‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’: Terry Crews Says New Episodes Being Overhauled After George Floyd Death
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Work on Season 8 of the acclaimed police comedy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” is underway, but series star Terry Crews recently revealed that four upcoming episodes have been scrapped after “somber talks about it and deep conversations.”
Crews discussed the series and his own experiences with racism in a Tuesday interview on Access Daily. Crews, who portrays a cheerful and enthusiastic police officer on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” discussed the episode removals and his thoughts on systemic racism, police brutality, and the death of George Floyd, the unarmed black man killed by a police officer in late May.
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Crews notes that the “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” team decided to scrap four episodes and use the opportunity to create something “truly groundbreaking.”
“We’ve had a lot of somber talks about it and deep conversations, and we hope through this we’re going to make something that will be truly groundbreaking this year. We have an opportunity and we plan to use it in the best way possible,” Terry said in the Access Daily interview. “Our show-runner Dan Goor, they had four episodes all ready to go and they just threw them in the trash. We have to start over. Right now we don’t know which direction it’s going to go in.”
Crews did not specify if the four episodes that were scrapped were problematic in any way, though it’s assumed they’ll be aiming to be more prescient with regards to current events going forward.
The television industry has come under scrutiny in recent weeks due to the ongoing protests regarding police brutality and systemic racism. Police shows “Cops” and “Live P.D.” were cancelled earlier this month, while shows that contained blackface, such as “Little Britain,” have been removed from major streaming platforms.
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” has been widely praised by critics since the show premiered in 2013. IndieWire’s Ben Travers lauded the first two episodes of Season 6 in his A- review last year and offered particular praise for the show’s unrelenting positivity.
“Happy endings aren’t guaranteed; injustice is still rampant. It would be easy for everyone to fall into despair, and (Dan) Goor’s series recognizes as much through (Raymond) Holt’s initial reaction. But the joyful spirit of ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ is distinguishable from other sitcoms in that it even though it delivers laughs in droves, it also provides a bit of a pep talk,” Travers said in his review. “Viewers need to see Holt lose because they need to see Holt fight back. They need to see persistence so they can emulate it themselves. They need to see ‘The 99,’ and NBC is giving it to them.”
Check out Crews’ full Access Daily interview here.
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