The Sports Illustrated Cover That Still Has 'Reggie Dinkins' Star Bobby Moynihan Laughing

There are so many jokes crammed into The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, NBC’s half-hour sitcom about a disgraced former NFL star and his path toward redemption, that it feels silly, if not a bit impossible, to pick just one. But Bobby Moynihan, the actor and comedian who plays Rusty Boyd, Reggie’s oddball best friend and former teammate, offered up a favorite without hesitation.

“[On the set], there’s a framed poster of Sports Illustrated, and the headline is “Is Reggie Dinkins the B.O.A.T?” he says, laughing as he talks. “It’s not goat—G-O-A-T. … It says ‘best of all time,’ with a question mark. … That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.”

No such cover exists, of course, though fictional Jets running back Reggie Dinkins is exactly the kind of athlete who would be tapped to grace the magazine’s pages: exceptionally talented, an MVP, and shockingly integral to the success of his team … at least until he was caught gambling on games and thereby excommunicated from the league. Crucially, Reggie was only ever betting on himself, and in a manner that would benefit Gang Green on the gridiron, but it was still sacrilege enough to tarnish and effectively end his career. (Certainly, there were no more SI cover shoots in this reality, either.)

It is years after this downfall that the show opens, Reggie much worse for wear but hoping to revitalize his reputation with a new documentary helmed by equally downtrodden director Arthur Tobin (Daniel Radcliffe). Their pairing, as well as the surrounding ensemble of Dinkins’s best friend, Rusty (Moynihan); his ex-wife and agent, Monica (Erika Alexander); his son, Carmelo (Jalyn Hall); and his current partner, Brina (Precious Way), makes for an odd-couple comedy for the ages, all brought to you by the same minds behind 30 Rock—Tina Fey included.

“Tracy says insane s--- all the time, so it’s just perfect,” Moynihan says of the group’s dynamic.
“And Daniel is shockingly one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. Erika is a machine. I don’t think people realize how good she is at being on television.”

It’s an “embarrassment of riches with this cast, as far as chops go.”

Season 2, which premieres Monday, Nov. 2, on NBC, picks up right where Season 1 left off. Arthur has unwittingly discovered that Carmelo is secretly dating the daughter of Jerry Basmati (Craig Robinson), Reggie’s biggest rival, while Monica is attempting to parlay the running back’s four surprise Hall of Fame votes into additional comeback material.

“There’s a lot of the war between the Basmatis and the Dinkins family, and a couple new storylines,” Moynihan says of the show’s sophomore iteration. “I think Monica and Brina are my two favorites this season. Monica’s got a new man, played by Boris Kodjoe … and that whole arc is fantastic. And Brina takes on more of a leadership role this season, where she’s gotta put herself in charge and it's awesome.

“[Rusty] is still doing nothing. I love it. I’m just in the basement having a blast.”

Nothing isn’t actually nothing, though. While Rusty’s life day-in and day-out might be more … mundane than the other characters’, he still gets up to some “fun stuff” this season, Moynihan insists, including a big moment in the finale, where “I can’t believe that I get to do what I get to do.”

Viewers won’t know until later what that is, exactly … but at this point, it definitely won’t be a love story between Monica and Rusty, something Moynihan has been playfully angling for for some time now.

“I say it to the writers every single day. In my mind, Rusty ends up with Monica,” Moynihan quips, with a laugh. “In my heart of hearts, he ends up with her, they get married, and he treats her extremely well, and they are happy together. That’s my headcanon of it, but we’ll see.”

It’s either that, or Rusty eventually going to space with Gayle King. Probably one of the two.

Season 2 of The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins premieres Monday, Nov. 2, at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

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