What Does This Mean For 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine'?

While network executives are wrapping up their show's current season, they are also looking to the future: planning the best moves for their shows for the coming seasons. And with these decisions comes big changes. This includes, surprisingly, FOX moving Brooklyn Nine-Nine to Sunday night. It's an unexpected place for a live-action sitcom these days, that's for sure — but does it mean bad news for the show?

In short: No one knows quite yet. But even though sitcoms may no longer be typical Sunday fare — that would be drama (Once Upon a Time, Revenge), reality (Amazing Race, The Bachelor), and FOX's animated block (The Simpsons, Family Guy) — they're hardly unheard of in the Sunday lineups of yore.

The last time FOX had sitcoms breaking up their Sunday lineups was a decade ago: Malcolm in the Middle led into The Simpsons and Arrested Development led into Family Guy. This time around The Simpsons will be leading into Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Family Guy will be leading into the new multi-cam sitcom Mulaney. Arrested Development never did great in ratings — hence the whole "canceled too soon" sticker that follows the show's legend around — bringing in 5.9 million viewers while sandwiched between Simpsons' 9.6 million and Family Guy's 8.5 million. Malcom did even worse.

Still, FOX seems ready to take the plunge with Brooklyn and Mulaney, and the move makes sense: Mulaney is taking the more old-fashioned route by offering a multi-cam sitcom, and if they'd kept Brooklyn Nine-Nine on Tuesdays they'd have a two-hour comedy block, perhaps bulkier than what they were looking for.

According to the LA Times' Meredith Blake, Sundays are the biggest night of the week for television, with an average of 125 million people tuning in. Just look at what happens whenever an awards show airs: People immediately overbook their DVR because the options runneth over. This seems especially true in the summer, with big cable dramas like Mad Men and Game Of Thrones zeitgeisting their way into being shows you have to watch as soon as possible. Brooklyn Nine-Nine isn't in a lot of the same TV circles as Mad Men, but it does have a Golden Globe, and Mulaney does have a namesake poised for breaking out at any second.

FOX has been making some very notable changes this year, starting with their decision to supposedly do away with pilot season. Moving Brooklyn Nine-Nine to Sundays could very well end in a crashing and burning that benefits no one — or it could revive the weekend slot for the sitcom and leave us all with a little more breathing room during the week.

Image: FOX