New comedy gets a post-football boost Jan. 18

Another TV network is adapting Fox’s idea: If you REALLY want someone to sample a new show, put it after a football game.
Now it’s NBC’s turn: In a late change, it will air “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins” (shown here) at about 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT) Sunday, Jan. 18, after the Rams-Bears playoff game.
That will be a week before Fox does the same thing: It will debut Patrick Dempsey’s “Memory of a Killer” at about 10 p.m. ET Jan. 25, after the game that decides which NFC team will be in the Super Bowl.
That post-football tactic has already been used by Fox to introduce “Best Medicine” (now at 8 p.m. Tuesdays), “Animal Control” (9 p.m. Thursdays) and others. It fits a time when only football is drawing large audiences.
“Reggie Dinkins” bringts a merger of comedy styles — broadly American (Tracy Morgan and Bobby Moynihan) and drolly British (Daniel Radcliffe).
Morgan plays a disgraced football star, desperate for redemption via a documentary from a once-promising director, Radcliffe. Moynihan is am ex-teammate and Erika Alexander is Morgan’s ex-wife and current manager.
The opener has some hilarious moments, which shouldn’t be surprising: Tina Fey is the producer and Robert Carlock is a co-showrunner, with Sam Means. The Fey/Carlock combination previously worked with “30 Rock,” “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Great News” and “Girls5eva.”
After its debut, the show will wait until NBC finishes the Winter Olympics. Then it repeats the opener at 8 p.m. Feb. 23, with the second episode at 8:30.