According to Entertainment Weekly, FOX has canceled Brooklyn Nine-Nine—the network’s second-longest-running live-action comedy—after five seasons and over 100 episodes. Though the cast is proud of the work they’ve done in season five, and have voiced their enthusiasm to continue, it seems that a seemingly negligible viewership drop influenced the network’s decision to drop the show itself.
While the show has grown substantially, in terms of subject matter confronted onscreen, the viewership did drop from 2.9 million viewers in season four to 2.7 million viewers in season five. While that may seem like a fairly slight decrease, network executives are often extremely numbers-based in their choices, potentially seeing this dip as a warning sign of a more substantial viewership drop to come.
Of course, the lower number could also be a reflection of FOX re-scheduling the show from Tuesdays to Sundays this season, and confusion on behalf of viewers. Ultimately, however, the numbers are more important.
Fortunately, Brooklyn Nine-Nine reached the syndication milestone during its last season, when it aired its 100th episode. That means you’ll get to see re-runs on networks other than FOX in the future, and potentially, extra revenue for some of the creative team. Unfortunately, it seems like that same creative team was keen on keeping this thing going, for at least one more season.
“I’m obviously hopeful,” said Andy Samberg. “I love making it. I think we’ve had an incredible season. I feel really proud of the episodes. I feel like we’ve had a really nice upswell culturally. There was a lot of attention around the 99th episode and we got a lot of love during the Olympics, which was really cool. And there was a lot of really beautiful attention paid to the development with Rosa coming out as bi. I certainly feel we’re in a good place, but as to whether or not we get more, that’s obviously far beyond my reach. But fingers crossed.”
“Everyone wants to do at least one more season,” said Melissa Fumero. “Everybody feels like we’re not done. There’s more story to tell, there’s more fun stuff to do with this incredible ensemble of characters. It was a great sign that they brought us back on Sundays, and they brought us back earlier.”
Sadly, these hopes have been dashed, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine can now rest easy in the pantheon of shows canceled too early. Who knows? We might get the band back together years from now, similar to what happened with Arrested Development. Then again, it all depends on how rabid the fanbase is. As it stands, the season—and series—finale will air on May 20. Tune in one last time, and tune out with acceptance.
