If Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Then Superstore

Brooklyn Nine-Nine won the hearts of millions of people. It reached every viewer on a personal level from those of us who adore the straight cut and monotonous ways of Captain Holt who would let loose from time to time with his acronyms and backstories when working a case with Jake, to loving the crazy yoghurt obsessed Terry who adores his suspenders as much as he adores his two girls, to even falling in love…creepily I’ll admit… with the puppy-like qualities of everyone’s cousin, Charles Boyle, who lacks the ability of a filter and the understanding of inappropriate comments and highly sexual innuendos. There is even a portion of the “Nine Niners” who love the laidback and irresponsible Gina who would rather dance and play “Cwasy Cupcakes” on her phone than work.

We have all bonded with one or more of the characters and then eagerly confessed to fellow "Nine Niners" who we were. Heck! Even I openly admit to being an Amy with my super organised way of life but knowing that on certain days I can’t help myself from dipping my big toe into the pool of complex emotions and life that is Detective Diaz.

We “Nine Niners” watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine because it allows us to escape into a world for 21 minutes, give or take, and be able to run away from our problems and watch with hilarity and slight concern as Jake and Boyle (and even Scully and Hitchcock from time to time) get into issues that they always somehow manage to get out of and be the heroes of the day.

The ability to laugh, cry and sympathise in that short amount of time goes to show you how much the writers not only understand about sitcom television, but also how much they love what they do, whilst being able to listen to the audience and bring back the yearly antics of the precinct (yes I am referring to The Jimmy Jab Games and who can forget the grand and sometimes over-the-top-yet-always-entertaining Halloween Heists that leave us all scratching our heads until the final scene) and the slightly psychotic but relatable characters that keep the viewers drooling more than Pavlov's Dog after hearing a bell.

It isn't always fun and games though. The series touches on some pretty heavy topics that make the audience think about the justice and equality of the world and its players. Brooklyn Nine-Nine has delved headfirst into sexual accusation issues occurring in the workplace in an episode rightly titled "He Said She Said", to what it was like for the main character growing up with a highly absent father figure in "Captain Peralta" and even racial and sexual orientation issues faced by people in this day and age in multiple episodes, like those called “Moo Moo” and “Game Night”. These aren’t the only things that Brooklyn Nine-Nine discusses in the way of dark subjects and things that, for some, I am sure hit quite close to home, for example; corrupt police officers, dealing with the knowledge that a loved one is caught in an active shooting scene, even officers feeling segregated from their communities and loved ones because of the sometimes-difficult jobs they have to do.

Thankfully, Brooklyn Nine-Nine rarely strays from the comedic path and while it does touch on these hard-to-swallow subjects, it adds just a little bit of comedic sweetness to help the harsh medicine that is modern-day reality, go down, without becoming offensive like other T.V shows are. Yes, there are certainly times when you cringe or wince at a few choice comments made by characters such as Gina, Scully and/or Hitchcock, but thankfully other characters like Diaz, Amy or Terry, pull them in and shut it down pretty quickly so you can awkwardly laugh at it and move on without the guilt of enjoying the dark humour weighing too heavily on you.

We have discussed the fact that hardcore followers of Brooklyn Nine-Nine are known as “Nine Niners”, but what are those who love Superstore identify themselves as? "Supers"? "Customers"? We are known as "Cloud Nine Shoppers", which is kind of sweet in a way because you hear the store workers talk to their customers regularly and call them "Cloud Nine Shoppers", which allows the viewers and followers to feel like they are a part of the show.

At least, without having to visit the store and be tricked into buying a lot more things than you want by someone in either a red or gold coloured shirt, being there when one of the very young and heavily pregnant workers goes into false labour, or even being caught in a store fire when the eldest employee mistakes a tower of toilet paper for their fake Olympic Torch and the store designated fire marshal is locked in the toilet listening to motivational self-help recordings.

However, it is not all fun and games…and sometimes certain death from a murder of crows infiltrating the store…it also touches on some really tough and sometimes sensitive subjects that the employees and even the customers have to deal with. These include racism, when Glenn wants the employees with a Latino background to speak with a Mexican accent to sell more salsa in the episode titled “Shots and Salsa”, to unpaid maternity leave for the workers in the episode called “Labor”, even the subject of Gay Marriage and LGBT+ rights when Glenn, a very honest Catholic, discovers that one of his workers is gay and tries to be accepting, but overdoes it a lot.

These are only a few of the many subjects that are spoken about in the show that some may find hard to swallow. Another major subject that is touched on in the show is Ableism, which is the discrimination of disabled people. In one particular episode, the black, wheelchair-bound employee by the name of Garrett is hiding from the Corporate Magazine Photographer due to their reputation for putting a worker of a minority on the front page of the highly controversial "misleading propaganda" as Amy describes it. This episode titled "Magazine Profile" also briefly breezes over some serious workplace issues that sometimes are overlooked by HR and higher-ups and is highlighted by different articles in the magazine. This includes topics such as; “Minimum wage is maximum fun” and “Work it Off: A Guide to Injuries on the Job”.

It's hard to imagine that these subjects can be discussed and identified in a comedy without the genre becoming black/dark humour. Now, that isn't to say that these topics occasionally result in some cringe-worthy one-liners, but at the end of the episode, you aren't left wondering if you are a bad person for watching it and walking away feeling good about it.

Watching the shows back-to-back you will find that while both of the sitcoms discuss dark subjects, Superstore manages to somehow make it feel rawer and naughtier if that is how you can describe it? It feels almost wrong, like watching the sometimes hilariously inappropriate South Park. Superstore manages to get away with more of the crude humour that comes with these dark topics, whereas, Brooklyn Nine-Nine takes itself more seriously.

The similarities of characters between Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Superstore are surprisingly common, from the strict, work-orientated, but still has enough fun to not be considered complete stick-in-the-mud characters of both Amy's and Sargent Terry, the laid-back but surprisingly still hard-working character of Jake and Jonah, the emotionally stunted, but also somehow still quite emotional characters of Diaz, Captain Holt and Dina, the irresponsible character that you hate to love and love to hate of Gina, Hitchcock, Scully and Cheyenne and let's not forget the inappropriate but lovable characters of Boyle, Garrett and Glenn.

It's important to identify that both of these sitcoms have similar character lists since it's a very well-balanced formula that allows said characters to get in and out of trouble without becoming tedious or unrealistic and also allows a much wider bracket of viewers to connect with the characters. One of the greatest things about well-written sitcoms that last multiple seasons is the fact that you can get so lost in the episodes and the stories intertwined within that you forget that you are watching a fictional story, which allows you to empathise with the characters on a different level.

This is where people begin to identify themselves as one or more of the characters and I am not ashamed to say that I know who I identify within Superstore and surprisingly, it is not the same as my character’s in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I see myself more as a Jonah and Glenn/Garrett than an Amy since the characters in this show have traits that are in a different situation. That situation being, that yes, while they are still technically working, it is a lot more of a relaxed environment than that of a Police Station with Detectives.

Due to this, I know that in a more relaxed, home-like environment or even with friends, I am more likely to try and be inclusive and yet somewhat still responsible, but overall trying too hard and sometimes getting myself and/or others into trouble. I know that I also like to stir the metaphorical pot from time to time, which is why I also relate to Garrett, but if I were to then take those character traits and transfer them to Brooklyn Nine-Nine, I would be self-identifying as Gina and I know that in that work-environment, that is just not the case.

Furthermore, it’s important to be able to see the differences in these two shows, but also see the similarities and how they are both highly successful in their own right. That being said, a lot of the time, two successful series will have a cross-over in which characters from one of the shows will then appear in a special episode of the other, which is seen quite regularly in shows such as Chicago Med, Chicago PD and even Chicago Fire, which I know seems redundantly obvious, but this also happens in shows where each season is a brand new show like the American Horror Story franchise, but there is also great speculation that the seasons are related to each other in a weird Star Wars-esque timeline.

That being said, while you can be sure that if Jake and Boyle were investigating some of the store’s shadier characters…I'm looking at you, Sal….it would be utterly hilarious mayhem, I don’t believe that these two shows should ever cross paths as it could end up ruining the great thing they have going for them as individual entities. It’s like that saying; “Never meet your hero” Although, in this instance, it’s; “Never force a cross-over”.

Finally, these are two great shows that don't require a whole lot of thinking, which after a long day of work, school work or just housework is what you need. You want to be able to escape to a world very similar to your own and enjoy entertainment for half an hour, guilt-free, so it’s with that final point that I leave you with this; I truly do believe that if you enjoy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, then you will enjoy Superstore.