‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Mistakes You’ll Never Be Able to Unsee

Even a beloved sitcom as sharp as ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ has its fair share of little goofs and continuity slips. From real-world geography not quite lining up to props that can’t make up their minds, these are the tiny hiccups sprinkled through the precinct. None of them ruin the fun, but once you spot them, they’re hard to unsee.

The “99th Precinct” Exterior Isn’t The 99th

Michelle Young

Those wide shots of the precinct use a real NYPD building in Brooklyn that isn’t actually the 99th. The production commonly filmed the exterior of a different precinct house and dressed it for the show. If you know the neighborhood, the architecture and street layout give away the stand-in location. It’s a classic case of TV magic swapping addresses.

Cheddar Isn’t Always The Same Dog

NBC/Fox

Captain Holt’s corgi, Cheddar, was played by multiple canine actors across the series. Sharp-eyed viewers can spot slight differences in face markings and build from episode to episode. Production credits and behind-the-scenes notes confirm the rotation to accommodate training and availability. It’s normal for animal roles, but the swaps can pop once you notice them.

Brooklyn Geography Gets Comically Fast

NBC/Fox

Characters zip between distant Brooklyn spots, Staten Island, or Manhattan in just a scene or two. Travel times that would normally take a long subway ride or a traffic-heavy drive often shrink to minutes. Street exteriors sometimes don’t match the neighborhoods being named. The compressed travel is a storytelling shortcut that keeps plots moving.

Props That Move Between Cuts

NBC/Fox

Coffee cups, folders, and phones occasionally change positions or fill levels between consecutive shots. A file might jump from desk to hand, or a cup goes from half-full to mysteriously topped up. These continuity resets tend to happen during quick-fire dialogue scenes. The rapid coverage and multiple takes make tiny prop resets easy to miss until you’re looking for them.

Phones With Miraculous Batteries And Timelines

NBC/Fox

On-screen phones sometimes show time stamps and battery levels that don’t line up with the scene’s timeline. Messages appear instantly across devices even when characters are supposedly out of service. Notification sounds and interfaces also shift between models in the same episode. It’s a mix of clearance-friendly phone skins and continuity shortcuts.

Uniform And Insignia Quirks

NBC/Fox

NYPD details on uniforms, ties, and pins aren’t always perfect, especially in flashbacks or crowd scenes. Rank insignia and placement can drift from strict department guidelines in quick shots. Detectives also display shields in ways that vary more than real-life policy would allow. The wardrobe aims for recognizability first, which can create small mismatches.

Evidence Handling That’d Make IA Nervous

NBC/Fox

Interrogation rooms, evidence bagging, and chain-of-custody procedures are streamlined for comedy and pacing. Items move from scene to scene without the formal logging you’d expect. Interviews happen with fewer steps than standard protocol requires. It keeps the banter front and center but leaves little procedural gaps if you’re tracking the details.

The Halloween Tradition Doesn’t Always Land On Halloween

NBC/Fox

The show builds a tradition around an annual Halloween heist, yet one season’s contest happens on a different holiday. The shift is explained in-story, but it breaks the neat calendar pattern established earlier. Promotional materials and episode naming also lean into the switch. For viewers expecting October every time, the date shuffle stands out.

Background Extras That Double Back

NBC/Fox

Recurring background performers occasionally appear as different bystanders across episodes. You might notice the same face as a precinct visitor one week and a passerby in another. It’s a common sitcom practice to reuse reliable extras, especially on a busy lot. Once recognized, those repeat cameos become unmissable.

Office Set Details That Reset Themselves

NBC/Fox

Items on Holt’s shelves, the break room fridge clutter, and bullpen whiteboards sometimes reset between scenes. A framed photo or binder color can swap when a sequence cuts to a new angle. Dry-erase notes vanish or reappear with different handwriting as plots move along. These small set dress changes are practical for filming, even if they nudge continuity.

Share your favorite ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ slip-ups in the comments and tell us which one you can’t unsee anymore!