Just A Reminder That ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Has One Of The Best Cold Opens Ever
It's the 20th anniversary of The Backstreet Boys' 'I Want It That Way', so it's the perfect time to rewatch this masterpiece.
Today is the 20 year anniversary of The Backstreet Boy’s iconic ballad ‘I Want It That Way’, which is an amazing song and should be celebrated on its own. Put it on, have another listen, enjoy. Kick back! But, it’s also as good a reason as any for us to revisit Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s most iconic cold opening sequence.
Look, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a very funny show, this shouldn’t even be debated — but for me, this intro bit is one of the show’s top five most hilarious moments. It uses the cop setting of the show as an easily recognisable format, structuring the gag around a witness line.
It also doesn’t just randomly pick ‘I Want It That Way’ as the perfect song to have the perps sing — the song is part of the humour, the structure. For me, the kicker is when Jake drops in the “Now number five…”
And lastly, Andy Samberg’s Jake Peralta is the only character in the world who you can truly believe would get caught up in a spontaneous witness line sing-along, and who would definitely join in. He’s perfect! Andy Samberg is perfect. I truly believe that I would be friends with Andy Samberg, and I’m not really sure why.
Lastly, like any perfect sketch, it closes the humour with a perfect juxtaposition, a descent from the giddy joy of singing Backstreet Boys back to the much grimmer reality that one of these men is a murderer. Bueno!
Let’s watch it again!