S01.E01 Working The Gimmick

[AgentRXS]

Quote

As Dwayne Johnson runs for president in 2032, he reflects on his surreal life that's helped shape him into the man he is today. From growing up in a resilient family surrounded by wrestling icons, navigating rebellious teen years, to playing NCAA football at the U. This is how the boy became the man.

Original Air Date: February 16, 2021 

[DanaK]

I’m not sure about this. I’ll see how I feel after another couple of episodes

[mtlchick]

I like Dwayne and Randall.  After watching interviews with his mom, I feel the casting for his mom is this was great. 

 

The rest?  Not sure yet.  

Edited February 17, 2021 by mtlchick
Kenan Thompson is not The Rock. Oops

[Bulldog]

That was . . . interesting. 

Not particularly funny, but interesting. 

[DanaK]

8 minutes ago, mtlchick said:

I like Kenan, I like Chris, I like Don...I'm very mixed about this though.  I normally give new shows 3 episodes to shake themselves out.

I did laugh at gambling over This Is Us plot twists. 

Wrong topic lol

[mtlchick]

3 minutes ago, DanaK said:

Wrong topic lol

It's been a long day. 😄

[Ms Blue Jay]

The actor who plays teenage Rock is very good.

"Billy is always selling things Waffle's in."  😄😄

Edited February 17, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[LBS]

I liked this a lot.  My husband is a big  WWE dork and got me into it over our courtship (of course I knew Andre the Giant from Princess Bride) so I was familiar with his father and friends.  And I follow The Rock on social media so I am biased with that.  There is an inherent sweetness , earnestness, and ‘in on the joke’ with him and I thought that came through.  I also really like Randall Park.  Gosh this post is so dumb.  

tldr: I like this show. 😂

[tribeca]

Wasn’t sure about the interviewing part of the show.  Like all the actors and hope the show is successful. 

[cardigirl]

Okay, I laughed way more at this show, than I ever have at the cringe-fest Call Me Kat, or whatever that thing is. Love Randall Park, so that's a big plus for me. All the iterations of Young Rock were quite good. My hope is that Kevin Hart might show up in one of the shows too. 

Very meta about itself, which I enjoy. I'm in.  

Bonjour babies!!!

[Lovecat]

Well I found this kind of delightful!  I loved all of the old school wrestlers just hanging out playing cards (“Uncle Iron Sheik”—hee!), and Hawaii!Rock is the most adorable kid.  I was actually in high school in Bethlehem, PA the same time DJ was (he did indeed go to Freedom High School, but I attended the crosstown rival high school Liberty), so I LOVED those parts.  I am fairly sure that the stock overhead shot of Bethlehem was authentic—we paused and examined it for landmarks—and I was happy to see the familiar gold and black Freedom Patriots colors and mascot (though boooooo...Freedom sucks, Liberty forever!!...the rivalry is strong, yo).  
 

I was pleasantly surprised, I really only tuned in because I was curious how accurate the Bethlehem part would be, but I for sure liked it well enough to watch again.

[Tachi Rocinante]

It's rather odd that the weaker parts of the show were the interview pieces.  The kids playing him in the flashbacks and his family are more interesting.

It would be better served in future episodes to just have him do voiceovers.

[cardigirl]

6 minutes ago, Tachi Rocinante said:

It's rather odd that the weaker parts of the show were the interview pieces.  The kids playing him in the flashbacks and his family are more interesting.

It would be better served in future episodes to just have him do voiceovers.

I liked the interview parts. Ha ha!  To each his own.

[Ms Blue Jay]

10 hours ago, LBS said:

I liked this a lot.  My husband is a big  WWE dork and got me into it over our courtship (of course I knew Andre the Giant from Princess Bride) so I was familiar with his father and friends.  And I follow The Rock on social media so I am biased with that.  There is an inherent sweetness , earnestness, and ‘in on the joke’ with him and I thought that came through.  I also really like Randall Park.  Gosh this post is so dumb.  

tldr: I like this show. 😂

I REAAAAAAALLY like Randall Park too!  But I agree with some fellow posters that the interview portions were a bit awkwardly shoehorned in....... The whole premise ("Gimmick" haha) of this show is very ambitious...... Not sure if it will work.... I guess it's like Everybody Loves Chris, but if Chris was 3 different age groups.... It's a lot!

[thuganomics85]

As my posting name might suggest, I was a fan of pro wrestling for some time (not as much as I use to be), and was a fan of "The Rock" back in the day (and still like Dwayne "Big Time Movie Star" Johnson as well!)  Even read his biography, so it was interesting seeing some of the bit and pieces here on the screen, even if a lot of it was exaggerated.

All in all, I thought it had typical pilot issues where it is trying to find itself and will probably take a few more episodes to settle in, but I still found it enjoyable and charming at times.  The three actors playing the variations of "Young Rock" fit their roles well, and the actors playing his mom and dad were good too.

I so hope we get more of the "old-time" wrestlers going forward.  The guy playing Andre the Giant really nailed down his voice.

The interview scenes with Dwayne himself and Randall Park were fun, but I do wonder if they will eventually just make it be voiceovers.  If nothing else, it will allow Dwayne to do his work in a voice recording booth instead of a camera, because I seriously wonder how he has time to sleep since he always seems to be working.  I did find it amusing that Randall is apparently playing a variation of himself who will somehow give up acting to become a reporter in 2032.  Why not?!

[Lovecat]

47 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

The guy playing Andre the Giant really nailed down his voice.

It really cracked me up how that guy was filmed.  I mean, he’s a big guy, but not a HUGE guy like Andre, and they always filmed him from low down to make him look bigger, but kind of in a tongue-in-cheek way, like acknowledging that they were doing it for laughs, not trying to pull anything over on the audience.  
 

I really thought this show was a hoot, then again I’m recovering from shoulder surgery, so I’m looking for things to cheer me up.

[Quickbeam]

15 hours ago, Bulldog said:

That was . . . interesting. 

Not particularly funny, but interesting. 

That’s how I felt. It was a slice of life I knew nothing about and portrayed that well. 

[JenLily]

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Someone above said the word "charming" and I wholeheartedly agree with that description. I'm eager to see how the rest of the season goes.

[nilyank]

26 minutes ago, JenLily said:

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Someone above said the word "charming" and I wholeheartedly agree with that description. I'm eager to see how the rest of the season goes.

I agree and one of things that I have always felt about Dwayne Johnson back to when he was "The Rock" is that he is extremely charming and charismatic. Having three younger versions of him having a bit of that charm (with the original doing the interview portions) makes it so enjoyable to watch. I also think there is a lot of sweet nostaglia and love that he has for the stories that I am happy to watch along.

[tennisgurl]

This is certainly an ambitious concept for a sitcom, a biographical story with a high concept framing device and three time periods being flashed back to, but if anything is charismatic enough to pull it off, its Dwayne Johnson. Most of what I know about professional wrestling is based around what I know about Dwayne Johnson himself (and following him on social media) and various TV shows and movies that involve it, mostly GLOW, but I do at least know enough to recognize some of the old school wrestlers, especially Andre the Giant and The Iron Sheik, so I guess I am about to learn a lot more. This is quite charming, probably one of the better sitcom pilots to come out lately, it had some of the awkward pilots issues that most shows have, having to dump a ton of exposition really quickly, but it had enough fun to make me excited to watch more. 

Love seeing Randall Park, playing himself as a reporter in the future, because why not. In general they seem to have a good cast, the three younger Rocks are all really good, and the guy playing Andre the Giant really nailed his voice. It was kind of hilarious how the actor had to be filmed at all of these lower angles, because no one is as big as Andre the Giant. 

[Snapdragon]

I'm surprised by how enjoyable that actually was.  That being said, I'm not sure how long this show can last.  Eventually, the high school aged actor is going to catch up to the college aged actor, and then what do they do?  Because the youngest one can go from elementary school to middle school no problem.  The college aged one can age up to WWF Rock but when the high school one ages, then he's in college and they've already told the college year stories.  But I guess they have 3 or 4 years before they run into this problem, so might as well worry about that later.

[Kel Varnsen]

This was pretty fun. Hawaii Rock with all the old school wrestlers was probably my favorite (and I just realized I almost called him Kid Rock there but that would be a much worse show). I did like how they weren't afraid explore how his dad was huge when he was a kid but then ended up working a blue collar job and they were living in a little apartment when his wrestling career ended. Nice to show how pro wrestling especially in those days was pretty terrible for any kind of financial security.

[Kel Varnsen]

Also I liked that the Iron Sheik is part of the little kid story. Dwayne Johnson has always been honest about how he borrowed the term "Jabroni" from the Sheik, so that could be interesting to see play out. 

[Lovecat]

5 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Also I liked that the Iron Sheik is part of the little kid story. Dwayne Johnson has always been honest about how he borrowed the term "Jabroni" from the Sheik, so that could be interesting to see play out. 

That’s UNCLE Iron Sheik...which was probably my first LOL moment during the show 🙂

[Kel Varnsen]

14 minutes ago, Lovecat said:

That’s UNCLE Iron Sheik...which was probably my first LOL moment during the show 🙂

I hope there is more of the Sheik. There is a really good documentary on Prime Video about the Iron Sheik and how he went from wrestling superstar/champion to drug addict then got clean and became a social media star. Dwayne Johnson is even in it.

[Kromm]

A lot of this is crap, but I gotta appreciate even half effective recreations of certain people. I mean getting Andre the Giant even CLOSE? (he's like half a foot too short, but still...) 

Edited February 24, 2021 by Kromm

[Raja]

On 2/16/2021 at 6:28 PM, Bulldog said:

That was . . . interesting. 

Not particularly funny, but interesting. 

It has been a long time since I really liked the comedy in network sitcom's. Like the few sitcom's I do visit the situation hooked me into Young Rock