We Need To Talk More About the Great "Brooklyn 99"
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We like to watch tv in our bed as we fall asleep in my home. My wife and I don't let our kids do it yet, but I'm sure it will happen sometime in the near future. My wife and I switch after we finish whichever show we picked. It was my turn to pick recently and I chose "Brooklyn 99".
This is, what seems like, our hundredth time watching this show. We both like it and it is good to fall asleep to. It lulls me into a near sleep space and I can just drift off. But, I have noticed one thing since the rewatch started a week ago. I have started to stay awake a little longer than normal watching it. I want to see each episode again, and may I remind you, I've seen this series many, many times. I want to see if I missed something. I want to relive jokes. I want to see if some stuff comes together better than it did before.
What has really made me stay up longer, this is one of the best shows in the history of television, and I feel like it doesn't get the love it truly deserves. It has its true fans. There is an online presence, that much is for sure. But when websites make their best of all time tv lists, or talk about the best tv from the 21st century, "Brooklyn 99" never seems to come up. You get the usual suspects, "Breaking Bad", "The Wire", "Lost" and "Parks and Rec", all of which are wonderful tv shows. But "Brooklyn 99" even gets passed up when they narrow the list to best comedies. I don't get it. This show was so well written. It is joke after joke after joke. I find myself cracking up constantly. The delivery is too perfect. And each actor knows how to perform as their characters. Andy Samberg gets to play himself, and he nails it. He is so funny and so witty. He has some of the best jokes on the show. Stephanie Beatriz gets to play someone totally different, and she crushes it. She is brash and harsh, but she also has a soft side. I love how tough she can be, and when she really leans into the joke, it is wonderful. Melissa Fumero shines as the dorky one in the precinct. She's a nerd and she knows it and owns it. She is too funny. Joe Lo Truglio is sweet and naive and he's great. I feel like this show let his best comedic ways shine. He gets to have fun and it shows on screen. Chelesa Peretti made the most of her time while she was there. She was rude and crude and had some of the best one liners. But the one that goes above and beyond, and made the show as awesome as it was, Andre Braugher. He is the straight man on the show and he is perfect. His delivery, his tone, the robotic jokes that happen nearly every episode, it is masterful. When Jake calls him dad for the first time, the way Braugher plays into it, it is one of the best comedic performances in television history.
Mike Schur has this way with comedic tv. He knows how to write it, he hires the best staff, he gives unknown writers their first real shot and he lets his staff do the brunt of the work. And it always comes out smelling like roses. From "The Office" to "Parks and Rec", "The Good Place" and his time at "SNL", the guy knows how to make comedy work on tv and he truly shines when he is the head writer and in charge in the room. But I have come away even more impressed with the work he and his staff did on "Brooklyn 99". I truly believe it is the best work he has done to this day. The show works, it is endlessly watchable and it is so damn funny. I wanted to give it a shout out because I feel like it deserves even more love and recognition.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.
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