''Escouade 99'' (translation from

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

: ''Squad 99'') is a

French-language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

police procedural The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eith ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television series produced for

Club Illico Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

streaming service, based on ''

Brooklyn Nine-Nine ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' is an American police procedural comedy television series that aired on Fox, and later on NBC. The show aired from September 17, 2013, to September 16, 2021, for a total of eight seasons and 153 episodes. Created by Dan G ...

'' originally created by

Dan Goor Daniel Joshua Goor (born April 28, 1975) is an American comedy writer and television producer. He has written for several comedy talk shows including ''The Daily Show'', ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' and ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. He ...

and

Michael Schur Michael Herbert Schur (born 1975) is an American television producer, writer, director and actor. He was a producer and writer for the comedy series ''The Office'', and co-created ''Parks and Recreation'' with ''Office'' producer Greg Daniels. ...

. The series is developed by

Patrick Huard Patrick Huard (born January 2, 1969) is a Quebec-born Canadian actor, writer and comedian. Career Patrick Huard broke into the Quebec show business scene in 1989 as a comedian, actor and television personality. A hard-working multifaceted talen ...

, and written by Benoît Pelletier, with its first season being directed by Patrick Huard, and the second season, by Patrice Ouimet. It premiered on 17 September 2020, on Club Illico streaming service.Hugo Dumas
"Les sirènes de la diversité"
'' La Presse'', August 25, 2020.

Cast

Mickaël Gouin Mickaël Gouin is a Canadian actor and television writer from Drummondville, Quebec. He is most noted for his role in the sketch comedy series ''SNL Québec'', the Quebec adaptation of ''Saturday Night Live'', and its spinoff ''Le nouveau show''. ...

as Max Lemieux * Widemir Normil as Raymond Célestin *

Mylène Mackay Mylène Mackay (born 7 July 1987) is a Canadian actress. She received a Canadian Screen Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress at the 4th Canadian Screen Awards for her performance in ''Endorphine''. In 2016, she appeared as Nelly Arcan in ...

as Fanny Lizotte * Fayolle Jean Jr. as Jeff Bourjoly *

Léane Labrèche-Dor Léane Labrèche-Dor (born July 6, 1988) is a Canadian actress. She is most noted for her performance in the film ''Laughter (2020 film), Laughter (Le Rire)'', for which she received a Prix Iris nomination for Prix Iris for Best Actress, Best Actr ...

as Valérie Ruel *

Guy Jodoin Guy Jodoin (born 1966 in Sherbrooke, Quebec) is a Quebec comedian. He is best known as Capitaine Charles Patenaude in ''Dans une galaxie près de chez vous'' and ''Sucré Salé''. In 2020 he appeared in ''Escouade 99'', the Quebec television ada ...

as Charles Lépine *

Bianca Gervais Bianca is a feminine given name. It means "white" and is an Italian cognate of Blanche. Variants * Blanche: French * Bianca: Italian * Bianka (Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, German, English, French, Icelandic, Finnish, Dutch, Norwegian, Co ...

as Rosalie Boucher *

Louis Champagne Louis Champagne is a Canadian talk radio personality, who is hosts a morning daily program on CKGS-FM in La Baie, Quebec. He was the longtime host of another daily program on CKRS-FM until November 2008. He is best known for controversial remark ...

as Goudreau * Jean-Marc Dalphond as Ravary * Olivier Martineau as Goudreault "The Vulture" * Mehdi Bousaidan as The Pontiac Bandit

Criticism

After the preview trailer premiered on the internet in August 2020, actress

Melissa Fumero Melissa Fumero (née Gallo; born August 19, 1982) is an American actress. From the age of ten, she aspired to become an actor and later attended New York University, from which she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama. She made her ...

, who plays

Amy Santiago Amy Santiago is a fictional character who appears in police procedural comedy television series ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' (2013–2021). Portrayed by Melissa Fumero, she is depicted as controlling, over-achieving, and perfectionistic. Amy works as ...

in the original ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', criticized the program for casting its versions of Amy Santiago and

Rosa Diaz Rosa Diaz is a fictional character portrayed by Stephanie Beatriz in '' Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', an American police procedural comedy. She was originally created under the name "Megan", but changed to Rosa when Stephanie Beatriz got the part over ...

with Caucasian rather than Latina actresses.Julian Mackenzie
"Quebec adaptation of ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ faces backlash from actors and Quebecers"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', August 25, 2020. According to Fumero, "while I understand the Latina population is

ery Yeru or Eru (Ы ы; italics: ''Ы'' ''ы''), usually called Y in modern Russian language, Russian or Yery or Ery historically and in modern Church Slavonic, is a letter in the Cyrillic script. It represents the close central unrounded ...

small in Quebec (& how many of them are funny actors?) the Amy and Rosa roles could’ve gone to ANY

BIPOC The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...

so it’s disappointing to see that missed opportunity." Talhi Briones, a

Chilean Canadian Latin American Canadians (french: Canadiens d'Amérique latine; pt, Canadenses da América Latina; es, Canadienses de América Latina) are Canadians who are descendants of people from countries of Latin America. The majority of Latin American ...

writer and illustrator, also criticized the apparent whitewashing of Latina characters, as well as expressing concern about whether the series would retain Rosa Diaz's

bisexuality Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whic ...

. Writing for ''

Le Devoir ''Le Devoir'' (, "Duty") is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician Henri Bourassa in 1910. ''Le Devoir'' is one of few independent large-c ...

'', Justine Robidas also expressed concern about the show's cast, praising it for casting

Haitian Canadian Haitian Canadians are Canadian citizens of Haitian descent or Haiti-born people who reside in Canada. As of 2016, more than 86% of Haitian Canadians reside in Quebec. Haitian Migration to Canada Immigration 1960-1980 Immigration from Haiti ...

actors Widemir Normil and Fayolle Jean Jr. as its versions of Captain Holt and Terry Jeffords, but noting the absence of any significant characters representing Quebec's large Maghrebian, Asian or indigenous communities.Justine Robidas
"«Escouade 99» ou l’histoire d’un rendez-vous manqué"
''

'', August 26, 2020. She also asserted that the show was less an adaptation of ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' than a direct copy that missed much of what made the original show successful; other sources have also commented that numerous scenes in the trailer seemed to be shot-for-shot copies of scenes in the original series. Conversely, Hugo Dumas of '' La Presse'' acknowledged the diversity issue, but wrote that in casting Black actors to portray the two main

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

characters from the original, the show was already doing significantly better at representing cultural and racial diversity than most television series produced in Quebec. Normil has also confirmed that his character, Captain Raymond Célestin, retains Captain Holt's status as a

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

man. Writing for the ''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

'', T'Cha Dunlevy covered the criticism by highlighting the stories of three Latina actresses working in Quebec (Ariane Castellanos, Sabrina Bégin-Tejeda and Ligia Borges), and their difficulties in getting cast for major non-Latina specific roles in Quebec film and television productions.T'cha Dunlevy
"Quebec actresses of Latin descent resist the industry's urge to stereotype"
''

'', August 29, 2020.

References

{{reflist Television shows filmed in Quebec 2020s Canadian sitcoms 2020 Canadian television series debuts 2020s Canadian LGBT-related comedy television series Canadian television series based on American television series Television shows set in Quebec City Brooklyn Nine-Nine Club Illico original programming Television series based on works 2020s Canadian workplace comedy television series Canadian LGBT-related sitcoms 2020s police comedy television series French-language television shows