‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ co-creator promises the show will feel the same, hints at possible #MeToo story line
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” doesn’t land at its new home base at NBC until next year, but starting now, promises are being made that the show’s only difference will be that it’ll be better.
At least that’s the goal for the show’s co-creator and showrunner Dan Goor as the cop comedy prepares for its new lease on life. The series was rescued by the peacock network in May not long after Fox, the show’s original home for five seasons, canceled it. The move generated a bit of a social media uproar.
Fox had picked up the comedy from Universal Television, the studio arm of NBC. So in effect, the comedy is coming home.
As Goor and the ensemble cast promoted the comedy Wednesday at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Beverly Hills, Goor said the new season — and the show — wouldn’t necessarily feel any different now that it has a new network home.
“The mandate from NBC all along has been, ‘We know this show, we love the is show … please keep making the same show,’” Goor said. “In a lot of ways, I think it is the same type of show. I don’t want to say it’s the same show. I think it will be even better this year. There are no substantive changes in terms of our approach to the show or anything else.”
What exactly does “better” mean?
“It’ll be funny,” Goor deadpanned, before launching into a cheeky response. “More heartfelt. Better guest stars. More everything. Longer, shorter.”
More seriously, Goor said: “The fact of the matter is, the executives we worked with at Fox gave us great notes; we had a lot of creative freedom. Similarly, our experiences so far with NBC have been fantastic. … It’s not like there was a hardship being elsewhere that is now rectified.”
Goor also hinted that discussions are in place about continuing the show’s practice of touching on topical issues — such as Season 4’s “Moo Moo” episode that tackled racial profiling, as well as Rosa’s (Stephanie Beatriz) arc in Season 5 about her bisexuality. He noted that the writers are exploring the possibility of a #MeToo episode in the upcoming season. (Cast member Terry Crews has been a vocal ally in the movement, sharing his own sexual assault story in the process.)
“One of the things we’ve been doing over the last few seasons are more topical, issue-oriented episodes,” Goor said. “They’re really, really hard to do. We want them to feel funny but give weight to the issue and explore it in a fair way. I don’t want to say we’re going to do it — I can’t make a promise — but we’re really interested in trying to do a #MeToo story line.”
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” will premiere midseason on NBC.
Twitter: @villarrealy
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