Why Did 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Get Cancelled, First by Fox and Then by NBC?

It's always disheartening when you find out that your favorite show is no longer going to be on air. Sometimes, if a network decides to drop a particular program, there are other stations or streaming services that are more than willing to give said series a new life. Just ask fans of Designated Survivor after Netflix decided to pick the show up when it was canceled. And when Brooklyn Nine-Nine was first taken off of FOX, viewers wanted to know why it got the network boot.

As far as TV show cancellations go, Brooklyn Nine-Nine had a success story that not many other shows can boast. It only took 31 hours for NBC to announce that they would be picking the program up after FOX had pulled the plug. But why did the Andy Samberg-led comedy get removed from the network in the first place? It all boiled down to ratings, but in this day and age, live viewership Nielsen numbers aren't exactly a good indicator of a program's popularity.

Unless you've been in a coma for the past 10 years or so, then you'll know that live TV viewership has been on the decline for a very, very long time and has been overtaken by streaming. Fewer and fewer people are signing up for cable TV subscriptions and watching their favorite programs right when they debut. People have been consuming content when they want and where they want for a while, on any medium they desire.

Want to watch on your phone, tablet, or laptop? Maybe you want to cast it to a TV screen or have a streaming device like Roku or Apple TV, or a set with built-in smart apps? There are more and more ways to watch than ever. Brooklyn 99's live numbers on FOX weren't exactly great, but series showrunner Dan Goor said in an interview with Vulture that he believes the "live plus threes and plus sevens" were great on Hulu.

NBC probably knew this information (heck, I watched the show exclusively on the streaming platform) and the network, although they originally passed on the show when it was first pitched, decided to pick it up after its fifth and final season on FOX. Since the move to NBC, the show's actually been pulling in new viewers. Deadline writes that BK 99's "last season grew to ... 6.4 million viewers overall."

Dan Goor penned a hilarious farewell letter to share the news that Season 8 would be the series' final batch of episodes featuring the lovable band of misfits working the 99th precinct.

Some Twitter users shared that the reason why the show was getting pulled from NBC was due to "today's political climate" and others seemed to agree. Amidst the Black Lives Matter movement and police protests in the aftermath of George Floyd's death, the show creators struggled with the fact that they were illustrating a world that didn't include the very real threat of police brutality. They decided to confront the issue head-on in the eighth season by writing a story line about Rosa's discomfort with corruption within the justice system. She retires from the force and decides to become a private investigator, saying that she can make more real change in that capacity.

Even though the show did address some issues in the day's political climate, it ultimately portrays the main characters in the 99th precinct as "some of the good guys." And perhaps the show creators realized that they weren't able to continue writing the show everyone loves while also accurately reflecting the world we live in.

Live PD is a perfect example of another show affected by the political climate. The show was A&E's biggest ratings maker and was greenlit for a ton more episodes, but it was ultimately canceled in the wake of protests against police brutality.