Longtime fans of Dropout (formerly known as CollegeHumor) would say that to call the comedy streaming service a liberal-leaning platform is an understatement. That’s why some viewers were taken aback when Dropout announced cast members from its game show “Game Changer” would be appearing on an episode of ABC cop procedural “The Rookie.”
The backlash largely centered around fans concerned that “The Rookie” is “copaganda,” while Dropout talent is known for being outspoken about police brutality.
The episode, which aired Monday night, featured Dropout CEO and “Game Changer” host Sam Reich, as well as frequent Dropout collaborators Vic Michaelis (Peacock’s “Ponies”), Jacob Wysocki, Zac Oyama and Anna Garcia, playing dramatized versions of themselves opposite “The Rookie” star Nathan Fillion, who comes to investigate a reported burglary at the Dropout studio in Los Angeles.
The bulk of Dropout’s 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.
Reich spoke with Variety about the experience — which was brought to the indie streamer by “The Rookie” showrunner Alexi Hawley, who is a Dropout fan — 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.
“I can’t speak for the cast, but I’ll speak for myself and say that the opportunity to expose Dropout to a big audience – one that’s probably not already familiar with us – felt too good to pass up,” Reich said. “We owe everything to our fans, who are super passionate and hold us to a high standard, so it’s perhaps inevitable that we upset folks sometimes.”
“The Rookie’s” showrunner, as well as a few select members of their writing staff, are fans, so they approached us. At first, I wasn’t convinced I wasn’t being “Game Changer’d” myself… for a second time. In fact, I’m still not. Jenny, you wouldn’t do this to me again, would you?
We let the team at “The Rookie” write the script – they write their show best, after all – 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.
I can’t speak for the cast, but I’ll speak for myself and say that the opportunity to expose Dropout to a big audience – one that’s probably not already familiar with us – 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’s perhaps inevitable that we upset folks sometimes.
There are as of yet no plans for the collaboration to go the other way. It’s 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 “Game Changer” episode, but we had “The Rookie” to make. Vic sent me a video from their trailer threatening me with what they’d do to me if it turned out to be a “Game Changer” episode. It involved stealing my wife.
Perhaps this is apparent given certain “Make Some Noise” and “Game Changer” episodes, but being poked fun at is a love language of mine. Being asked to play caricatures of ourselves harkened back to the “Hardly Working” 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.
