Brooklyn Nine-Nine
The what: Brooklyn Nine-Nine has recently made a network jump, from FOX to NBC, and fans of the show couldn’t be more relieved to see it live another day. It’s basically a workplace comedy, set in a police precinct in New York, and it’s this unexpected juxtaposition that makes the dynamics work. We don’t often get to laugh at crime solving.
Andy Samberg is Jake Peralta, the delightfully immature detective that works alongside his friends and wife. The show was recently canceled by FOX in 2018, but loyal fans launched such a rigorous campaign, NBC felt compelled to pick it up, and the rest will be television history, as soon as the season airs in early 2019.
The feels: The show obviously delivers laughs; Samberg makes sure of that. But it’s also really quite insightful about the dynamics of workplace relationships and friendships in general. No character is drawn as two-dimensional, and everyone comes across as a (mostly) relatable human. It’s not afraid to do what it takes to get the laugh, but it’s also adept at turning those laughs into revealing moments that aren’t cannibalizing the characters themselves.
Because the show treats every character with respect, the audience buy-in is sky high, as proven by the overwhelming reaction to its cancellation by FOX. Nobody escapes being the butt of the joke, but because we love them so much, we’re always laughing with them, not at them.
The deets: The sixth season is set to premiere, as an NBC project, in early 2019, but Hulu has the first five available now. Aside from Samberg, the series has some of the best of the best, when it comes to comedy, including Andre Braugher, Chelsea Peretti, and Terry Crews.