On Tuesday, Tracy Morgan will make his triumphant return to television with the premiere of the highly anticipated sitcom The Last O.G.
Inspired by characters Morgan encountered in his youth, the show follows the life of Trey, the "original gangster," played by Morgan, who finds himself having to adjust to a newly gentrified Brooklyn after spending 15 years behind bars.
In addition to discovering his old neighborhood muddled with lavish coffee shops, brunch-obsessed hipsters and white women pushing strollers, Trey also discovers he's the father of twins. Despite his excitement toward fatherhood, establishing a relationship with his children may not be as easy as he hopes, as his longtime love Shay, played by Tiffany Haddish, is raising them with her dashing and successful white husband Josh (Ryan Gaul).
Luckily, Trey has the help of his cousin Bobby (Allen Maldonado) and halfway house guardian Minard (Cedric the Entertainer) to help guide him through the many changes and challenges he faces as he attempts to adjust to life on the outside.
The comedy series, airing at 10:30 p.m. ET on TBS, is a project Morgan contemplated creating long before the 30 Rock star's near-fatal accident. Back in 2014, a Wal-Mart truck driver struck a limo-van transporting Morgan and several others, including comedian James McNair, who was killed in the crash. Morgan, who broke a leg, nose and ribs in the accident, spent two weeks in a coma and suffered a brain injury as a result of the trauma.
It was during Morgan's recovery when he said he was finally inspired to bring The Last O.G. to fruition. "This was an idea I had in my head for about eight years," he recently told New York Post, noting episodes of Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key's Comedy Central Show Key & Peele heavily motivated to start working on his own project.
Crediting the comedy show as his "healing process," Morgan said he contacted his agent to arrange a meeting with Peele, who now serves as an executive producer on The Last O.G. "When I went out to do the Emmys [in 2015] my agent arranged a lunch between me and Jordan. I started telling him my idea, the wheels started turning and we came up with this show."
