NBC is going to turn in their badge after the 2021-2022 television season by bringing veteran comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine to and end with a 10-episode final season. “Ending the show was a difficult decision,” creator Dan Goor (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Recreation) said in an official statement “we felt it was the best way to honor the characters, the story and our viewers” (Twitter). Goor’s statement implies that the decision to end Brooklyn Nine-Nine came from the creative team behind the series rather than the network itself.
The upcoming eighth and final season has been delayed at NBC due to COVID-19 production delays and a reworking of storylines in the wake of both the pandemic and social justice movements surrounding policing. “There’s nothing funny about what we’ve been seeing from the police,” Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Andy Samberg (Saturday Night Live, Palm Springs) is quoted by Entertainment Weekly “it’s not a laughing matter.”
According to TVLine, the first four episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s eighth season were scrapped entirely after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the police over the summer renewed national conversation around race and policing. Entertainment Weekly cites the sitcom’s history with tackling heavier topics, particularly pertaining to race and discrimination. A season four episode entitled “Moo Moo” focused on the racial profiling of Terry Crew’s (Idiocracy, Everybody Hates Chris) Terry Jeffords and serves as a notable example of the show trying to incorporate storylines that reflect the realities of racism in law enforcement.
Former Brooklyn Nine-Nine actress Chelsea Peretti (Big Mouth, Chelsea Peretti: One of the Greats) even suggested that the upcoming season should explore the topic of defunding the titular ninety-ninth precinct. As Brooklyn Nine-Nine focuses on goofy and loveable cop characters, it will certainly be balancing act for the sitcom to tell a story centered around institutional racism in law enforcement. However, the Brooklyn Nine-Nine team has expressed their serious dedication to the issue -at-hand, even donating 100,000$ toward the National Bail Fund over the summer.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, racial injustice is not the only major topic Brooklyn Nine-Nine aims to tackle in it’s final 10-episodes. As with fellow outgoing NBC sitcom Superstore, Brooklyn Nine-Nine wants to spend time telling stories about the ramifications that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on first responders.
With Superstore closing it’s doors on March 25 and Brooklyn Nine-Nine wrapping in 2022, NBC is retiring two of their longest-running sitcoms and leaving quite the gap in their comedy line-up. Upcoming sitcoms American Auto and Goor’s Grand Crew will vie to fill the void left behind by these departing veteran comedies.
Though Brooklyn Nine-Nine originally aired on Fox, NBC saved the series from cancellation at their first network home in 2018. “I still remember the palpable excitement that night in 2018 when we announced Brooklyn Nine-Nine would be returning to its rightful home at NBC,” The Hollywood Reporter quotes NBCUniversal President of Scripted Content Lisa Katz “we’ve always loved these characters and the way they make us laugh while also masterfully weaving in storylines that make us reflect as well.”
Brooklyn Nine-Nine was thus given three additional seasons at NBC thanks to its fervent online fanbase. Universal Studio Group chairman Pearlena Igbokwe has called the series “one of the jewels in our comedy crown” (The Hollywood Reporter). The “death-defying” police comedy’s departure from the network in 2022 will leave Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist as NBC’s longest-running comedy, so long as it gets renewed for third season, via TVLine.
While Goor will remain on NBC as a part of an overall development deal with Universal, the other members of the ninety-ninth precinct will seek new homes on new series. Many behind-the-scenes talents such as writer Dewayne Perkins (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Break with Michelle Wolf) and director Rick Page (A Lyon in the Kitchen), shared their farewells to the series on social media.
In addition to the aforementioned Samberg, Crews and Peretti, Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s comedy ensemble includes Joe Lo Truglio (Wet Hot American Summer, Reno 911!), Melissa Fumero (One Life to Live), Stephanie Beatriz (Short Term 12, BoJack Horseman), Dirk Blocker (Poltergeist), Joel McKinnon Miller (Big Love) and the Emmy nominated Andre Braugher (Homocide: Life on the Street). Many members of the cast shared their gratitude for the series, particularly the fans who once saved the series from cancellation, on social media after Thursday’s news.
The final season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine will premiere in Fall 2021 on NBC. According to The Hollywood Reporter, an anticipation that the Olympic Games will move forward will grant NBC the opportunity to promote the sitcom’s eighth season throughout the summer event.