Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Series Premiere

Searching, searching…analyzing, getting nit-picky, hmmm…coming up empty.  It's hard to find anything to not like about Fox's new comedy series, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which follows a wholly unorthodox team of NYPD who somehow, someway, are effective police. Written by the Parks and Recreation duo of Dan Goor and Michael Schur, BK99 (cool nickname, right? You heard it here first, folks…I think…I didn't check) succeeds as an inversely comedic version of Parks, in so much as where Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope character treats a perceivably modest job with overly heroic efforts, Andy Samberg's Jake Peralta character drives the humor with his boyish approach to a job that usually requires someone with a tough enough demeanor to, well, never show up to work wearing a badge and multi-colored, nut-hugging Speedo. And that's not to say that he's not good at his job, because he is—in fact, he's the best detective on staff. Oh, and if you rolled your eyes during commercials at the multi-colored Speedo gag—that seemingly sophomoric joke carries much more plot weight in the episode than you might realize.

Like the Speedo gag, there were numerous other laughing points throughout the show brought on by solid story and character as much as fun and folly.  True of this breed of show—Parks and The Office included—Goor and Schur, like Greg Daniels before them, write workplace comedies with more heart and soul than most.  This was demonstrated in the pilot episode as the precinct’s new Captain Ray Holt, played by Andre Braugher, joins the squad and aims to end the antics of too-playful-for-police work Jake Peralta. The captain provides a comedic straight man to Samberg that dynamically moves between intimidating authority figure and jokester—sometimes both at once (as he deadpans in a deep voice about a picture of baby twins: "They have adorable chubby cheeks")—while ultimately becoming the center of the feel-good moments. Surely not every storyline will be the captain’s throughout the series, but the promise exists for well-written comedy that delivers on the expectation of good plotting and reason to watch the character. It's that substance—the ability to make co-workers feel like a family—that lays the groundwork for relatability, regardless of what the actual workplace is (cops, the local parks office, a paper company, etc).  An accounting joke is usually not going to get a laugh, unless built around a more familiar set of circumstances—and Goor and Schur have done an excellent job making us feel right at home at a police station (maybe you already feel right at home in a police station…in which case, please don't call me for bail money.)

Strong supporting characters around the police station also shine, including a ferociously talented cast of female colleagues, helped by standout performances from Melissa Fumero and Chelsea Peretti.  And in general, the diverse cast of characters warrants applause, because those interesting backgrounds lend themselves to funny relationships that will help keep the material fresh as the potential additional episode orders come rolling in. Terry Crews in any comedic work environment is going to be funny (because he's gigantic and scary at first glance). Also Joe Lo Truglio is never not hilarious in his perfectly moronic, love-hungry character who constantly accepts terrible advice as gospel…but again, stupid as he may be, as a cop he's Aces.

The police-y aspect of the show was a concern in areas, but then was also handled surprisingly well in others. The police work and physical confrontations with criminal activity were distractions from the story, made to be cartoonish in some scenes. However, perhaps the more challenging topics that one could expect to see in a cop show (i.e., murder) were tackled quickly and effectively with funny lines "for all your murder fans out there…" leading to an explanation that a promising lead has developed in a case, and again later when the captain arrives to a crime scene and Peralta greets him "welcome to the murder." Not always an easy topic to make funny, so kudos there for jumping right into that potentially unfunny topic right out of the gate.

What can I say? There were a lot of laughs, including a silent showdown between a female LAPD and a female maintenance worker that just absolutely cracked me up. Watch it, you'll chuckle too. Ratings were solid and the social media buzz is also noteworthy. Brooklyn Nine-Nine is one of the most promising new primetime comedy series of the new season.