12 Years Later, I Can’t Believe ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Made It Past the Pilot

Although Brooklyn Nine-Nine eventually went on to be among the best sitcoms on TV, its first episode begs the question of how and why it was ever picked up. The show’s pilot isn’t objectively bad, but it falls very short of what Brooklyn Nine-Nine became. Thankfully, Fox saw something in the episode and placed an order that would ultimately lead to a historic eight-season run.

Premiering in 2013, Brooklyn Nine-Nine produced a total of 153 episodes before concluding in 2021. Despite its place in the sitcom hall of fame, the hilarious cop show had a somewhat tumultuous journey. Fox canceled Brooklyn Nine-Nine after Season 5, but outcry from the sitcom’s devoted fan base contributed to NBC stepping in and allowing another three seasons to be made. In another universe, however, Brooklyn Nine-Nine probably didn’t make it past its lackluster pilot.

‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Pilot Almost Feels Like an Episode of an Entirely Different Show

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, like most sitcoms, mostly functions like a well-oiled machine. Everything from the character dynamics to the little musical sound bridges tends to quickly become incredibly recognizable, making the experience of tuning in a comforting one. While Brooklyn Nine-Nine isn’t the first show to have a pilot that differs from the rest of the show’s run, it does stick out as one of the starkest contrasts.

None of the characters feel quite right yet, although some are certainly further along than others. There’s even a character called Detective Daniels, who was clearly intended to be thrown in with Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) and Scully (Joel McKinnon Miller) to create a hapless trio rather than a desk-bound double act. She was never referenced again after the pilot. The overall tone of the episode feels a little darker than what Brooklyn Nine-Nine went on to become. The show tended to make light of most scenarios, making it especially notable when something emotional or dramatic happened.

Instead, the pilot tries to zero in on some of the less breezy parts of being a cop and finding the humor in that. This isn’t something the rest of Brooklyn Nine-Nine shied away from, but it’s often pulled off to a less intense degree. Furthermore, Andy Samberg’s Jake Peralta, arguably the leader of the Brooklyn Nine-Nine ensemble, is a lot less likable in the pilot. It’s clearly the goal to make him seem this way so that he has room to grow as a character, but the pilot pushes things too far.

How ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Improved After the Pilot Episode

NBCUniversal

In Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s second episode, “The Tagger,” Jake’s resistance to Captain Holt’s (Andre Braugher) way of doing things is a lot more playful, making Samberg’s character less abrasive and therefore easier to root for. Similarly, all the other characters start to conduct themselves and interact with each other in a way that’s far more authentic to the show’s formula, and those performance choices are what go on to define Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s appeal. There’s also a more cartoonish energy about the production, but in a way that’s tasteful. This was largely missing from the pilot.

Perhaps most saliently, the pilot lacks a flashy title sequence, and the one that is included is, to put it lightly, pretty lame. The music that went on to be the sitcom’s rousing anthem is in the pilot, but it’s played as a kind of victory soundtrack when the squad makes an arrest at the end of the episode. From Episode 2, that same music was reappropriated for the shiny new title sequence that introduced the show’s cast. It may seem like a small change, but this also opened the door for Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s iconic cold opening sequences, which happened before the titles started to roll.

Release Date

2013 – 2021-00-00

Network

FOX, NBC