Terry Crews Puts Down Fox After 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Cancellation

Terry Crews could hardly contain his excitement as he discussed Brooklyn Nine-Nine's brief [...]

By Michael Hein

Terry Crews could hardly contain his excitement as he discussed Brooklyn Nine-Nine's brief cancellation and its new home on NBC.

Crews spoke about the employment whirlwind on Monday at the premiere for Deadpool 2. The actor plays Bedlam in the new superhero comedy, but reporters from Variety asked him about his acclaimed TV show as well. Crews described the confusing process of learning the show was canceled, and then learning it was back again.

"When we got canceled, it was the shock of a lifetime," Crews said heavily. "You've got to understand, every show has, like, its own personality, its own being. And, it's like a person dies, there's no other way to describe it. I was like, 'I'll never see these guys again, they'll split up, they'll go to other shows,' I was just so hurt."

"We all sat around and said, 'well, we might get picked up by somebody else.' Then Hulu passed, Netflix passed, and we were like 'oh, it's over.'"

Crews described going to sleep heavy-hearted, then waking up to a barrage of texts and calls announcing that NBC had picked up the sitcom.

"NBC! Now, wait, first of all, NBC is bigger and better! It's the perfect place for us! It's kind of like, out of the frying pan, into heaven. That doesn't make any sense -- not into the fire! Into heaven itself!"

Crews joined NBC's entertainment chairman, Robert Greenblatt, in saying that the show made more sense on NBC's line-up.

"Andy has been on SNL, and it just makes so much sense. We fit in with their comedies, we're going to make so much money!" he quipped gleefully.

Greenblatt shared a similar sentiment on Sunday when speaking to Entertainment Weekly.

"Brooklyn is a show our company produces for Fox, so it's a show that's very close to us," he said. "I've been saying to certain people in the press that if we knew Andy Samberg was going to be cast in that show, we never would have sold it to Fox. We've been watching it closely ever since."

"We jumped on it really quickly and are thrilled to have it and think it fits into our brand of comedy in many ways better than it fit into Fox's brand of comedy," Greenblatt continued. "It feels like it goes along shows like A.P. Bio, Will & Grace, Superstore, and The Good Place. … It's also one of the few comedies in recent years that does a robust international number, and it has a syndication upside, which a lot of shows don't have anymore."

When the show was picked up by a different network just one day after being cancelled, many fans congratulated each other for "saving" it through outcry on social media. Greenblatt confirmed that this played a role in NBC's decision.

"We love the fans and we love when they're vocal. I was getting messages from all kinds of people Friday and Saturday saying the show was trending on Twitter," Greenblatt said.

"It was great to know the fans were outraged, but we were too," he confessed. "We were right there with them. We love when fans yell and scream on Twitter, but we hope that transfers and they watch the show."

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