{"id":502925,"date":"2026-03-04T09:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T09:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/502925\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T09:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T09:21:10","slug":"dropouts-sam-reich-on-rookie-copaganda-backlash-to-game-changer-crossover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/502925\/","title":{"rendered":"Dropout’s Sam Reich on ‘Rookie’ ‘Copaganda’ Backlash to ‘Game Changer’ Crossover"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLongtime fans of Dropout<\/a> (formerly known as CollegeHumor) would say that to call the comedy streaming service a liberal-leaning platform<\/a> is an understatement. That\u2019s why some viewers were taken aback when Dropout announced cast members from its game show \u201cGame Changer<\/a>\u201d would be appearing on an episode of ABC cop procedural \u201cThe Rookie.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe backlash largely centered around fans concerned that \u201cThe Rookie<\/a>\u201d is \u201ccopaganda,\u201d while Dropout talent is known for being outspoken about police brutality.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe episode, which aired Monday night, featured Dropout CEO and \u201cGame Changer\u201d host Sam Reich<\/a>, as well as frequent Dropout collaborators Vic Michaelis (Peacock\u2019s \u201cPonies\u201d), Jacob Wysocki, Zac Oyama and Anna Garcia, playing dramatized versions of themselves opposite \u201cThe Rookie\u201d star Nathan Fillion, who comes to investigate a reported burglary at the Dropout studio in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe bulk of Dropout\u2019s involvement plot-wise came down to the cast doing caricatures of their comedic selves on the set and during a police lineup, and Reich being inadvertently responsible for the robbery in question via a bad attempt at insurance fraud. <\/p>\n

\n\tReich spoke with Variety about the experience \u2014 which was brought to the indie streamer by \u201cThe Rookie\u201d showrunner Alexi Hawley, who is a Dropout fan \u2014 in an email interview Tuesday, acknowledging fan concern while explaining the desire for the platform to reach a larger audience as it continues to grow its business operations and programming slate.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI can\u2019t speak for the cast, but I\u2019ll speak for myself and say that the opportunity to expose Dropout to a big audience \u2013 one that\u2019s probably not already familiar with us \u2013 felt too good to pass up,\u201d Reich said. \u201cWe owe everything to our fans, who are super passionate and hold us to a high standard, so it\u2019s perhaps inevitable that we upset folks sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRead more from Variety\u2018s interview with Reich below.<\/p>\n

\t\tHow did the episode come about \u2014 did The Rookie approach Dropout or vice versa? Who was a fan of who?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Rookie\u2019s\u201d showrunner, as well as a few select members of their writing staff, are fans, so they approached us. At first, I wasn\u2019t convinced I wasn\u2019t being \u201cGame Changer\u2019d\u201d myself\u2026 for a second time. In fact, I\u2019m still not. Jenny, you wouldn\u2019t do this to me again, would you?<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\tHow much was improv and how much was scripted, and did you work with them to write the scripts?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWe let the team at \u201cThe Rookie\u201d write the script \u2013 they write their show best, after all \u2013 but they did so very lovingly and in our voices. That said, we did an almost irresponsible amount of improv. To date, I have no idea what made the cut. I think of at least three jokes that I would be surprised make it to air. One of them came from Nathan Fillion.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhen the episode was announced, there was a divisive reaction between fans who were excited to see Dropout showcased on a broadcast network show, and some fans who were upset over Dropout promoting \u201ccopaganda\u201d by being on \u201cThe Rookie.\u201d How would you and the cast members who participated in the episode respond to this?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI can\u2019t speak for the cast, but I\u2019ll speak for myself and say that the opportunity to expose Dropout to a big audience \u2013 one that\u2019s probably not already familiar with us \u2013 felt too good to pass up. We owe everything to our fans, who are super passionate and hold us to a high standard, so it\u2019s perhaps inevitable that we upset folks sometimes.<\/p>\n

\t\tWill we see \u201cThe Rookie\u201d episode incorporated into an upcoming episode of \u201cGame Changer\u201d?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThere are as of yet no plans for the collaboration to go the other way. It\u2019s a little harder to imagine how a scripted world fits into an unscripted world than vice versa. I would have tried to prank the cast with a \u201cGame Changer\u201d episode, but we had \u201cThe Rookie\u201d to make. Vic sent me a video from their trailer threatening me with what they\u2019d do to me if it turned out to be a \u201cGame Changer\u201d episode. It involved stealing my wife.<\/p>\n

\t\t\u201cThe Rookie\u201d versions of everyone, Sam Reich included, are clearly caricatures of themselves, but maybe not in a way someone who is unfamiliar with Dropout or \u201cGame Changer\u201d would get. Nolan is certainly unamused by them. How do you feel about putting that fictional version of yourselves and Dropout out there for larger consumption?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tPerhaps this is apparent given certain \u201cMake Some Noise\u201d and \u201cGame Changer\u201d episodes, but being poked fun at is a love language of mine. Being asked to play caricatures of ourselves harkened back to the \u201cHardly Working\u201d days of CollegeHumor, which is how a lot of the audience fell in love with us originally, so it felt very second nature. So did confessing to a crime, oddly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Longtime fans of Dropout (formerly known as CollegeHumor) would say that to call the comedy streaming service a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[186089,88,29190,229170,211598,92],"class_list":["post-502925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-dropout","tag-entertainment","tag-game-changer","tag-sam-reich","tag-the-rookie","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}