Why Brooklyn Nine-Nine ending with season 8 is a smart choice

It’s been a while since we’ve caught up with the 99th precinct, but it looks like we’ll have one last chance to spend time with the Brooklyn Nine-Nine crew before NBC puts its beloved cop comedy to rest. The network announced last week that the series would end with its eighth season, something that isn’t entirely surprising — particularly after the writers and cast took some time to reflect on the future of the show in light of the Black Lives Matter protests last spring and summer.

The eighth and final season will consist of 10 episodes, which have already been delayed until the 2021-22 television season due to COVID-related production setbacks. Andy Samberg, who plays Jake Peralta on the series, revealed recently that filming on the eighth season would begin soon — so fans might be receiving more details when it does.

In a statement posted to social media last Thursday, Brooklyn Nine-Nine co-creator Dan Goor spoke with some positivity about the show coming to an end:

"“I’m so thankful to NBC and Universal Television for allowing us to give these characters and our fans the ending they deserve. When Mike Schur and I first pitched the pilot episode to Andy, he said, ‘I’m in, but I think the only way to tell this story is over exactly 153 episodes,’ which was crazy because that was exactly the number Mike and I had envisioned.”"

Why ending Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a smart choice

As sad as fans will be to bid farewell to Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the network and creators have made the right choice in choosing to end this show. For one, there’s been plenty of discussion surrounding the role cop-centric television series play in glamorizing law enforcement and allowing police brutality to go unchecked. Numerous police procedurals and television networks have vowed to rethink the way they do things, Brooklyn Nine-Nine among them.

The thing that sets Brooklyn Nine-Nine apart from many other cop shows, however, is that it’s a comedy, not a procedural or drama. With that in mind, it’s difficult to address serious problems within the profession, like police brutality and systemic racism, without changing the entire tone of the show. And although the creators and cast have vowed to tackle these problems anyway, it makes sense that they might not want to continue trying for laughs in the current political climate. In fact, it shows a sense of awareness that their method of storytelling may not be the best to address such serious issues on a long-term basis.

“There’s nothing funny about what we’ve been seeing from the police,” Samberg said in an interview with GQ last year. “It’s not a laughing matter.”

That alone would be a compelling enough reason to bring the series to an end, but it’s not the only cause to applaud the network and creators for doing so. As Goor suggested in his statement, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has gone on for a long time — long enough that many of its main characters have worked through their biggest problems, grown up, and even achieved some of their longstanding dreams. Although there are still a few storylines to wrap up (give Rosa all the love and happiness, please), most of them have been brought full circle. And no one enjoys watching a favorite television series beat its jokes and plotlines to death.

Good storytellers know when it’s time to say farewell, and it seems the talent behind Brooklyn Nine-Nine knows exactly what they’re doing. At least the series will get to tackle important issues before it goes out — and bid farewell to longtime fans with one last outing.

There’s no word on when the final episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine will air, but stay tuned on Culturess for updates on the exact release date and more news about the upcoming season.