Any show whose opening sequence revolves around Andy Samberg wearing a leather jacket and moving in slow motion is already at a serious advantage in my book. Now that I have my bias out in the open, I’ll go ahead and say that Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Fox’s new sitcom and Samberg’s first major post-SNL vehicle that has nothing to do with nautical pashmina afghans, has some hefty potential.
While the show’s pilot was hardly a comic masterpiece, it’s rare that a series opener can achieve that. Saddled with character introductions, the story can understandably feel a little strained.
Set in Brooklyn’s 99th precinct, the aptly titled Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a workplace comedy about police detectives. Samberg’s Jake Peralta is the clear protagonist, in character as an excellent but immature detective—“the only puzzle he hasn’t solved is how to grow up,” as he is painfully introduced.
The shift that will inevitably change his ways in the future is the arrival of the precinct’s new captain, the macho and openly-gay Captain Ray Holt (Andre Braugher). The murder that was apparently connected to the theft of an outrageously expensive ham (let me remind you: this is Brooklyn) becomes background noise for the chuckle-worthy antics between Peralta and Holt, whose opposing personalities provide easy comic chemistry.
Samberg easily achieves absurdity, and scenes involving Speedos or “fire extinguisher roller chair derby” keep the show memorable. The challenge is knowing when to tone down the slapstick to hit a few more subtle notes. Having seen his more nuanced performance in 2012’s Celeste and Jesse Forever, I have little doubt the former dick-in-a-box connoisseur is up to the task.
Two other Fox comedies that had their season premieres alongside Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s pilot are no strangers to absurdity themselves. Both the quirky Zooey Deschanel-driven New Girl and Mindy Kaling’s self-titled The Mindy Project ended their last seasons by launching their central characters into literally foreign spaces.
After Taylor Swift brilliantly showed up to sabotage a wedding amid badger-related chaos, New Girl’s Jess and Nick decided to give their friendship-turned-pseudo-romance a shot. Picking up right where it left off, the show’s third season opener had them fleeing the loft for a vaguely anarchic Mexico, where they try in vain to escape the problems awaiting them back in L.A. (Nick ends up arrested, with his passport shredded).
I have to admit that I haven’t watched New Girl consistently. I’ve always been somewhat wary of Zooey Deschanel’s Manic Pixie Dream Girl vibe, but showrunner Liz Meriwether has managed to create a female-centric series that makes its protagonist far more interesting than the sum of her quirks. The roommate-friendship narrative might smack of Friends, but Deschanel’s Jess is far more evolved than the archetypes offered by Rachel, Phoebe, and Monica. She always has control of her own story, making sure not to let her budding romance get in the way of the roommate friendship that is the true centerpiece of the series—never has the phrase, “I got a really good deal on Craiglist,” been filled with such pathos. Going forward, New Girl clearly needs to retain this sense of unity while steering clear of sentiment and easy rom-com traps.
That brings me to the The Mindy Project, a show that has been giving me some mild emotional upheaval due to its disappointing second season premiere. Season one was a pure wonder, making me fall in love with Mindy Kaling all over again. Dr. Mindy Lahiri was a sarcastic, narcissistic character that was difficult to like but entirely relatable and hilarious.
She returns in season two after a mission in Haiti to face the challenge of a new doctor in the form of James Franco. The plot’s aimlessness isn’t as easily supported by the clever dialogue and satirical tone of the first season, and Kaling’s character proves less outspoken.
Kaling has openly alluded to pressures to make her character more likable, something she appears to concede to with the narrative of moving to Haiti and getting engaged to a missionary, but it’s a tonal shift that lacks plausibility. For the sake of her fan base, I can only hope she can identify a consistent voice for her show without bowing to an audience far too used to simplistic female characters.
Brilliant piece! Intelligent and amusing