By: Emily Cottone
Expectations were high for the ultra-hyped cop comedy BROOKLYN NINE-NINE. SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE fans were apprehensive at best when they heard Andy Samberg was wading into the dangerous waters of the network sitcom. Fortunately, the pilot is smart, well-paced, and guaranteed to produce a few laughs in its likeable and chaotic premiere.
From the creators of PARKS AND RECREATION, Dan Goor and Michael Schur, BROOKLYN NINE-NINE has the potential to end up as fall’s freshest new comedy. Even as a send-off to cop comedies of days past, its reverence only very rarely comes off as redundancy.
Andy Samberg is well cast as the irreverent Detective Jake Peralta. Fans of Samberg will be happy to see the return of his zany behavior and skeptics will be impressed by the refreshing dose of restraint in his performance.
Samberg could have easily played yet another bumbling buffoon but instead Peralta is a genuinely gifted policeman that happens to suffer from an acute case of Man Child Syndrome. “The only problem he hasn’t solved is how to grow up” cracks his sergeant, played by Terry Crews. This is an opportunity to test Samberg as a performer and I’m confident the pay-off will be well worth it. [Read more…]