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Brooklyn Nine-Nine airs Tuesday nights on Fox

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: TV review

Andy Samberg's new sitcom finds laughs in a New York police precinct.

Written by
Jessica Johnson
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When a writer and creator of one of the best comedies on television, Parks and Recreation, team up to create a new sitcom, it's worth taking notice.With Brooklyn Nine-Nine, creators Dan Goor and Michael Schur have created a hilariously fun new workplace comedy that just happens to be set in a police department.

Detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) is a bit of an immature goofball. Because he also happens to be an extremely gifted detective, his previous commanding officer let him get away with pretty much anything. But Jake and the rest of the 99th precinct are about to get a new captain, Ray Holt (Andre Braugher). A brilliant cop in his own right, Holt has always wanted his own command and he's determined to make this precinct the best in the city. Peralta and Holt immediately butt heads over the new boss's insistence he wear a tie to work.

Comedy pilots are tricky things, especially with an ensemble this size, but Brooklyn Nine-Nine makes the smart choice to devote its energies toward fleshing out its cast of characters. The murder case that Peralta's investigating in the opening episode doesn't carry nearly as much weight as the mystery surrounding Holt's past and why it took a gifted police officer like him so long to rise in the ranks. Other members of the cast include Joe Lo Truglio as a bumbling but hard-working detective with a crush on his intimidating partner (Stephanie Beatriz), Chelsea Peretti as the office busybody and the formidable Terry Crews as a sergeant who's lost his nerve since the birth of his twin daughters. Even the background players in the precinct station get some memorable moments.

While much of the show takes place in a police station, Brooklyn Nine-Nine bears a greater resemblance to The Office (for which Schur also wrote) than to the oodles of cop dramas on TV, including a pair of will they/won't they romances among the detectives. Police work repeatedly takes a backseat to office rivalries and shenanigans and that's just as it should be. What results is a very funny show with an incredibly magnetic ensemble of characters.

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