Stream It or Skip It: ‘Young Rock’ on NBC, Where Dwayne Johnson’s Youth Is Explored in 3 Different Time Periods

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been talking up photos of himself in high school for years now, because it ties into an early life where his family moved around a lot and he got in trouble with the law for stealing, and other non-violent crimes. So the story of how he became “The Rock” and one of the biggest stars on the planet is an interesting one. It’s so interesting that Johnson developed that story into the series Young Rock. Read on for more…

YOUNG ROCK: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Randall Park is hosting a news program called The Straight Line With Randall Park. We see the intro to the program and he talks about one of the nominees in the 2032 presidential primary: Dwayne Johnson.

The Gist: In Young Rock we see Johnson as a presidential candidate, approaching 60 but somehow unchanged from what he looks like now (oddly, so is “former actor” Randall Park), talking to Park about his earlier years, before he became “The Rock.” It was the years where he was trying to figure himself out, the son of wrestler “Soul Man” Rocky Johnson (Joseph Lee Anderson), whose fortunes in that world declined while his friends’ careers exploded, and his very patient wife Ata (Stacey Leilua).

In 1982, the Johnsons are living in Hawaii, and 10-year-old Dwayne (Adrian Groulx) loves hanging out with his dad. After a wrestling match, people are clamoring for his autograph, and they drive home in a Lincoln Continental, even though they live in an efficiency motel room. To Rocky, it’s all about “working the gimmick,” which he talks about when they go to the apartment of Ata’s mother Lia Maivia (Ana Tuisila), who’s his manager. She manages other up-and-coming wrestlers, like the Iron Sheik (Brett Azar), Junkyard Dog (Nate Jackson), Andre The Giant (Matthew Willig) and The Wild Samoans (Jon Tui, Fasitua Amosa). “Dewey” gets a lot of info from these guys, especially Andre, who picks him up when Dwayne uses the “f-word” (fake). But getting quality time with his father is elusive.

By 1987, the family has moved to Bethlehem, PA, and 15-year-old Dwayne (Bradley Constant) has taken to shoplifting expensive clothes so he can look more impressive to the girls at school, namely a blond girl he calls “Fine-Ass Karen” (Lexie Duncan). In reality, the Johnsons are struggling with their cleaning business while Rocky still tries to hang onto his wrestling career, and Dwayne works in a pizzeria with his buddy Gabe (Taj Cross). At 15, Dwayne is already pretty big and has a pencil-thin mustache; he looks so out of place everyone (including the principal) thinks he’s an undercover cop like on 21 Jump Street.

In 1990, 18-year-old Dwayne (Uli Latukefu) starts at the University of Miami, which was the dominant college football program at the time. When he gets to the training facility for the first time, he finds out from his new teammates that his dad has already gone through there, talking him up and saying he’s going to be on the Wheaties box. Dwayne calls Rocky to ask him why he did that, and Rocky tells him that’s part of “working the gimmick.” Dwayne leans into it by breaking a bench press record on his first day.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Young Rock reminds us of Everybody Hates Chris, at least in theme and tone. Chris Rock just stuck to one time period, though.

Our Take: One thing we can say for sure about Young Rock: It’s certainly ambitious. It shows Johnson during 4 different time periods, including 11 years in the future (a future where Randall Park hosts a cable news show, apparently). From what we can see from the format in the episodes going forward, each episode will consist of Johnson talking to someone (Park, other people on the campaign trail) about his younger years, and then we’ll see a story from one of his timelines.

In Episode 2, for instance, 15-year-old Dwayne asks Karen out on a date and tries to impress her by taking her to one his dad’s wrestling matches, which turns out to be in a flea market. Stories like that, where Rocky works the gimmick, even with his son, but Dwayne stays because “It’s my dad”, shows the potential of what Johnson, Jeff Chaing and showrunner Nahnatchka Khan (Fresh Off The Boat) have in mind for the show. We can see that the show will try to tell funny stories with an element of family warmth, even if that warmth comes in strange forms, given how Rocky is often absent, constantly trying to revive his wrestling career.

If that’s the format going forward, we’re on board. All three people playing Dwayne do a good job of making the role their own, where we see elements of the current megastar that Johnson is today mixed with the various insecurities he had at each age. We also enjoyed Khan’s embrace of the real people in Johnson’s life, whether it was his wrestling family or his teammates at “The U” (as a Giants fan, I was especially intrigued to see someone playing Jessie Armstead). Despite Dwayne’s differing ages and locales, the through-line is Rocky and Ata, and having the episodes stay on one timeline gives Khan and her writers time to develop stories for them, like Ata’s burgeoning friendship with a recent divorcee whose house she’s cleaning.

What’s most surprising about Young Rock is that the segments with The Rock himself are the parts that don’t work. We get why they’re there; it’s a good way for the stories from each timeframe to be set up, especially early in the show’s run. And it’s a way to get Johnson in front of the camera given his packed schedule; we suspect that his interstitials with Park were shot over a couple of weeks. But the segments are awkward, especially because there’s no explanation for why Park isn’t an actor anymore (you see him in WandaVision? Why would he give that up?).

The hope is that eventually the retro segments can stand on their own, without the on-camera presence of Johnson. Perhaps he can do short voice-overs to introduce them. Because what is a surprisingly funny and warm family show gets dragged down by the star whose name is in the title, simply because of how he’s presented.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Johnson tells Park that he’s got lots of great stories about Andre The Giant. Then we see “Hawaii, 1982,” and Andre busts into Dwayne’s class for career day.

Sleeper Star: Our favorite character is Ata Johnson, played by Stacey Leilua. She brings such a warm, caring presence to each of the timelines; even when she goes off on her new client for complaining about problems that aren’t problems, you can see that she cares.

Most Pilot-y Line: When Johnson mentions that he stole as a teenager, a PR rep breaks in and nervously tells him not to mention it. It is funny once, but it feels like it’ll be a running joke, and a not very funny one.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Young Rock starts off well and it feels like it’ll settle in to a nice family vibe once it gets into a groove with its format. And as much as we like Johnson, it will get even better when we see less of The Rock.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Young Rock On NBC.com