A Eulogy for Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and A Prayer for Its Speedy Revival on a Streaming Service

Friends, we are gathered here today not to mourn the cancellation of a beloved show but to celebrate its joyous run. Yet another adored show has fallen victim to Network and Ratings and these are truly dark times. To Brooklyn Nine-Nine raise your glasses. Before I start the eulogy I will concede that I am a relatively new initiate into the wonderful precinct and TV show that is Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I only recently binged the first four seasons just in time to watch the current and final season of the show. I didn’t expect to fall in love with a workplace comedy about a police station in New York, but I grew to love the cast and their antics and this cancellation spurs me to speak. Or as Captain Raymond Holt would say:

Andre Braugher, Ray’s actor, is actually the reason I started watching the show. I recognized him for his brief stints on House, and, more pertinently, Law & Order: SVU. Law & Order: SVU (which as it happens was recently renewed for its 20th season) is an important show in this discussion because like Brooklyn Nine-Nine it depicts an alternative reality where cops are generally good people with sensitivity training, empathy, and other desirable traits. They depict a world where the wicked get their comeuppance and the righteous, though they may falter, persevere in difficult conditions. In SVU Braugher played Bayard Ellis, a defense attorney that sat across from the officers and DAs on the show. Braugher brought both a levity and gravitas to the characte…