Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Ratings surge in NBC debut

Brooklyn Nine-Nine made a triumphant return to TV last night. It helped NBC score great ratings for their Thursday night comedy lineup.

It’s a “new year, new you” situation for Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Per Deadline, the season six premiere was up over 82% in total viewers when compared to its season five premiere. In fact, per the same report, these are the best ratings the show has had in its last two seasons.

If anyone was concerned that Brooklyn Nine-Nine would not carry its audience from Fox to NBC, they can rest easy for now. The NBC premiere helped the network earn its highest demo ranking of the year.

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This is great news. You hear of shows being canceled and saved by Netflix or Amazon. It’s not too often that a show was canceled from a big network and then renewed by a bigger network. If this was a risk, early returns are trending towards a big reward for NBC.

I compare it to a baseball team trading for a slugger. You need production. Hits, home runs, runs batted in. You’d love to trust the young prospects you have in your organization.

But, there’s this veteran that can still hit who happens to be stuck on a mediocre team. If the price is right, you make that trade. NBC made that move and saved Brooklyn Nine-Nine from Fox.

Fans were worried that the show might change or possibly retcon some of their story-lines with the network switch. The producers promised the fans that would not happen. And, it did not. The premiere, titled Honeymoon, picked up where the season finale ended.

The crew was still at Jake (Andy Samberg) and Amy’s (Melissa Fumero) wedding waiting to hear if Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) had been promoted to Commissioner Holt. He was!

Until he read the note a little more carefully and realized he wasn’t. the episode featured a romantic getaway to Mexico, a turf war with the Department of Sanitation Police, and the hashtag #Gina30. You can check out my recap of the episode here.

There’s a solid chance that these ratings can stay at this level and build over the season. Brooklyn Nine-Nine has a second shot at life.

The fact that the entire precinct is living in the bullpen means there will be plenty of opportunities to organically introduce new characters and have our favorites get into new awkward situations. I’ll be watching.

Are you happy that Brooklyn Nine-Nine is back for another season? Did you like the season premiere? Let’s discuss in the comments!