Brooklyn Nine-Nine has had a bizarre journey on television over the seven seasons so far, starting over on Fox before being cancelled and then rescued for more seasons on NBC. The future still seemed bright for the Andy Samberg-led comedy with the renewal for Season 8, but now news has broken that Season 8 will be the last. And that's not the only bad news for fans who have been waiting for more B99 since Season 7 wrapped back in April 2020.
Not only will Brooklyn Nine-Nine end after an eighth season running for just ten episodes, but NBC states that that show won't return until the 2021-2022 TV season rather than at some point in the current 2020-2021 TV season as previously expected despite the delays that were actually announced last summer.
The cancellation news comes after B99 enjoyed a solid seventh season in the ratings, reaching 24 million viewers and averaging a 5.1 rating in the key 18-49 age demographic. It also ranked as NBC's second top-rating series in digital viewing, with 74 million official YouTube video views between September and May of the 2019-2020 season. While I certainly account for plenty of those YouTube views, I definitely can't be credited with all 74 million of them!
Despite the respectable ratings, Brooklyn Nine-Nine's production process for Season 8 hasn't been without its complications. The original plan for Season 8 in the 2020-2021 TV season had to be scrapped when NBC began to adjust its schedule due to the pandemic complications, with Brooklyn Nine-Nine joined by Manifest, New Amsterdam, and Christopher Meloni's Law & Order: SVU spinoff in being pushed back.
Those other three NBC series have received their spring 2021 premiere dates; Brooklyn Nine-Nine is the only one of the four that had to be pushed back a full season. There's also no saying when in the 2021-2022 TV season that B99 will return for its final run of episodes; the first five seasons on Fox all premiered in the fall, but Seasons 6 and 7 on NBC were both winter premieres. It's possible that fans will be waiting around a year from the cancellation news to see what happens next.
Still, at least Brooklyn Nine-Nine wasn't cancelled after being previously renewed, which hasn't been the case for all the shows affected by COVID complications. And Brooklyn Nine-Nine's writers actually threw away all their completed Season 8 scripts over the summer due to current events, with the intent to tackle the topics of racism and police brutality. B99 has tackled serious subjects before, with a memorable episode of Terry being racially-profiled while outside in his own neighborhood one night.
While there may be some heavy topics in the eighth and final season, there's no reason to fear that Brooklyn Nine-Nine will lose its humor. Just take a look at the statement released by executive producer Dan Goor regarding the upcoming end of the series:
I feel incredibly lucky to have worked with this amazing cast and crew for eight seasons. They are not only among the most talented people in the business, they are all good human beings who have become a family. But most of all, I feel lucky that we have had the best fans in the world. Fans who literally saved us from cancellation. Fans who fill us with joy. Ending the show was a difficult decision, but ultimately, we felt it was the best way to honor the characters, the story and our viewers. I know some people will be disappointed it’s ending so soon, but honestly, I’m grateful it lasted this long. Title of my sex tape.
For now, there are still plenty of current and upcoming TV options to fill the hours during the wait for more Brooklyn Nine-Nine. If you now need a fix of B99, you can find the full seven seasons so far streaming on Hulu, and the first six seasons streaming with Peacock Premium.
