Why Brooklyn-99 Is One of the Best Sitcoms of the 2010s
In June 2020, it was announced that the final season of the beloved cop sitcom, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, would premiere as part of NBC's fall schedule. However, NBC later delayed the premiere until mid-season 2020–21 due to the pandemic. After many further delays, rewrites, and rumored cancellations, fans wondered if they were ever going to see their favorite detectives in action again. Thankfully, the eighth and final season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine premiered on August 12, 2021, with a total of ten episodes. Despite numerous alterations due to the social/political climate at the time of its production, creators Dan Goor and Michael Schur delivered a fitting, hilarious, and heartwarming conclusion to one of my personal favorite sitcoms of all time. Brooklyn Nine-Nine is criminally underrated, with many impressive qualities that set it apart from its peers and easily make it one of the best sitcoms of the 2010s.
Since its debut on September 17, 2013, the series has received great praise and developed a cult fanbase. The series revolves around Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg), a New York City Police Department (NYPD) detective in Brooklyn's 99th Precinct who often butts heads with his commanding officer, the serious and stern Captain Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher). The rest of the cast features the other detectives Peralta works with, including unapologetic Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz), family man Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews), teacher’s pet Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), pushover Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio), sassy receptionist Gina Linetti (Chelsea Peretti), and lazy slobs Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) and Scully (Joel McKinnon Miller). Brooklyn Nine-Nine follows this diverse group of personalities as they solve cases and grow together as a team despite their constant shenanigans. Over time, the team gradually gets more involved in each other’s personal lives, eventually becoming an unconventional yet wholesome family.
While the show does follow many of the narrative conventions and production styles of other iconic sitcoms like Parks and Recreation and The Office, it is still more than unique enough to stand on its own. The show balances wearing its influences on its sleeve and adding its own twists on the genre, often by subverting expectations and providing new and interesting narratives, relationships, and characters. This allows Brooklyn Nine-Nine to deliver the same level of quality as its predecessors without coming across as boring or derivative. On the contrary, there are many aspects of Brooklyn Nine-Nine that it does just as well if not better than most sitcoms. Spoiler warning as details of the later seasons are revealed in the following paragraphs.
One of the series' most impressive aspects is its well-rounded characters and relationships. The entire main cast is charismatic, humorous, and simply lovable from the first episode. However, one of the most rewarding parts of the show is watching these characters grow as individuals and with each other. Peralta and Captain Holt are the perfect examples of this. Peralta started off as an immature and childish detective, and while he never loses that carefree personality, over the seasons we see him mature and grow into a responsible Detective, Friend, Husband, and Father. Holt, on the other hand, becomes a father figure for Peralta and learns to loosen up and display emotion/compassion for those he cares about. The entire cast has similarly satisfying character arcs that culminate in an excellent final season. This is important to note considering that many other great sitcoms tend to suffer a drop in quality in their later seasons or have an unsatisfying ending. Instead, Brooklyn Nine-Nine maintains its standards and only improves as the show develops.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine also manages to deliver numerous serious and heartfelt moments without giving up its humor or light-hearted tone. While the show may offer constant laughs, it’s also filled with high stakes and compelling plot points. A lot of this stems from the fact that the characters actually do a lot of meaningful detective work, solving cases and even putting their lives at risk. This adds tension to the episodes as they know that at any moment something could go wrong. The show’s other most impactful moments come from the relationships between the main cast, such as when Jake and Santiago kiss for the first time or when Boyle takes a bullet to save Rosa’s life. Balancing seriousness with comedy is one of the hardest things to do properly in a sitcom, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine does so flawlessly.
The other part in which the show excels is its diversity and incorporation of social issues, especially in its later seasons. Diversity has been a longstanding issue in all television, and sitcoms are no exemption. Thankfully, modern productions are slowly starting to foster more and more diversity in their casts and crews. Brooklyn Nine-Nine has a beautifully diverse cast of actors and actresses, whose roles are importantly not defined by the stereotypes of their race or ethnicity (which has often been a fault of other sitcoms). The producers use these actors to subvert the traditional tropes that token casting has created in mainstream television. Captain Holt, for example, is a no-nonsense robotic leader, but also a gay Black man. The show also makes sure to show the discrimination and obstacles that Holt suffers as a result of his race and sexuality. This is extremely important in my opinion because to have a diverse cast without accurately portraying their experiences would be a massive misstep. Brooklyn Nine-Nine also tackles issues like police brutality, anti-vaxxers, racism, LGBTQ+ rights, and more. This is especially true for its final season, which was rewritten in response to both the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests that took place in June 2020. While we often look to television and sitcoms for a form of escapism from our daily lives, when incorporated well, social issues can be a very poignant and important inclusion in our media. Brooklyn Nine-Nine does this perfectly without taking away from the show’s plot, tone, or comedic nature.
While countless sitcoms have come and gone over the years, there are some that stand above the rest, bringing joy and laughter to generations of viewers. Few have been able to establish themselves amongst recent instant-classics like Friends, Parks and Recreation, and The Office. Following in the footsteps of those iconic series, I believe Brooklyn Nine-Nine is more than worthy of being put in the conversation of the best sitcom to come out in the last decade. Brooklyn Nine-Nine builds on previous sitcom tropes and delivers interesting characters, plots, relationships, and endless laughter. It also makes much-needed waves in terms of diversity and provides adept social commentary in ways that never seem forced or disingenuous. And with the show having finally come to an end in September 2021, I highly recommend you join the hilarious and heartwarming adventures of Detective Jake Peralta and the NYPD’s 99th precinct for all eight fantastic seasons of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Written by: Bryan Herrera
Art by: Cassidy Elibol
