Summary

  • Tracy Morgan will star in Paramount's Crutch, a spinoff of The Neighborhood, premiering on Paramount+.
  • Crutch features Morgan as the cousin of Calvin, played by Cedric The Entertainer in The Neighborhood, on the new comedy series.
  • Morgan's character, Frank Crutchfield, is a Harlem widower with empty nest plans disrupted by his children.

Tracy Morgan is set to star in Crutch, a spinoff of the six-season CBS sitcom Tracy Jordan on 30 Rock. Since the NBC show ended in 2013, Morgan has led The Last O.G., a TBS comedy co-created by Jordan Peele and John Carcieri that had Morgan portraying a convict that is released from prison after more than a decade and returns to find that his neighborhood has been gentrified.

Morgan is now returning to the television comedy space for Crutch, a spinoff of the popular CBS sitcom The Neighborhood. It'll be executive produced by Morgan and The Neighborhood star and executive producer Cedric The Entertainer, with CBS Studios producing. Production is expected to begin later this year. Morgan has guest-starred in The Neighborhood, though he'll play a new character for the spinoff.

What To Know About Crutch

Morgan Plays A Widower

Tracy Morgan and Cedric the Entertainer in a scene from The Neighborhood

Crutch follows Francois “Frank” Crutchfield. His friends call him Crutch, and he's the cousin of Calvin Butler (Cedric The Entertainer's character on The Neighborhood). Frank is a Harlem widower and his empty nest plans are put on hold once his millennial son and free-spirited daughter move back home with him. It marks a departure from Morgan's previous appearance on the show.

The SNL alum had previously portrayed Calvin's wealthy brother Curtis in an episode from The Neighborhood season 5. But it is not unusual for a guest star to portray a different character in the spinoff compared to the original series. That happened in the case of Joey, which spun off from Friends, and also occurred between Cheers and its spinoff Frasier.

The spinoff marks a reunion for Morgan, who previously worked with Crutch showrunner and executive producer Owen Smith on The Last O.G. It also comes as The Neighborhood season 7 is confirmed to happen at CBS. That longevity and popularity has earned the show the chance to expand by bringing in a comedy vet.

Source: Paramount