With the police facing a long overdue reckoning over corruption and institutionalised racism following the death of George Floyd, the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests has also started a discussion on how cops are to be depicted in fiction after decades of glorification, particularly for TV comedy shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
And based on what some folks are saying, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is having a hard time trying to figure out a way to depict cops in the right manner while also making them funny in an era where Black Lives Matter is holding the police accountable for their actions.
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Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Andy Samberg chatted to People magazine about the future direction of the show and it sure sounds like they’re having a tough time figuring out how to make a cop show that’s funny but also respectful to all the issues Black Lives Matters is fighting for.
“We’re all in touch and kind of discussing how you make a comedy show about police right now [like Brooklyn Nine-Nine], and if we can find a way of doing that that we all feel morally okay about.
“I know that we’ll figure it out, but it’s definitely a challenge, so we’ll see how it goes.”
“Challenge” seems like an understatement given how Brooklyn Nine-Nine is built on the myth that most cops are good and funny, and the few “bad apples” are the exception rather than the rule.
With Black Lives Matter kicking off discussions on institutional reform or whether the police are even needed anymore, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is at a crossroads in terms of its future direction because depicting “good cops who are funny” is no longer relevant or in morally good taste.
We know that Brooklyn Nine-Nine has scrapped all the written scripts for its new season, which brings up the question of how the show will reboot itself or will it just be cancelled since it’s something that no longer fits in with the times.
So what’s next for the show? Will Brooklyn Nine-Nine somehow figure out a way to reboot itself in a way where cops are still at the forefront and are funny, or will the show just be cancelled?
Law enforcement may be the backdrop but the show is ultimately a workplace comedy that hinges on the strength of its great cast. It’s not inconceivable to see a version of Brooklyn Nine-Nine where the cast stop being cops because the nine-nine precinct is shut down (which has been brought up in the show before) and the show follows the cast on their new endeavours. After all, people love the show for the characters and not the fact that they’re cops.
We’ll have to wait and see how the Brooklyn Nine-Nine writers address all this. But hey, at least this gives us an opportunity to throw some wild reboot ideas at the wall. Just imagine a Brooklyn Nine-Nine reboot where Jake Peralta wakes up in a hospital to the rest of the cast, all of whom are hospital staff, and the first thing he says to everyone is “I had the craziest dream where we were all cops.”
Now that would be wild.
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