Take Three: Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 1, Episode 3 “The Slump” (B-)

I’m trying so hard to like this show because I think it’s going to be one of the success stories of the season, but I’m still not that into it. Andy Samberg does have charisma, and he’s fun to watch, but there’s something about Jake Peralta that keeps him from being truly funny. The same is true of Andre Braugher’s Captain Holt, who deems having Jake rub a rabbit’s foot for good luck to be the best prank that he can pull on his least responsible detective. I was equally disappointed by the lack of creativity in the junior police plotline, since Amy was obviously going to fail, and, illogically, Gina proved to be more useful than the intimidating Rose. This show wants to be an outrageous parody, but it’s a bit too inconsistent about when it wants to be wild and over-the-top and when it wants to be taken more seriously. Terry spending the whole episode trying to build his daughter a dollhouse only to have it knocked over by a very clumsy Jake was silly, and the fact that Charles managed to assemble into a police station doll house was even less convincing. I don’t hate watching this show, but I also rarely find myself laughing, which to me seems problematic for a show that many seem to think is one of the funniest shows on TV. Maybe it will get there, but I don’t think it’s going to be worth sticking around waiting to find out and hoping that it will finally catch on.