BROOKLYN NINE NINE

*** (out of ****)

Sometimes all you need is for someone to say “What is Andy Samberg was a cop?”

Well, maybe that’s not all you need, but it’s a pretty decent start. I don’t know what it will do for the ratings – I have no idea if the people who watch network TV are the same people who love Andy Samberg, but it’s definitely an interesting, and effective way to start building your cast.

The longer we here at PopFilter Headquarters attempt to review each new show every fall, the more forgiving we become towards the headache of creating a pilot. That might seem counter-intuitive, that each new piece of shit garbage would seem even worse than the last, but we all have to do what we need to do to not go insane. So, we’ve become more understanding of all of the bullshit pilots have to do in order to cover all of their bases. And as far as bullshit pilot scenes go, Brooklyn Nine Nine has one hell of a doozy.

Andy Samberg’s precinct has a new Captain, played by Andre Braugher, making me very thankful that Last Resort got canceled last season, because I was never going to watch that shit. The underrated Terry Crews plays his second in command. The two stand in Braugher’s office, as Crews points at each character in the show, describing each character’s job, and a few personality traits. Yeesh. I re-watched the show, skipping over this scene, and the rest of the episode handled the job of this scene fine. BUT, something kind of crazy happens at the end of this scene: Terry Crews makes a knowing joke about the point of this scene. It’s not particularly hilarious, but it comes with the perfect amount of winking, a winking that gives me faith that the show understands its tone, understands its role in the television role. That might be the hardest, most important thing a pilot can do.

In the meantime, we get jokes. If you HATE Andy Samberg’s “relaxed Adam Sandler” persona, it might be too much to get around. But the show does a pretty great job of showing how each and every character will be funny in the future. (If you’re keeping track, the funniest line of the night actually comes from Andre Braugher. It comes when Terry Crews shows him baby pics.) We also get a little bit of action, and the action scenes might be the most indicative way to tell the show knows its lane. Never too cool, never too nerdy, jokes when appropriate. Nicely done 99. I didn’t think I’d be saying this to anyone so early in the fall, but I look forward to seeing how you develop.

-Ryan Haley