellow showrunner, and went on:
And Tracy too. Because, as you may remember, on 30 Rock, we did a story where he read the phone book, and it was funny. 'Adam Aaronson!' It's just funny when Tracy says words. It's all in the delivery, so all we have to do is write the phone book.
It takes a talented actor to deliver laughs just with the delivery of a joke, but Tracy Morgan has that talent, and it should be interesting to see how many people tune in to see his latest NBC sitcom. 30 Rock was certainly a hit with a run of seven seasons and nearly 140 episodes, and Tina Fey is on board as an executive producer alongside Robert Carlock, Sam Means, and Morgan himself. In fact, Reggie DInkins is set within the 30 Rock universe.
Bobby Moynihan has had less luck with post-SNL sitcoms, with Me, Myself and I getting cancelled after one season despite also featuring Night Court legend John Larroquette. He is a successful voice actor, however, and joined a hit drama as part of the NCIS: Origins cast. In a fun piece of trivia, he guest-starred on 30 Rock back in 2012.
See more of Tracy Morgan and Bobby Moynihan (as well as upcoming SNL vet guest stars) with new episodes of The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins on Mondays at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC. You can also stream next day on Peacock, as well as 30 Rock.
