I suppose that Tracy Morgan was ok in short little bits on Saturday Night Live but he just doesn't have the necessary acting chops to carry an entire series. I went into this series with an open mind even though I have felt this way about Morgan for a very long time. There is a reason why almost anything that he is in gets bad scores and the fact that this one has a decent score to me, seems very rigged just because it is an big corporate production.
A lot of the acting "heavy lifting" is carried by the supporting cast including Daniel Radcliffe, who is someone that I believe actually IS a good actor but of course he struggles to escape always being seen as Harry Potter in anything he is in. I would imagine his hundreds of millions of dollars in net worth probably helps dull the pain of not being hire-able for the most part.
The rest of the main cast are people you likely don't think much about and of course, they throw in a bunch of other SNL cast members that are not popular enough to do anything major on their own as well.
I'll briefly explain the plot: Reggie Dinkins was a star football player who was disgraced and kicked out of the sports world after it was discovered he was gambling on games. This adaptation of the actual life of Pete Rose (and likely a lot of other athletes) is relevant I guess but unlike Rose, Dinkins is an idiot who doesn't believe that he has done anything wrong.
In an effort to help clear his name his wife/manager hires Arthur Tobin (Radcliffe) to make a documentary about Dinkins. Then I guess hilarity is supposed to follow.
I don't realy think that Morgan is believable as an athlete, even an ex-athlete. Someone decided to throw this guy a bone and hopefully threw in some acting lessons so that he can not just act exactly the same regardless of whether or not he is angry, sad, happy, or asleep. For the most part I would say this didn't happen because it starts to be funny how "exactly the same" he is in every single scene. This unintentional comedy kind of makes the show somewhat watchable, at least for a bit.
Radcliffe adds some much-needed variety to the otherwise over-the-top and wooden acting and he shines in all of his scenes. I would love to know Daniel's honest opinion about how he feels about being in this.
I only downloaded and watched this because it has very high ratings on review sites and I don't know why I keep falling for this. We all know those sites are rigged and especially now in the days of AI, there is a very good chance that the reviews in their entirety are composed of bots. I've seen so many shite movies and series that had high ratings and I've seen several quite good movies get 1/10's simply because the powers that be don't like the politics of someone who is involved: Just look at any Chris Pratt or Sydney Sweeney movie and those ratings.
I believe that Tracy Morgan is likely a full-time "yes man" in the comedy acting circles and he is further protected by Executive Producer Tiny Fey, who is yet another SNL alum that actually IS talented but for some reason, seems to have a lot of clout in the entertainment industry.
You recognize this guy but almost certainly do not know his name, right? Well that is because he is yet another member of the very long list of Saturday Night Live cast members that are not really meant for full-length features and can only really thrive in 2-3 minute sketches. Well his name is Bobby Moynihan and can you believe it, he was on SNL for 9 years . He is in the cast for obvious nepotism reasons and he is able to shine a little bit only because Tracy Morgan is that bad.
Should I watch it
I'm gonna say yes you should, but then you will almost certainly end up bailing just like I did. There are a lot of good shows out there right now and this simply isn't one of them. It's a fake documentary about a documentary being filmed. They try to capture that "The Office" feel but they simply don't have the talented cast.
This show will be kept in high ratings for a couple of months or so until the actual human audience is able to get their opinion out there to compete with the bot farms that I believe are pushing it up to such a high level.
Watch it long enough to remind yourself that Tracy Morgan has a lot more friends than he does acting talent, and then make up your own mind about how you want to spend the time in your life. I don't particularly like reading books but would honestly rather do that than sit through episodes of this.
Screw it, get in there, watch it, prove me wrong... I think this is a charity event for Morgan and they will keep the wheels turning until the actual sentiment of the world ends up breaking through the fake reviews. This can only be legally streamed on NBC or with a Peacock subscription