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'Brooklyn Nine-Nine': Will Andy Samberg's cop comedy be a winner?

'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' is one of the fall TV season's new shows. Will viewers be won over?

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Beth Dubber/Fox/AP
'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' stars Andy Samberg.
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

After appearing on “Saturday Night Live” for seven years and producing phenomenally popular “Digital Shorts,” how will Andy Samberg transition to a traditional sitcom?

Samberg is starring in the Fox comedy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” a new comedy premiering Sept. 17, which follows Samberg’s character Jake Peralta, a police detective whose immature ways are challenged by his precinct’s strict captain (Andre Braugher). “Gossip Girl” actress Melissa Fumero is playing Jake’s partner Amy.

The show was created by Michael Schur, who is the executive producer and co-creator of the NBC comedy “Parks and Recreation,” and Dan Goor, also an executive producer for “Parks.”

Some are already hailing “Brooklyn” as a success, with TVLine writer Matt Webb Mitovitch calling “Brooklyn” “the fall’s best new comedy” after having seen the pilot. (TV writers often clarify that their appraisals of pilots that haven’t yet aired are more first impressions than reviews because of the pilots’ unfinished nature and how often they change before they make it to primetime.)

“Is it doing anything revolutionary?” Mitovitch wrote of the pilot, “not really… I think it successfully serves up the rare cop shop comedy, filled with LOLs and boasting a vivid, diverse ensemble devoid of any clunkers.”

HitFix writer Daniel Fienberg said the show was “one of this fall's better comedy pilots” but that the laughs were a little lacking.

“For the show to work, the writers will need to hone the consistency of its comedic flow,” he wrote. “The pieces are all here and they just need to gel a tiny bit more for "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" to become a winner.”

Meanwhile, BuzzSugar writer Becky Kirsch said she found Samberg “downright delightful” but that “while some of the supporting characters work, like Braugher as the intimidating new captain of the police force and Melissa Fumero as Jake's love interest/rival, a lot of the other faces around the police station are too cartoony.”

Will viewers be drawn in by Samberg’s new comedy?

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