Emmy Episodes: Brooklyn Nine-Nine

It’s always my policy to watch every Emmy-nominated episode each year, which leads me to sample a handful of shows that I don’t tune in to on a regular basis. For the fifth year in a row, I’m making a special effort to spotlight each of those installments to offer my perspective on shows that I don’t review each week.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 7, Episode 12 “Ransom” (B+)

Every time I watch this show, I think that maybe I shouldn’t have been so quick to give up on it after the first three episodes and I just wasn’t feeling it. There are still some characters I don’t love as much, like Charles and Terry, whose ill-advised bone broth business combusted rather quickly. What I do love, however, is the relationship between Jake and Holt. This, of course, is the Emmy submission for Andre Braugher, who returns to the Emmy lineup for the first time in four years. I don’t think I had the pleasure of meeting his onscreen husband before, played by scene stealer Marc Evan Jackson, who I’ve enjoyed in the past on shows like “Parks and Recreation,” “The Good Place,” and “Dead to Me.” I enjoyed all of Jake’s interactions with Kevin, including the comedic cop trying to learn how to talk like him and also questioning how a dog could love security cameras. Though this wasn’t Braugher’s best work, I did love the way that he connected a man’s watch being slow to him being a psychopath, and there’s no matching his deadpan delivery of his sunshine and umbrella line. Being unable to remember which 80s movie was based on him was the perfect torture for Jake, who immediately came to multiple definitive conclusions. I’m always happy to see Kyle Bornheimer, who I recently watched in the Emmy-nominated installment of “Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings,” and he did great as Amy’s insanely boring ex who managed to convince Rosa to try to hold on to a stroller for hours, a ridiculous challenge that I cannot imagine could be real.

Emmy Episodes: Brooklyn Nine-Nine

It’s always my policy to watch every Emmy-nominated episode each year, which leads me to sample a handful of shows that I don’t tune in to on a regular basis. For the third year in a row, I’m making a special effort to spotlight each of those installments to offer my perspective on shows that I don’t review each week.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 5, Episode 14 “The Box” (A-)

I don’t know why I couldn’t get into this show when it first started. I enjoyed watching it the three times that Andre Braugher was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and this is my first episode in two years since he fell off the list after that. Fortunately, Sterling K. Brown, who won an Emmy for “This Is Us” last year and contends again this year, is up for Best Guest Actor for portraying murder suspect Philip Davidson. This is probably the hardest – and most consistently – that I’ve laughed watching an episode of any show in a long time. I love the way that Andy Samberg and Braugher interact as Jake and Ray, and this episode provided a fantastic setup for them to go at their suspect together. His swift decision to cancel his opera night so that he could make Philip sing led to an entertaining series of missteps, the highlights of which were Jake trying to find a way to have “You can’t handle the tooth” come up naturally and Ray trying to bait Philip by saying dentists shouldn’t be called doctors only to have the tables turned on him when he had to defend those with PHDs as doctorates. Philip bringing up the fact that Jake had to be the dumb cop in the smart cop, dumb cop routine was a good moment for him, before Jake got him good by understanding exactly what he needed to feel which would lower his defenses enough to trap him. While Brown is clearly having fun here, I think I’d give Samberg and Braugher more credit for making this episode hilarious. I’d be fine with him winning, though I have to finish watching all the nominees in this category first.

Emmy Episodes: Brooklyn Nine-Nine

It’s always my policy to watch every Emmy-nominated episode each year, which leads me to sample a handful of shows that I don’t tune in to on a regular basis. This year, I’m making a special effort to spotlight each of those installments to offer my perspective on shows that I don’t review each week.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 3, Episode 4 “The Oolong Slayer” (B+)
Nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Andre Braugher)

It used to be “The Big Bang Theory,” but now this show, which I didn’t get into when it initially started, has become my favorite show to watch exclusively when Emmy season rolls around every year. The show took home a Golden Globe for Best Comedy Series as well as one for its star Andy Samberg in year one, but its only Emmy attention has been for Braugher three years running in addition to stunt awards the show won the past two years. Now Braugher is the sole Emmy survivor, and he has quite the record. This is his tenth career nomination, and he’s been recognized for playing six different roles over the past twenty-one years. He won back in 1998 for “Homicide: Life on the Street” and in 2006 for the superb FX series “Thief,” which was sadly cancelled and termed a miniseries. Braugher is one of the best parts of this very funny show, and the way that he takes himself very seriously is truly terrific. Having to be supervised by an underling as a punishment doesn’t present a great start, but Samberg’s Jake bringing him a case so that they can subvert their terrible bosses makes for great fun. He gets so into everything, and he’s hilarious with his deadpan. The triumphant ending in which he returns victorious to his precinct doesn’t hurt either. This isn’t as fantastic an episode as last year’s but it is a blast, and I would be perfectly happy to see him win. I don’t see it happening given the lack of love for the show, but it’s always possible with his strong Emmy record.

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.

Round Two: Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 1, Episode 2 “The Tagger” (B-)

I’m going to try to be discerning this year with which shows I continue watching after disappointing pilots, but I felt that this comedy was worthy of a second shot despite my lack of enthusiasm for the first installment. This second episode is no better and no worse than the pilot, hardly hilarious but not entirely unfunny also. Andy Samberg continues to try his hardest to create a character so gleefully irritating that it’s hard not to love him. His determination to find a way not to follow all the rules is half charming and half annoying, and it’s hard to decide which half comes on stronger. Andre Braugher seems intent on keeping Captain Holt as stoic as possible, equally set on making Samberg’s Jake realize that he has to take himself more seriously as he is on making his life miserable until he comes around to that idea. What I did like was the fact that Holt stood by Jake when he decided to arrest the commissioner’s son, effectively protecting Jake’s career and applauding him for making the choice he did to do the right thing rather than the lazy thing. The almost-romance between Charles and Rose is somewhat entertaining, but this show still needs to figure out exactly what it wants to do with its supporting characters. Terry is an exception, amusing in his short tirades about his minivan, and it’s good to someone used effectively. I’m still not sold on this show, but I haven’t given up hope of improvement yet either.

Pilot Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX)
Premiered September 17 at 8:30pm

This show has been touted as one of the best new comedies of the fall, and hopes were high considering the involvement of two very different actors with similar first names: Andy Samberg and Andre Braugher. I actually had the chance to see this pilot aboard a JetBlue flight to Los Angeles, noticing that it was playing at the beginning of the ride and ultimately catching it on its third hourly airing. My excitement wasn’t quite fulfilled, however, since this is a perfectly decent comedy that just isn’t all that funny. Samberg, as Detective Jake Peralta, is operating in his own world, treating everything around him like a joke, which works well at some points and less productively at others. Braugher is ideal casting considering the grave seriousness of his last role on ABC’s short-lived “Last Resort” and the tremendous opportunity for self-parody on this series as Ray Holt, the openly gay captain with little patience for Jake’s shenanigans. The rest of the ensemble is populated with actors who in some cases have just enough to do to make them amusing supporting players, like Terry Crews as Sergeant Terry Jeffords, and in others have either too much to do, like Joe Lo Truglio’s overenthusiastic Detective Charles Boyle, or not enough written into them to make them substantial, namely head females Melissa Fumero as Detective Amy Santiago and Stephanie Beatriz as Detective Rosa Diaz. The pilot’s plotlines were rather weak, and I’d expect much more from the very funny Samberg and the people behind “Parks and Recreation” and “The Office.”

How will it work as a series? It’s possible that this show might still turn out to be one of the better new comedies of the season, and it could just take some time for it to find its groove, to toss aside sillier, more outrageous storylines in favor of genuinely compelling characters and humor. I’m willing to give it a few more installments before I decide if it’s worth committing.
How long will it last? Ratings for the pilot weren’t spectacular, but FOX seems determined to make its Tuesday night comedy block work, and this would be a perfect addition. Reviews for this show were much more favorable than for its lead-in, “Dads,” and I think FOX will choose to endorse this show, renewing it if sooner if none of its dramatic offerings stick.

Pilot grade: B-