Longtime fans of Dropout (formerly known as CollegeHumor) will tell you that calling the comedy streaming service a liberal-leaning platform is an understatement. That’s why some viewers were surprised when The Dropouts announced that cast members from its game show “Game Changers” would appear in an episode of ABC’s cop drama “The Rookie.”
The backlash focused primarily on fans concerned that The Rookie was “copagandistic,” but the dropout talent is known for being outspoken about police brutality.
The episode, which aired Monday night, featured Dropout CEO and “Game Changers” host Sam Reich, as well as frequent Dropout collaborators Vic Michaelis (Peacock’s “Ponies”), Icob Wysocki, Zach Oyama and Anna Garcia play a drama version of themselves opposite “The Rookie” star Nathan Fillion, who comes to investigate a robbery at Dropout Studios in Los Angeles.
Much of Dropout’s plot involvement comes from the cast’s comedic caricatures of themselves on set and in police lines, and from Reich’s inadvertent responsibility for the robbery in a vicious attempt at insurance fraud.
Reich spoke to Variety about the experience, brought to the indie streamer by “The Rookie” showrunner Alexi Hawley, a Dropout fan, in an email interview Tuesday, acknowledging fans’ concerns but explaining that he hopes the platform can reach a wider audience as it continues to grow its business operations and programming.
“I can’t speak for the cast, but I can speak for myself: I felt that the opportunity to bring ‘Dropout’ to a wide audience, perhaps one not yet familiar with us, was too good to pass up,” Reich said. “We owe everything to our fans, who are very passionate and hold us to high standards. So it’s probably inevitable that we’ll piss people off from time to time.”
Read more of Variety’s interview with Reich below.
How did this episode come about? Is The Rookie closer to dropping out or vice versa? Who was whose fan?
A select few of The Rookies’ showrunners and writing staff reached out to us because they’re fans. At first I wasn’t convinced that I wasn’t a “game changer” for myself…for the second time. In fact, I still don’t. Jenny, you won’t do this to me again, will you?
How much was improvised, how much was scripted, and did you collaborate with them to write the script?
We had the team behind ‘The Rookie’ write the script – after all, they write their own shows best – but they wrote it very lovingly and with our voice in mind. That said, we did an almost irresponsible amount of improvisation. As of now, I don’t know what caused this. Come up with at least three jokes that would be surprising if they got aired. One of them is from Nathan Fillion.
When this episode was announced, reaction was divided between fans who were excited to see Dropout featured on a broadcast network show and some fans who were upset that Dropout appeared on “The Rookie” to promote “Copaganda.” How do you and the cast members who participated in this episode react to this?
I can’t speak for the cast, but I can speak for myself: I felt that the opportunity to bring Dropout to a wide audience, perhaps one that is new to us, was too good to pass up. We have fans who are very passionate and hold us to high standards, so it’s probably inevitable that we’ll piss people off sometimes.
Will we see an episode of “The Rookie” incorporated into the next episode of “Game Changer”?
For now, there are no plans for the collaboration to go in any other direction. It’s a little harder to imagine how a scripted world would fit into an unscripted world than vice versa. We were just trying to prank the cast on the “Game Changers” episode, but we had to make “The Rookie.” Vic sent me a video of the trailer and threatened me with what he would do if it turned out to be an episode of “Game Changers.” It involved stealing a wife.
The versions of “The Rookie” of everyone, including Sam Reich, are clearly caricatures of themselves, but those unfamiliar with Dropouts and “Game Changers” may not understand. Nolan is certainly not amused by them. How do you feel about putting fictional versions of yourself and Dropout out there for more consumption?
Perhaps this is obvious considering certain episodes of “Make Some Noise” and “Game Changer,” but being teased is my love language. Being asked to act out caricatures of ourselves reminded us of CollegeHumor’s “Hardly Working” days. It felt very natural because that’s how a lot of audiences fell in love with us in the first place. Oddly enough, so did confessing to a crime.
