There is no escaping the fact that the people in Michael Schur’s sitcoms are adorable. First and foremost, shows such as The Good Place, Parks and Recreation and the US Office are very, very funny – but they are also populated by characters who care for each other. Jokes rarely arrive cruelly, cheaply, or at the expense of punchbag characters or specific groups. Relationships form and – shockingly – remain loving and stable with no splits thrown in for added brouhaha. Characters grow, enjoy arcs, evolve. These are people you might actually like to have in your corner. And 10 years ago, Schur co-created perhaps the most consistently kind and relentlessly funny of all of them.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine arrived on Fox in the US on 17 September 2013, and was initially regarded as a vehicle for Andy Samberg, the Saturday Night Live regular and viral Lonely Island musical comedy star. He plays Jake Peralta, a manchild New York detective who loves Die Hard and catching baddies far too much to take anything seriously, besides his job, at which he remains prodigiously capable. As a pitch, it’s only remarkable in its unremarkableness.
