TV networks are making the hard decisions in the days ahead of their fall-schedule announcements to advertisers, and an early casualty among 30 endangered series is Fox’s critically adored but low-rated “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” the police-precinct comedy headed by Andy Samberg and Andre Braugher.
The series, which ends its fifth season May 20 with the wedding of Jake (Samberg) and Amy (Melissa Fumero), was on the fence as the network weighed pilots, returning series and its new commitment to Thursday Night Football. But it also had another factor working against it: NBC Universal, not Fox, owns the series, though there’s a chance NBC could choose to save it for its own network or sell it to Hulu or Netflix.
Fans on Twitter expressed outrage, including “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote, “I only watch like 4 things; this is one of the things.”
And cast member Stephanie Beatriz, who plays hard-edged cop Rosa Diaz, told heartbroken fans, “What a gift this series has been … your sadness is noted.”
And executive producer Dan Goor thanked fans for their “incredible outpouring of support. It means the world to me and everyone else who works on the show.”
Other early cancellations include Fox’s “The Last Man on Earth” and “The Mick” (The Mick had been expected to return back in early April); and CBS freshman comedies “9JKL” and “Living Biblically.”
And things are also looking dicey for Fox’s “Lucifer” and ABC’s “Deception.”
On the bright side among shows with uncertain fates, NBC picked up “Blindspot” and midseason comedy “AP Bio” for new seasons, and CW extended “The 100.”
Gary Levin, USA TODAY
