‘9-1-1’ Fans Give Connie Britton Replacement Jennifer Love Hewitt Rave Reviews

Jennifer Love Hewitt made her 9-1-1 debut during season two’s premiere on Fox Sunday night. The Ghost Whisperer star is Connie Britton‘s replacement, and earned rave reviews from fans.

Maddie’s first scene was awkward for everyone. Her brother Buck got home, and heard someone was in the shower. He thought she was someone else, and stripped down to nothing before he found her.

Later, we learned that Maddie is still being chased by her abusive boyfriend. In one scene, the man called up Maddie and threatened to search after her. At the end, Maddie told Buck about the man and he offered to let her stay at his apartment. This will also give her a chance to start over.

Buck offers to get her a new job as a nurse, but she rejects that idea. Instead, she wants to be a 911 operator.

Fans were really excited about Hewitt joining the series.

Others were excited about the new storyline.

The new season kicks off in explosive fashion in “Under Pressure,” in which the team responds to several emergencies on one of the hottest days of the year in Los Angeles. It is a tough challenge for Hewitt’s Maddie, the sister of Buck (Oliver Stark). Maddie has experience with emergency response, working as an ER nurse before she switched careers. She is the new 911 operator, connecting victims to the first responders.

“She comes into the series pretty broken and on the run from a very abusive relationship,” Hewitt told Entertainment Weekly. “The thing that has been the most shocking to me, which I didn’t ever really consider and I don’t know why, is that the most heartbreaking part of being a 911 operator is that so often they never know how the story ends.”

Hewitt joined the show after Britton left the 911 operator position behind. She only signed a one-season contract, and has already moved on to filming American Horror Story: Apocalypse. There are currently no plans for Britton’s character to make an appearance in season two.

“We love Connie Britton, [but] it was always envisioned to be a one-year role,” Fox co-chairman Gary Newman said in August. “So it wasn’t a surprise [that she left]. If Connie expressed interest and had time in the future, I know [executive producer] Ryan [Murphy] would be thrilled to bring her back to the show.”

Murphy, who also worked on AHS with Britton, told Deadline he could only get her to be on the show after offering her a one-season deal. Since 9-1-1 went on to become one of last season’s most successful shows, Murphy said he hoped Britton would come back.

“I said, ‘Well, why don’t you just do a one year deal,’ so Connie has a one-year deal, and we all knew that going in. But the show has become such a success, successes are good, and Connie and I both realize that, so we’re talking about her coming back in some capacity to season two if we can make her deal work,” he said in March.

Although fans were disappointed about Britton leaving, Hewitt’s performance on the show quickly earned her some new fans.

The second part of 9-1-1‘s season premiere airs Monday at 9 p.m. ET, the show’s regular timeslot.

Photo credit: Fox