Nate Bloom blogs on this week’s Jews in the News.

 

Really Funny New Sit-Com; The ‘Right’ Jewish Actress, More

 

“The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins” is a sport-related comedy series that stars former “SNL” star Tracey Morgan as Dinkins. DANIEL RADCLIFFE, 36, co-stars as Arthur Tobin, a documentary maker.

 

This series had a very weird premiere. On January 14, NBC announced that the “Dinkins” series would premiere on January 18 following NBC’s coverage of an NFL divisional playoff game, ahead of its originally-planned timeslot premiere on February 23.

 

I missed this premiere completely and I just became aware of “Dinkins”. Long story short: you can see the first episode on the NBC app/website (free). Right now, the second episode (not the first) will air on Monday, Feb. 23 (8:30 p.m.) on NBC and it will stream on Peacock the next day. The rest of the episodes will air on eight successive Mondays.

 

I have to believe that NBC will re-run the first episode on the 23rd or will run a long “summarization” of the first episode. I hope this stupid scheduling doesn’t hurt “Dinkins”. The first episode was “smartly” funny and really well-acted. It’s the best new sit-com that I have seen for a long time.

 

Premise: Dinkins is a former NFL star whose career ended abruptly when he did something really stupid and really bad. Diggins “career-ender” is shown in a very short flash-back scene.

 

Almost all of the first episode is set in the present, many years after Dinkins’ ‘fall’. In a beginning scene of the first episode, Dinkins has just hired a documentary maker (Tobin) to make a very positive film about him.

 

Fun Fact: Poems of Daniel Radcliffe have been published under the pen name Jacob Gershon—a combination of his middle name and the Hebrew version of his mother’s maiden name Gresham. Radcliffe’s father isn’t Jewish. His mother is Jewish and, while Daniel is an atheist, he strongly identifies as Jewish.

 

You might have missed this casting uproar. The “uproar star” is ODESSA A’ZION, 25. She became quite famous with her big supporting role (Rachel Mizler) in “Marty Supreme”, a now-certified box-office smash.

 

On Jan. 26, it was announced that A’zion was cast in a major role in a film adaption of “Deep Cut”, a popular novel. A’zion was set to play Zoe Gutierrez, a novel character who is Mexican and Jewish. Many people complained that A’zion had no Latino background and she shouldn’t get the role (Jewish was not enough it seems).

 

A’zion ended the controversy on Jan. 28 by stating that she is bowing out of the role. She said she hadn’t read the novel and she didn’t realize ‘how Mexican’ her character is. She said she didn’t want to take a role from a Latino.

 

I laughed a little when I found out who was replacing A’zion. They found an actress that nobody can kvetch about (Jews, Latinos). Its ARIELA BARER, 27. She was born in Los Angeles and she is Jewish. She has a strong list of acting and directing credits. Her Jewish parents grew-up in Mexico.

 

Another catch-up: “Memory of a Killer”, a Fox series that began on Jan. 28 (also on Hulu). The killer is Angelo Doyle (Patrick Dempsey). He is a very competent “hitman” whose real profession is deftly hidden from his adult daughter (ODEYA RUSH, 27) and her husband.

 

My mother was morally appalled by real and fictional “killers for money”. I am always somewhat morally turned off to them, too—and there is way too many films and TV series in which “killers for cash” star-in—and they are often “cool”. This all said, Patrick Dempsey is very good in his role and his action stuff is first-rate.

 

I have followed Odeya Rush for about 10 years. She was born in 1997 in Haifa. Her father was born and raised in Israel; her mother made an Aliyah from Russia to Israel. The family moved to America 2006 for a job for her father. They lived in Alabama, and New Jersey, and then in Los Angeles (2013).

 

The first film I saw her in was “Almost Famous” (2015). She co-starred as a 18-year-old woman who is “courted” by a bit-older guy, played by Freddie Highmore. It’s an ok film, but no sparks or humor.

 

In this film, and others, I thought Rush looks strongly like actress MILA KUNIS: darkish, ‘Mediterranean skin’; black hair; and nice face bones. They could be sisters. But just comparing them physically made me think that Kunis has it ‘all over’ Rush— better comic and drama “stuff”, a better smile, and “a certain energy”.

 

I hope I’m wrong and Rush turns in “great dramatic chops” in upcoming episodes of “Memory”.