Noice -- CoolCoolCool

This past week, the sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine aired its final episode. It was hardly an obscure show, running 153 episodes over eight seasons, conspicuously getting saved from cancellation in a network hop, and even racking up a few awards (and many more nominations) along the way. But on the off chance that you, reader, have not watched it, I want to mark the occasion by suggesting that you should.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine was the brainchild of Dan Goor and Michael Schur, who co-created Parks and Recreation. (Schur also wrote on the U.S. version of The Office and created the sublime The Good Place.) They perceived that there hadn't really been a sitcom about a police squad room since Barney Miller, and set out to fill the niche. What resulted was excellent, due to the same sensibilities the two brought to those other shows I named.

The series was a high-rate joke factory, increasingly seeking to overwhelm the audience with more jokes than you could appreciate in a single watch... but it also included the right amount of sentimentality, of caring about its characters and making us care too. On occasion, it would dare to walk the high wire of balancing comedy with social commentary -- especially in its final season, which acknowledged both COVID and the protest movement amplified by the murder of George Floyd. These rarely felt like the schmaltzy "special episodes" of 80s sitcoms.

All that, plus reliably great annual episodes involving a "heist" with Ocean's Eleven scope brought to bear on something of minimal importance.

As with other Goor/Schur work, the key seemed to be in the casting; Brooklyn Nine-Nine assembled both big names and then "lesser-knowns," harnessed their unfailing comic chops, and increasingly wrote to performers' strengths as those became apparent. This was the show that made me realize I'd previously and unfairly lumped in Andy Samberg with some other comedians I loathe; Samberg has a way of portraying the "man-child" trope in a way that actually is endearing. Andre Braugher was known before this series for super-intense dramatic acting; here we learn that when he brings that intensity to bear on comedy, it is laugh-out-loud hilarious.

Stephanie Beatriz, Terry Crews, Melissa Fumero, Joe Lo Truglio, Chelsea Peretti, Dirk Blocker, Joel McKinnon Miller... they're each just as funny, and nearly every episode gives every one of them the chance to show it. And collectively, they were an almost unthinkably diverse cast for 2013, when the show began. Sadly, they still beat many shows for diversity today. (Beatriz and Fumero have both spoken about how they always assumed they were reading against each other in casting sessions, and that there was no way any show would cast two Latina characters.)

It's probably safe to say that if you loved Parks and Recreation, but somehow slept on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, you've been denying yourself 150+ episodes of hilarity. There might be the occasional weaker installment in there, perhaps enough to give the series "only" an A- overall. But to be clear: Brooklyn Nine-Nine was great, ended well, and if you haven't watched it: you should.