Brooklyn Nine-Nine

[raven]

So suddenly many people are talking about Brooklyn Nine-Nine after the Golden Globes! This is good! It is a good show. Let me tell you about it. This was going to be a list of stuff I love about Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but actually, let me tell you about Brooklyn Nine-Nine and then I can tell you the one (1) thing I love about it.

So it’s a police procedural situation comedy, to start with, which I find kind of bizarre as a concept (barring The Thin Blue Line, I can’t think of any others) but it works well. It’s set in the (fictional) ninety-ninth precinct of the NYPD, which is, obviously, in Brooklyn, and it mostly deals with the antics of one particular team of detective and their adventures solving crimes. (The crimes are not glamorous crimes, which I like: they deal with murders and drug smuggling, but also credit card fraud, criminal damage, arson, hacking, just proper quotidian stuff.) The main character is Jake Peralta, a young, talented, cocky, immature, kind-of-a-jerk detective who knows he’s young and talented but not really about the other stuff. He’s played by Andy Samberg, and I kind of expected to hate him? I did not hate him at all. He is immature and kind of a jerk, but it’s not usually nasty, more just ridiculous, and he is capable of respect and kindness. The reason you know he’s capable of respect and kindness is because of his relationship with his commander, Captain Holt (played by Andre Braugher!!! I mean, really). Holt went to the Spock, Teal’c and Tuvok school of facial expressions. It is literally impossible to tell whether his house caught fire or he just came back from a trip to Barbados with his husband. (His husband’s name is Kevin.) He and Jake have a delightful quasi-paternal relationship that’s full of comedy antagonism and real warmth and respect. This is the central relationship of the show, just in case you were wondering. The young inexperienced cocky straight white boy and the older, experienced gay black man he looks up to.

Jake’s partner is Amy Santiago, who is sweet and scarily ambitious. She hangs out a lot with Rosa Diaz, who is just plain scary (“Rosa’s wearing her formal leather jacket.” / “It’s the one without any blood on it.”) and they pass the Bechdel Test a lot. “We work at a police force full of dudes,” Rosa tells Amy. “We got to have each other’s backs.” Rosa is sometimes nice to, and sometimes mean to, Charles, who is the precinct’s resident nerd (and is in love with her): though he is kind of dorky, his attention to detail and habit of ranking all the pizza joints in Brooklyn in order of sauce quality and mouthfeel does, more than once, save the day. The precinct’s sergeant is Terry, who stays behind a desk by choice – there was an… incident, involving a gun, a mannequin and a piñata – with two daughters called Cagney and Lacey. He’s an old friend of Holt’s, and that’s another running thread in the show, by the way. Two black police officers who are old friends and ask about each other’s children and husband.

And then there’s Gina. Gina is the only civilian in the precinct, and she’s constantly reminding the detectives that she’s smarter than them. She usually is.

Here is the one (1) thing I love about Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It’s very funny. I mean, it’s silly, it’s full of flights of fancy and ridiculous flashbacks and it’s just, totally not serious business, and it wears its warmth and diversity as, not a special badge of honour but just as things it needs to have to be what it is. It shares executive producers and quite a bit of comedy DNA with Parks and Recreation, and I suspect that in the future it may take the slightly-more-serious turn that Parks and Rec did (by which I mean, simply, longer-term emotional arcs and plot arcs), and in fact, may be doing this already with Terry’s project to get re-certified for field work. But in the meantime, it’s a delightful warm bath of a show and it’s on E4 soon and you should all watch it.

Also it is the perfect fandom for undercover in a gay bar. I’m just sayin’.

Comments

[musesfool]

So it’s a police procedural situation comedy, to start with, which I find kind of bizarre as a concept (barring The Thin Blue Line, I can’t think of any others)

Barney Miller! I think there is quite a bit of Barney Miller in B99, in a good way. There's also Police Squad!/The Naked Gun and its descendant Reno 911, but I think those are more absurdist and less procedural. I was actually surprised - and pleased - by how much police work goes on on B99.

[lamentables]

I did not realise it was a sit com and innocently suggested to Mr L that we try watching it, resulting in serious trauma on his part. (He doesn't do comedy.) #fail

[such_heights]

Yes! What a good intro post. I love it so much, and unsurprisingly I love Holt and Santiago and Diaz the moooost omg they're all so amazing.

[usuallyhats]

Now I'm really excited to watch it, it sounds lovely! Comedies can be a bit hit and miss for me but warmth and silliness are two things very likely to make me like them. ♥ Roll on Thursday...

[raven]

Yaaay! I hope you like it, it'd be great to hear what you think of it.

[raven]

hurray! I looooooove Santiago and Diaz so much! Such a ridic lovely stupid show.

[raven]

Yeah, it's kind of inescapably intended to be funny - not really something you can do much about on a narrative level!

[raven]

Oh, yes, me too! It's one of its real strengths, I think: it grounds it away from just that absurdity.

[lovelythings]

I am so in love with Rosa Diaz that it's unbelievable. SO IN LOVE. And also with the whole show. Except sometimes Gina, who has her good points but also acts like my students when they are being entitled lazy people.

[lamentables]

I am persevering alone and hoping I'll grow to love them, the way I did Parks and Rec.

[cosmic_llin]

two daughters called Cagney and Lacey

I'M IN.

[msilverstar]

Cool, something to watch with the teengirl!

[raven]

ROSA <3 <3 Also we agree on Gina - I like her when she's being eccentric and assholish for a particular, sensible reason, like when they interview for the precinct IT person, but not otherwise.

[raven]

INORITE.

[raven]

I hope you like it! It is a super-sweet show.

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

This sounds lovely! I will be watching E4.

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

Oh, by "soon" you meant "in two days' time"! Yay.

(Sorry for all the comments, but work is immensely quiet and I have run out of things to do. I want my supervisor to come back and give me jobs.)

[bibliotropic.livejournal.com]

This sounds wonderful... I will definitely look for it!

[minttown1.livejournal.com]

a police procedural situation comedy
Death Valley was a supernatural police procedural situation comedy. I only mention this in case someone reads the comments because I will pimp the hell out of Death Valley at every turn.

I've been meaning to check out Brooklyn Nine-Nine...

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I have never heard of Death Valley! I will look out for it. :)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! I hope you enjoy. :)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Sooooon, yes! I am trying to get everyone I know into it, y'see. :) Don't apologise, please - comments are always good and I also had a super-quiet day this afternoon!

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

I hope things pick up for you - having nothing to do is DULL. Thank you for the rec.

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

I think you have convinced me I need to watch this show.

[tafkarfanfic.livejournal.com]

I love this series too!

There is one other police procedural sitcom: Barney Miller. But it all took place within the precinct, so you only got to see the bits that happened in there. In many, many ways, Brooklyn Nine-Nine to me is an updated Barney Miller. (Also, Barney Miller had the greatest theme song OF ALL TIME, and in some ways the Brooklyn Nine-Nine theme song feels like an homage. The version of the theme I'm thinking of starts at 2:27 - you'll hear the horns kick in about 20 seconds later: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II71tmVsKrE) And hey, Joe La Truglio has also made the comparison! (http://www.thewrap.com/brooklyn-nine-nines-joe-lo-truglio-foxs-andy-samberg-comedy-is-more-barney-frank-than-police-academy/)

I watched Barney Miller in reruns when I was a little kid and I remember that I thought it was hilarious and so did all the adults I knew. It is very much of its time, but it definitely comes from the same place that Brooklyn Nine Nine does.

I'm so glad you like the show!

[not-vacillating.livejournal.com]

Turns out the first episode is up on 4oD already so I watched it last night. I wasn't sure about the Rosa-Charles dynamic with Gina's interventions (was it me, or was there something very Seinfeld about it?) but the Jake/Amy/Holt thing works really well.



(minor spoiler alert!)




I loved Holt's reaction to Jake's with-tie outfit, the Spock Expression is very useful for those situations.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! It is a lovely show.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

It is such a lovely show! You're not the only person to have mentioned Barney Miller in connection with it, also. I'm not good with older US programming, which is probably why I'd never heard of it.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I loved the whole tie subplot, it was great. (And great continuity: he does then wear a tie without complaint or comment, throughout.)

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

Just coming back three years down the line to thank you for this rec, as B99 is such an unfailing source of joy.