With the end of the 2025 TV schedule, Tracy Morgan is just a couple of months away from returning to NBC. The former SNL star is on board for The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, scheduled to arrive in February of the 2026 TV schedule with a stacked cast. With 30 Rock creators Tina Fey and Robert Carlock on the creative team, it’s only natural that Reggie Dinkins is set in the same universe as the show that was arguably Morgan’s big break into scripted TV. Easter eggs are on the way, and one specific nod to 30 Rock has already been confirmed.
For The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, Tracy Morgan plays a disgraced football player by the name of – what else? – Reggie Dinkins, who wants to rehab his image after a gambling scandal that led to the downfall of the New York Jets. His approach? Recruiting an award-winning filmmaker to produce a documentary about him. The cast also includes Daniel Radcliffe, SNL‘s Bobby Moynihan, Erika Alexander, Precious Way, and Jalyn Hall. Morgan’s fellow 30 Rock vets are behind the scenes, with co-showrunner Robert Carlock co-creating Reggie Dinkins and Tina Fey credited as an executive producer.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly about the new series, Tina Fey previewed the nods to one of the best sitcoms in NBC history that are on the way:
It’ll be a real test for the people of TikTok to see if they, 1. find the show on broadcast, and 2. if they can find the 30 Rock Easter eggs. There’s a lot of rewards for paying attention. This is like the Severance of comedy.
Broadcast network television isn’t quite as popular nowadays as it was back in the 30 Rock era, so Reggie Dinkins might need to recruit some viewers to tune in weekly on NBC. (Then again, there will be the option of watching with a Peacock subscription next day.) Personally, I’m already crossing my fingers for “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah” to play at some point in the background of Reggie’s life as an ode to 30 Rock, but Robert Carlock previewed an Easter egg that ties to Alec Baldwin‘s Jack Donaghy:
We just had a scene where they were pouring Donaghy Estates champagne. We asked our graphics and prop people to hunt that down, which they did immediately, so we had Donaghy in there.
While timing for Tina Fey with filming Four Seasons‘ second season for Netflix meant that a cameo couldn’t work out for Reggie Dinkins, there’s still hope for other references to 30 Rock. Carlock went on to name a few ideas:
I’d like to live in a world where Kenneth Parcell [Jack McBrayer] is running NBC as well, but that might not be for another couple hundred years in the 30 Rock timeline, right? We are always trying to do those little things without breaking everything. But yeah, I’d like to think that The Girly Show is still on, and it should be on their TV.
A reference to The Girly Show seems like a great nod to 30 Rock for fans of the original to enjoy without necessarily making Reggie Dinkins newcomers feel like they’re missing something. Who knows? With 30 Rock available streaming both on Peacock and via a Hulu subscription, perhaps the OG sitcom will have a renaissance. As for any continuity issues with Tracy Morgan playing an entirely different character within the same TV world, co-creator Sam Means simply clarified that “Reggie just happens to look a lot like Tracy Jordan.”
The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins will premiere on Monday, February 23 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC before shifting to its permanent time slot at 8:30 p.m. ET on Mondays the next week. While that may seem like a long wait, most of NBC’s February lineup consists of broadcasting the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. The opening ceremony is on February 6, and the closing ceremony takes place on February 22.
