Television is full of shows which deal with law enforcement in some form or another, but in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others, as well as the global protests against police brutality that followed, many of these shows are questioning just how to move forward, including NBC comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Just two weeks ago, Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews said that series creator/showrunner Dan Goor has scrapped the first four episodes of the eighth season. "Dan Goor had four episodes all ready to go and they just threw them in the trash," Crews said. "We have to start over. Right now we don't know which direction it's going to go in." While speaking with People, Andy Samberg added that the whole team is now reevaluating how to approach the series.
We're taking a step back, and the writers are all rethinking how we're going to move forward, as well as the cast. We're all in touch and kind of discussing how you make a comedy show about police right now, and if we can find a way of doing that that we all feel morally okay about.
"I know that we'll figure it out," Samberg said, "but it's definitely a challenge, so we'll see how it goes." I would imagine that most law enforcement-centric TV shows are in the same boat at the moment. Brooklyn Nine-Nine centers around Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg), an immature but talented NYPD detective in Brooklyn's fictional 99th Precinct. There's also Captain Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher), Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz), Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews), Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio), Gina Linetti (Chelsea Peretti), Micheal Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker), and Norm Scully (Joel McKinnon Miller).