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A lot of the reps and execs were saying, Thats crazy, dont even think that.
The truth is, when we were on Tuesday nights at 9:30, our numbers were not spectacular.
Nobodys numbers are at that time.
So I did begin to become scared.
Again, the take-home should not be that we wrote a series finale.
We didnotwrite a series finale.
We wrote a season finale that wouldnt kill people if it ended up being the series finale.
That was literally the goal: a series finale where youd want to come back for another year.
Then our numbers were pretty good.
They were the same asThe Simpsons, or not a tremendous drop-off fromSimpsonsandFamily Guy.
So we were all starting to get worried.
It felt like the episodes had been really well-received.
It was like dubstep, where you hearBUUUUUMMMM!
I got a call on the day the announcement came out from the studio and then the online grid.
Theyre basically not doing single-cam comedy, it looks like.
I dont want to vilify Fox.
Seeing that theseother shows were also canceledimmediately cushioned the blow.
It felt like, Oh, theyre not doing that kind of show anymore.
At the same time, it was very shocking and scary and sad.
You think,Oh my god, everyones losing their jobs.
And also,I dont get to do this thing that I love anymore.
But very quickly, we were in talks about other platforms as possible new homes.
What do you think is prompting that shift?I dont know.
Im loathe to speculate.
Multi-cams are less expensive to make.
There are a lot of business decisions that contribute to it.
But I really dont know.
They make the decisions they make.
A lot of this stuff is David Miner and Pearlena [Igbokwe], who runs the studio.
They are really the ones who know what happened.
They immediately were great defenders.
Pearlena is a real hero.
And then Tracy Pakosta helped at the studio when we developedBrooklyn.
There are a lot of considerations when you move a show from one internet to another.
Its not easy, and were all so unbelievably grateful.
So from the moment of the cancellation news, you had people ready to go.Right.
NBC also had to consider where it would go on the schedule.
How many episodes could they do?
What would the budget be?
All through Friday, we were on the phone and texting one another.
I really thought Hulu would be our most likely option.
Id love to have it on NBC.
So, I shouldnt have been surprised.
I just rejoiced, and Andy and I were just texting each other, so ecstatic.
They told us they wanted us all to tweet about it at 9 p.m. and we did.
It was a very, very happy moment.
For our actors, I think it felt much more final.
For me, it wasnt yet final.
I had some hope, but it was also like, Oh god, this really could be over.
And again, the Twitter response was like, Oh, wow, people are really responding to this.
You should have Guillermo del Toro direct an episode!Id love it!
One-hundred percent he should.Id love that.
I dont know if its possible, but I love that.
And Lin-Manuel Miranda should play one of Amys brothers!
It was just this crazy, overwhelming, heartwarming thing!
It really is a better world than the one we live in.
[Laughs.]Yeah!
And then eventually we realized that was what was special about the show, so we stopped fighting it.
Do you think the Nielsen ratings are an accurate way of measuringBrooklyn Nine-Nines viewership?
Our live same-day ratings were not great.
But the fact of the matter is youre right.
Hulu doesnt release its numbers, but Im under the impression that we do very, very well there.
Greenblatt hassaidthat he thinksBrooklyn Nine-Nineis a better fit at NBC anyway.
Weve always had a similar comedy sensibility.
Its really nice to see.
If you look at their red carpet photos, theyre just ecstatic.
Terry [Crews] had a funny story.
and he freaked out in the middle of the night and started tweeting about it!
How did the decision to only do 13 episodes on NBC come about?
Did you want a 22-episode season?Im very happy with 13 to be honest.
Even if we stayed at Fox, I was happy to have 13.
How do you feel now?[Laughs.]
I feel so drained.
But I still feel really, really grateful to the fans and I feel really grateful to NBC.
Its a good place to be.
Being born is nice, being reborn is really nice.
This is the ultimate version of that.
Like the Platonic ideal.Exactly!
Its the Platonic ideal!
Theres nothing to sully it yet.
Thats not a very positive way of saying it, but its only joy right now.
Theres a bunch of stuff I really want to do.
We havent had a writers room yet, so its only general things weve thought about.
I love that episode.Its one of my favorites, too.
Luke wrote it and he did a masterful job.
Weve tried to do some more interesting emotional issues episodes, like Rosa coming out.
The other thing we learned about The Box was doing a tight, procedural episode.
We may end up doing an arc that is more of a plotted, police case arc.
Its stillBrooklyn Nine-Ninewith comedy first, but we might attempt to challenge ourselves that way.
