And no, it wasn’t because of the Jedi Knights.
It’s been a tense few days for Brooklyn Nine-Nine fans as news of its cancellation on Fox left the cult sitcom’s story hanging at the end of the fifth season.
However, within the space of a day of it being axed, like other such classics as Arrested Development and Community, a rival network swooped in to save its bacon.
Enter NBC, a network that needed some form of redemption after it effectively did to Community on an annual basis what Fox did to Brooklyn Nine-Nine recently.
Confirming on Friday that the sixth season would be returning, there was plenty of speculation as to why they made the choice to save a show, which was on a downward spiral as far as Nielsen ratings are concerned since the first season.
There was a campaign to renew the series led under the Twitter hashtags #SaveB99 and #RenewB99, while Terry Crews went as far as to credit Mark Hamill’s Jedi powers as the driving force behind its salvation.
Oh NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! 😩😭😫😢 I'm SO not ready to say #ByeBye99. Be forewarned @FOXTV-when networks dump shows I love, I'm known for holding grudges a long, L-O-N-G time. I'm still mad @CBS didn't renew #SquarePegs! 😡#EverythingILikeGetsCancelled https://t.co/NEry6Hrpng
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) May 10, 2018
@HamillHimself I want to personally THANK YOU Mark for using the power of the force to save Brooklyn Nine Nine! *Wipes dirt off shoulder*
— Terry Crews (@terrycrews) May 12, 2018
Now, NBC has gone on record to explain why they are giving the show 13 more episodes, with its entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt telling Entertainment Weekly: “Brooklyn is a show our company produces for Fox, so it’s a show that’s very close to us. I’ve been saying to certain people in the press that if we knew Andy Samberg was going to be cast in that show, we never would have sold it to Fox. We’ve been watching it closely ever since.
“We jumped on it really quickly and are thrilled to have it and think it fits into our brand of comedy in many ways better than it fit into Fox’s brand of comedy. It feels like it goes along shows like A.P. Bio, Will & Grace, Superstore, and The Good Place.
“It’s also one of the few comedies in recent years that does a robust international number, and it has a syndication upside, which a lot of shows don’t have anymore.”
Greenblatt later went on to talk about the online campaigns to save the show, which he said were a very good thing.
“It was great to know the fans were outraged, but we were too. We were right there with them. We love when fans yell and scream on Twitter, but we hope that transfers and they watch the show.”
Brooklyn Nine-Nine will air in the spring of 2019 as part of the mid-season replacements.
We’ll just have to hope that whatever show is cancelled at that point either deserved it, or that it will get picked up by another rival network.
Clip via Notsunil
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