'New Girl' & 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Are Getting A Crossover Episode

Fans of wildly popular sitcoms New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine will have extra reason to get excited for the shows' impending respective sixth and fourth seasons following the announcement of an hour-long crossover episode set to air this October.

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the 60-minute shared episode will air on Fox on 11 October in the US, capitalising on the series' existing back-to-back scheduling on Tuesday nights. The news was broken at Monday's Television Critics' Association summer press tour, with both New Girl creator Elizabeth Meriweather and Nine-Nine co-creator Dan Goor bubbling about the project's potential in statements.

"The crossover episode has historically been the artistic high point of any show that has dared to attempt it," Meriweather told THR. "Maybe you remember Blackout Thursday on NBC, or even further back the infamous Alf/Gilligan’s Island crossover of the late 1980s. New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine will proudly and humbly go where few shows have gone since the 1990s. We know we have big shoes to fill, and we look forward to disappointing everyone. There’s a 50 percent chance Alf will also be in both episodes. But there’s also a 50 percent chance that is a lie."

Echoed Goor: "Brooklyn Nine-Nine crossing over with New Girl is very exciting, but (and this is supposed to be a secret) it’s just the first step. Stay tuned for our two casts to do a soulful R&B number on Empire, co-anchor the Fox 10 O’Clock News and connect for a touchdown on Fox NFL Sunday. But in all seriousness, we’re all huge fans of New Girl here at the Nine-Nine, and we’re excited to see our characters interact and to work with their incredible writers and producers. And also to see what their craft services are like, compared to ours.”

The announcement of the crossover seems a bit additionally special given that it comes at a time where such outings have somewhat fallen out of favour in the comedic world, at least compared with the days of the late 20th century, when we were treated to shared experiences from the characters of Mad About You/Friends, or Caroline In The City/also Friends, or The Single Guy/Friends again (as well as Cheers/Frasier/Wings existing in the same universe, while Sabrina, The Teenage Witch even crossed over with Boy Meets World, You Wish and Teen Angel — this seriously used to be a big thing for sitcoms; heck, even Grace Under Fire, Coach, The Drew Carey Show and Ellen shared an episode).

Aside from being set in New York, little else is known about the crossover's details, so keep your ears to the ground for further information as the return of both shows draws closer.