Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Terry Crews has a soft spot for this cold open—and it’s pure ’90s absurdity

Brooklyn Nine-Nine stretched across eight glorious seasons, and in that time, the cold opens turned into a trademark practically trademarked by the cold opens themselves. A lineup that kicked off with a mash-up of Broadway bravado or a blink-and-you-miss-it gag could steal the spotlight before the credits had a chance to frame the real episode title. For Sgt. Terry Jeffords himself, the big-hearted Terry Crews, one particular splash always rang the loudest.

Rather than choosing one of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's more dramatic or high-concept gags, Crews gravitates toward a scene rooted in pure nostalgic silliness. It’s not about crime or precinct politics—it’s about friendship, frosted tips, and one man’s misguided loyalty to his best friend.

Crews still cracks up when he lands on the Season 4 cold open that parodies late-90s boy-band videos. The sketch works double-time, letting the squad swap playful barbs while the camera stays glued to its off-the-wall rhythm.

Frosted tips & “tip buds” in Brooklyn Nine-Nine: A crime against hair

In The Night Shift, the squad rolls home from Florida after a sweat-soaked showdown with mobster Jimmy Figgis. Jake and Holt finally shed witness protection and dive back into the precinct, except Holt is still wearing his poker face, and Jake's hair is a near-sparkle of frosted tips.

The shade sits somewhere between 1999 and a post-party sunrise, and- hilariously- he brags that the color is growing on him. Unbeknownst to Jake, Boyle gets in at the last minute, giddy over a brand-new bleach job he hails as a matching Tip Bud partnership.

The split-second panic when Jake spots the twin frost is pure Brooklyn Nine-Nine magic and just the right sort of horrifying. Why would anyone pair up on a hairstyle that screams irony if there was zero irony to be found?

Terry Crews says Boyle harbors a disturbing affection for Jake, and honestly, that affection has never been quite this loud nor this bright. The relationship reads ordinary on paper, but the hair alone blasts it straight into comedy gold.

A perfect snapshot of ’90s pop culture madness

I can't shake the feeling that the cold open nails the vibe more than it needs to. Frosted tips in the nineties weren't a joke; Timberlake's hair on TRL dared you to pick a side. Committing to the look was almost a promise to binge pop videos and wear enough denim to sink a boat.

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That Brooklyn Nine-Nine drags all of that back into daylight in 2016-scaling it to two grown cops-is peak silliness and peak nostalgia in one swoop. The moment freezes in a two-part scream of Noooooo from Jake and Boyle that hits like an old-school text alert. It's beyond over-the-top, yet somehow you still nod and grin.

The cutaway pokes fun at fads, at the way pals jump off cliffs together, and at the split-second regrets that pop up the instant you see a pair of shears. Even if no one actually signs a hair contract, there's something weirdly comforting about the reminder that bad choices keep rerunning in every decade, like a favorite sitcom you can't quit.

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