The new NBC sitcom Young rock bounces about four different periods in the life of his producer and star, and the pro wrestler becomes the action hero Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock. In 1982, he is a ten-year-old run by Dewey (played by Adrian Groulx), who lives in Hawaii with his wrestler, Rocky (Joseph Lee Anderson), and aspiring singer mother Ata (Stacey Leilua). In 1987, he was a great teenager (played by Bradley Constant) in Pennsylvania, whose classmates were convinced he was a secret drug. In 1990, he was a rookie soccer player at the University of Miami (played by Uli Latukefu) to turn his size and athletic ability into a career. And in 2032, played by Johnson himself, he takes over as president and recalls important moments in his childhood that helped make him the People’s Champion.
Time-hopping is the rage on TV these days, of dramas like Westworld to docuseries such as The Last Dance. Yet it is difficult to juggle four different periods within the comedy of a half-hour broadcast network. After a busy pilot episode that tried to give the different faces of The Rock the same length of time – and not always succeed on that balance – the other episodes of NBC provided for review and focus on just one of his three Young Rocks, together with comments. of the adult Dwayne Johnson.
But where Johnson is one of the few world-famous celebrities – and real movie stars – we have today, he is perhaps one ingredient too much for his own autobiographical series, which tends to work best if it is one of the incarnations of his title character. .
The main creative voice here is Nahnatchka Khan, who explores the nostalgic area in the vein of her latest sitcom, ABC Fresh from the boat. The show was also inspired by the life of one of the producers, writer Eddie Huang, who recounted his young alter ego’s adventures for several seasons. When Huang stopped talking about creative differences with Khan and others, FOTB dropped the voice-over completely, in the confidence that its characters were good enough to no longer need a handle or explanation at that point.
Johnson is helpful in the Young rock pilot, set up as an interview he is engaged in FOTB star Randall Park, who plays himself, will work as a TV news anchor in 2032. The mature Johnson quickly identifies the players and interests in each era, as well as the main theme of the series. Rocky Johnson reminds little Dewey that every wrestler has to find and work his own gimmick, and politician Dwayne tells Park that his own gimmick seems to be simple: “Be me.”
This is how Johnson introduced himself during his career as an entertainer. His true, earthly nature is the key to his attraction. We believe that what you see is what you get from him, even if he is built in a fantastic relationship, like an airship. Young rock is a thought for warts and all – Rocky Johnson is shown as one degree shy of a cheater, and the teenager Dwayne shoplifting and telling many lies to impress a girl he loves – but the man in 2032 is so with holiness that the frame device is starting to feel less like a parody of politics than the subliminal launch of Johnson’s actual political career.
And once Young rock in one era per episode, the presence of the true Rock is more of a distraction than anything else. Khan and her collaborators have done such an effective job of building the extended Johnson family – including actors playing a number of future WWF / WWE stars – that the series is the most effective and endearing if it stays with them. The sixth episode, titled ‘My Day with Andre’, is a hot, bitterly sweet story about the lessons Dewey and Andre the giant (Matthew Willig) have to teach each other, and about Rocky’s plight in the local pro wrestling track. run by his mother-in-law Lia (Ana Tuisila). The 2032 series, with candidate Johnson announcing his running mate, just takes time away from what works so well in the scenes that play out 50 years earlier.
As Fresh from the boat, Young rock is not very funny, but feels like the laughter will get bigger the better we get to know the characters. That there are so many actors playing our hero, not to mention different supporting cast in each era, complicates matters. The real Dwayne Johnson is the name and face meant to draw viewers in to watch these other versions of him, but the best thing he can do for his younger self is to step out of the ring for a while to give us more time to smell what these other Rocks are cooking.
Young rock goes on February 16 on NBC. I watched the first, second and sixth episode.