Feature Story
The precinct battle cry that's become a clarion call for sitcom viewers everywhere, “Nine-nine,” will be heard for the last time this season. Michael Schur's (“Parks and Recreation”) beloved detective sitcom “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” prepares to say goodbye this year, and the eighth and final season premieres Thursday, Aug. 12, with back-to-back episodes on NBC. For eight years, the Golden Globe-winning series has been a source of endless entertainment, morphing from an off-beat police version of Dan Harmon's “Community” to a sophisticated staple in the comedy world. Fans have watched Det. Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg, “Saturday Night Live”) fall for fellow detective Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero, “A Stone in the Water,” 2019) and come to adore yogurtloving family man Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews, “White Chicks,” 2004); they even rooted for the intimidating Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz, “In the Heights,” 2021), who was framed and thrown in jail alongside Jake at the end of Season 5. One fan-favorite character, Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio, “Wreck-it Ralph,” 2012), will be back, and, still in charge of this hodgepodge crew, Capt. Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher, “Spirit Untamed,” 2021) returns for the final season as well, reinstated following a demotion by his arch rival, Commissioner Wunch (Kyra Sedgwick, “The Closer”), who continued dishing out antics post-mortem. Viewers have already said an extra long goodbye to the department's administratorturned-dancer, Gina (Chelsea Peretti, “Friendsgiving,” 2020), as she pursued a web host celebrity career, though, hopefully she'll reappear for one last “Gina Moment.” As die-hard fans of the show will attest, it's weird to think of a world without “Brooklyn Nine-Nine's” characters. Fans of the show will remember when Fox initially canceled “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” after its fifth season. The network took a chance on the series, despite its drop in ratings, but couldn't justify keeping it on, choosing instead to prioritize “Bob's Burgers,” which had better viewership at the time. A few networks, including streaming platforms Hulu and Netflix, toyed around with taking it on. Then, after an outcry from viewers on social media to bring the show back, NBC rebooted the series. In Season 7, Jake and Amy's son, McClane, was born — as in John McClane (Bruce Willis, “The Sixth Sense,” 1999) from “Die Hard” — and his TV birth was far from average. During a citywide blackout, reminiscent of the famous 2003 NYC blackout, Amy was overseeing emergency protocol while dealing with contractions. Featuring a drunk trolley, a gunshot wound and a choreographed hiphop dance by Jeffords and Holt, Amy ended up giving birth in the precinct. Despite McClane's odd birth, the season didn't end on a cliffhanger. Sure, audiences are dying to see how Jake and Amy handle caring for a newborn with high-risk, time-consuming jobs, and true, we're all betting on who will win the final Halloween Heist (team Charles!). But after COVID-19 delays (which Season 8 writers will also incorporate into the “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” storyline), fans are just happy to have the show back. So, what's left to develop? It'll be a breeze for writers, right? Not so much. Just as NBC was gearing up to air the eighth season, social tensions surrounding the death of George Floyd caused writers to reconsider the show's direction. With four episodes already written at the beginning of the season's production, the team headed back to the drawing board.