"A Cinco de Mayo heist makes just as much sense as a Halloween heist! Let's do it!"
When Brooklyn Nine-Nine got saved by NBC for Season 7, fans rejoiced! When NBC made it clear the former Fox comedy would return in the midseason, there was less rejoicing, as it looked like the show wouldn't be able to go forward with its annual Halloween heist episode. However, Brooklyn Nine-Nine refused to let viewers down, adhering its costumed scheming to the episode "Cinco de Mayo." It was definitely a smart move, giving B99's ratings a positive push upwards.
Though Brooklyn Nine-Nine's current season isn't completely dominating what its former numbers were on Fox, the quirky comedy feels right at home within NBC's Thursday-night comedy lineup. On Thursday night, the "Cinco de Mayo" heist was watched by around 1.87 million people, marking its biggest audience in a month. The April 11 installment, "Casecation," was watched by 1.88 million viewers.
What's more, the early bird heist hijinks brought in Brooklyn Nine-Nine's first viewership lift in nearly two months. The March 21 ep, "The Therapist," brought in 2.13 million pairs of eyes, and the audiences started dwindling from there. Here's hoping this latest twist-twisting heist was fun enough to draw more people in for the final episodes of the season.
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When it comes to demographic ratings, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has even more to celebrate, even if it's largely just in the short-term. The Halloween-esque episode hit a month-long high in the key 18-49 demo ratings with a 0.6, as matched by the aforementioned "Casecation." That's actually the best demo rating it's earned since the February 28 episode, which is a good sign that fans were tuning in specifically for the annual heist. (The episode also tied for the #1 rating in its time slot for males 18-34.)
There's a good chance "Cinco de Mayo" will bring in a large number of additional viewers in the next week and more, since Brooklyn Nine-Nine gets a healthy boost in both the overall viewership and in the key demos after its Live + 7 and Live + 35 delayed viewing stats are tallied up. When looking at DVR percentage gains on a week-to-week basis, Brooklyn Nine-Nine shows up in the Top 30 as consistently, if not more so, than just about any other half-hour network comedy out there. That's gold, Terry. Gold!
To that end, NBC says that Brooklyn Nine-Nine boasts the biggest percentage gains of any show on NBC's schedule in terms of its 18-49 demo rating from non-linear sources, after the Live + 35 numbers are totaled. To the average TV viewer, those kinds of inside-baseball numbers might not mean that much, but what it boils down to is: If Brooklyn Nine-Nine is doing something better than everything else at NBC, its chances of sticking around for more seasons are all the better.
Not that anyone needed to seriously worry about an unjust cancellation affecting Brooklyn Nine-Nine's chances in the nearest future. NBC already ordered up Season 7, so now it's just hoping for a super-early Season 8 confirmation. Also, for Gina to come back full-time.
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Part of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's success on Thursday night can be attributed to one of TV's other endlessly funny shows, Superstore. The fellow workplace comedy ticked down a tiny notch from the prior week's numbers, but the first of two installments still locked up a 0.8 demo rating and 2.99 million viewers. The special second Superstore episode dropped down to a 0.7 demo rating and 2.5 million viewers, but the comedy is also one of NBC's biggest winners in the delayed viewing department.
There are still episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine (and Superstore) remaining, so continue tuning into NBC on Thursday nights to keep some of the best network comedies alive and well.
