Jeff Heller
Tracey Morgan is back for another attempt at redemption in the second season of NBC’s The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins. But while the former football star continues his quest to reclaim his reputation, the women in his life have their own challenges to navigate.
Erika Alexander returns as Monica, Reggie’s ex-wife and manager, who remains determined to get his life and career back on track while beginning to explore a life of her own.
Meanwhile, Precious Way reprises her role as Reggie’s new wife, Brina, whose personal ambitions and evolving place within the Dinkins family promise to create some interesting new dynamics. Despite their complicated relationship, Monica and Brina share an unusual understanding, along with a mutual appreciation for throwing a little shade.
We recently sat down with Alexander and Way to discuss what’s in store for their characters in season two, their unique on-screen relationship, working alongside Tracey Morgan, and the challenges of bringing the show’s mockumentary format to life.
Going into season two, what were you most excited about exploring in your characters that you didn’t necessarily get to explore in season one?
Erika Alexander: Monica got a lot put on her plate, and I wanted to explore more of her individuality outside of just being Reggie’s ex-wife and manager. And I’m getting that because they gave me a love interest in the great Boris Kodjoe. Boris and I have worked on something called Street Time. We have been skin to skin, you hear me? So, doing it in a comedy way is really great, and I really do love the fact that she continues to explore. The fact that she can’t get an assistant is crazy. But she’s also responsible for the fall and rise of Reggie Dinkins. She’s on that road. That’s her North Star. And she’s like a dog with a bone.
And so, I do believe that sort of seeing where some of that anxiety comes from, the fact that this is not just an ex-wife. They grew up together, and we’ve got history. And so, you’re going to see some of that history come out in different guest stars and in the dialogue and all of that. And in the reckoning that Reggie himself, played by the great Tracey Morgan, has with realizing that gambling had consequences, Monica was one of them. So, she’s collateral damage, and she’s trying to redeem herself. But also, he has, I think, a reckoning of sort of saying, “I kind of put her there.” I love that. And that’s going to happen this season.
How about yourself, Precious?
Precious Way: Brina gets all into the things this year, and she is going more into her aspirations and trying different genres, if you will, and finding her footing with the family and also with Reggie’s mother, which is very exciting. There’s a lot there. I am very excited about that because I think people will be very surprised with how that plays out.
How would you both describe the dynamics between Monica and Brina going into season two versus season one?
Erika Alexander: I think it still maps the same way, but the difficulty of Brina and Precious sort of managing that as the new woman of the house; you don’t just take the chair. I mean, there are all sorts of landmines everywhere. I think that they’re not doing a catfight. They’re not doing that. They have too much respect for each other. Again, I think Monica is quietly managing Brina, too, you know. So, let’s see what you say. What do you think?
Precious Way: No, I agree. I agree. But as I always say, I love a shade. And I’m not the only one who loves the shade. Monica loves the shade, too, you know?
Erika Alexander: That’s true. There’s an odd alliance that we have because we can both throw it.
Precious Way: We do. Yes.
Erika Alexander: We can both catch it.
Precious Way: Exactly. And then it’s so fun because in the same conversation, we’ll move on. And it’s like, “You want to borrow my bag? Go ahead, girl.”
Tracey has a very distinct comedic style. I’m just curious if you’ve found that you’ve had to adjust your approach to comedy as a result of working with Tracey or anyone else in the cast for that matter.
Precious Way: Well, I don’t know. I haven’t had a lot of experience with comedy. So, I think for me, this is kind of like my learning ground, which is very exciting, but I know that it is a very particular style. So, I’m kind of grateful to be learning at this pace and at this high level from the greats, Robert Carlock, Sam Means, Tina Fey. It’s amazing. And Tracey Morgan. I feel like Tracey has that magic in that there’s things that only he can do, even with the material. There’s a line where he’s like, “Put it on your cabbage!” Nobody could deliver that line. So, for me, this is all exciting because it’s very new to me. I have had to adjust.
Erika Alexander: Tracy is a center of gravity, and he pulls, and you gotta lock in because you don’t want to be pulled by him. You want to be pulled alongside him and with him. And you want to keep your anchor because there’s something that I have to give to this role as well. And so, we’re sort of managing each other all the time because we all come from different spaces. We have Daniel Radcliffe. That’s the Death Star. If there’s a thing that can come in and sort of takeover, it is Daniel’s weight in the world. And yet we’re all doing chemistry, but it’s because we know there’s no rivalry.
We’ve accomplished so much in life. But with Tracey, one of the things I love is that I always call him the sun. He always comes up. He’s a perennial. He’s been doing this for a very long time. He knows what he’s doing. He’s so wonderfully honest, and I think that he makes everyone funnier. You gotta trust that that generosity is there. But you also have your own work to do. And he’s making a family. And so, let’s be part of the family. It can be a lot, in a good way. But they didn’t hire lightweights. They surrounded him with people who knew who they were. And I think that’s there for a reason.
Have you found that the mockumentary format of the show affected how you approach your characters, as far as addressing the camera, playing to the camera, or hiding what you really are feeling, so the camera doesn’t necessarily know what your character is thinking?
Precious Way: Yeah, absolutely. The first thing that we’re taught, coming from acting school, is don’t look at the camera. Whatever you do, don’t look at the camera. And then here it’s like, “No, no, no, shoot a look to the camera,” or “Play this to the camera,” so that first season was an adjustment. However, Brina is trying to be on camera, so she has the gift of being able to just throw everything at the camera, find the camera in the room, and try to get all in the lens. And that was so helpful for me, because I didn’t have to find that in between. I just went for it.
Erika Alexander: Absolutely. It’s tough to do a mockumentary. It’s a show within a show. You’ve got the show, and then you’ve got the camera. You’re clocking it. It’s a dance and choreography. Our camera people must be more exhausted than anybody else, because they’re moving, and they’re stepping, and they can only shoot from different angles, because it can’t look like it’s staged. So, they are locking it in. Our directors are doing all of that work. It’s amazing. I’m used to the front stage of a couch, where you have the four cameras set up, and you come in and do it like a play. That’s how America has been introduced to comedy since Lucille Ball in The Honeymooners. But that ain’t this. And yet it’s got to feel just as fun and accessible. But that’s the hard part. And by the way, I’m still learning, but I’ve got the best ones to teach. We’ve got Beth McCartney and all of these great directors. They know what they’re doing, and they don’t talk down to you. By the way, those jokes are coming fast and furious. You got to move. You got to move.
You can watch our full interview with Erika Alexander and Precious Way below.
The Fall & Rise of Reggie Dinkins premieres Monday, November 2 at 8:30 pm ET/PT on NBC, and streams the following day on Peacock.
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