Posted in: Fox, NBC, TV | Tagged: andy samberg, brooklyn nine-nine, die hard, John McClane, nbc

Brooklyn Nine-Nine & "Die Hard": Just Imagine What Could've Been

As we celebrate Die Hard at Christmas, here's how Brooklyn Nine-Nine could've gone further with its love for the Bruce Willis film franchise.

As we wrap Christmas, one of the most treasured annual traditions is the Christmas film Die Hard, which remains the subject of constant debate. While the events take place on December 25th, none of the themes of the holiday play a factor in the greater plot. John McClane (Bruce Willis) could easily make similar witty puns on any other holiday and kick the same amount of ass. Since the film's become a Christmas tradition in American households, let's look at the comedy most obsessed with the franchise in the Fox/NBC procedural series Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Throughout all eight seasons, Det Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) became a cop in part because of McClane's antics in all five films, putting as many cliches into use as possible on the job, even spreading his obsession with his squadmates at the Nine-Nine. Let's look at some of the allusions and why the Dan Goor and Michael Schur series didn't go far enough.

Why 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Could Have Gone Even Further for 'Die Hard'

There's no shortage of Easter eggs, with Peralta spelling out his obsession with the first movie by uttering the film's most memorable quotes and hoping everyone else gets his references. He even dates another Die Hard superfan but breaks up with her after finding out she's a defense attorney, liking her to Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber, the villain from the John McTiernan film. There are even subtle references to the sequels, but nothing that compares to Brooklyn Nine-Nine's love for the 1988 original. Personal preferences aside, I didn't think 1995's Die Hard with a Vengeance was bad – it ranks as my second favorite after the original.

The irony is that late in Willis' career, he was open to doing sitcom work as his career winded down and worked as much as he could in his final stretch before his retirement due to his health-related issues. It would been a perfect exclamation point, but there was so much more talent available they could have asked. Or maybe they did, and they declined? The only holdover cast member from the Die Hard films was Sgt. Al Powell actor Reginald VelJohnson (in the original and 1990's Die Hard 2), who played himself in the season five episode "Bachelor/ette Party." It was a nice bit that had VelJohnson having the last laugh informing Jake, "I'm telling Bruce you suck."

I find it hard that Bonnie Bedelia (Holly Genero in the first two films) turned it down, and the only thing we saw of "Holly" was Melissa Fumero's Amy Santiago cosplaying as her for Jake for the season six premiere "Honeymoon." Jeremy Irons (Simon Peter Gruber from Die Hard with a Vengeance) would have also been a welcome addition to play against type of his more serious roles even when films are more his wheelhouse. De'voreaux White (Argyle) and the late Clarence Gilyard Jr (Theo) reunited with Willis to promote Die Hard batteries. William Atherton, who played Thornburg in the first two films, didn't mind returning to the Ghostbusters franchise as Walter Peck. Hart Bochner, who played the smarmy Coke-loving Ellis, would have been a wonderful guest star in a pseudo-redemptive arc for "selling out Holly" to Hans. Don't get me wrong. Brooklyn Nine-Nine is arguably the best police sitcom in the modern era, but sometimes I think of how much better it could have been had it not half-assed its love for Die Hard.

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