Page 4 - TVTimes.4.16.17

4 April 16 - 22, 2017
El Dorado News-Times
cover story
What’s the verdict: ‘Trial & Error’
wraps up a hilarious first season
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By Jacqueline Spendlove
TV Media
Mockumentaries, when placed in the right hands, wield a very spe- cial power in that they can take decid- edly unfunny subject matter and make it hilarious. From the multiple Christo- pher Guest-created offerings on the big screen (“This Is Spinal Tap,” 1984; “Best in Show,” 2000) to “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation” and “Modern Family” on the small, it’s a genre that’s seen a lot of success over the years.
Pair it with the true-crime format that’s so hot right now and Bob’s your uncle. “Trial & Error” is a wonderfully goofy freshman comedy that’s murder mystery-meets-mockumentary, and has gleaned mostly favorable reviews so far. The season finale airs Tuesday, April 18, on NBC.
Drawing from recent documentary hits such as “Making a Murderer” on Netflix and HBO’s “The Jinx,” “Trial
& Error” is a comical whodunit story led by the much-lauded John Lithgow (“3rd Rock From the Sun”), fresh off his stint as Winston Churchill in “The Crown.”The five-time Emmy winner stars as Larry Henderson, a small-town poetry professor accused of murder- ing his wife by flinging her through a plate-glass window.
It certainly doesn’t sound like comedy fodder but, what can I say,
it’s funny. The ubiquitous Lithgow is
a masterful vehicle for the hapless Larry, who is completely clued out to the seriousness of his situation. Even when it starts to really, really sound like he’s the guilty party (his first wife also met her end with a plate-glass window — coincidence?), he still manages to come across as affable, if a bit buffoonish. His head is perpetually in the clouds, and his priorities are all over the place; for instance, he seems to put as much import on the cable guy showing up as he does on the violent murder of his wife. The challenge, for Lithgow, was portraying someone who could be a killer, or who could end up being totally innocent.
“He had to be likable, along with scary and potentially murderous. It was a curious cocktail,” Lithgow said of his character during a BUILD interview. “Of course, you’ve got comedy on your side. If somebody is funny, then you’re crazy about him.”
Coming to Larry’s defense — and straight-man to his goofball — is fresh-faced young lawyer Josh Segal (Nicholas D’Agosto, “Masters of Sex”), who travels from New York City to the small South Carolina town of East Peck, eager to take on his first major case. Though hopeful and well- meaning, the naive Josh is totally out of his element as he tries to work not only with the eccentric Larry, but also the oddball locals who make up his (mostly useless) defense team.
This consists of redneck lead
investigator Dwayne Reed (Steven
Boyer, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” 2013),
whose bumpkin status is cemented
in the revelation that his brother
is also his cousin, and assistant
Anne Flatch (Sherri Shepherd,
“The View”), who allegedly suf-
fers from an ever-lengthening
string of rare and improbable
medical ailments, includ-
ing face blindness.
The main cast also
includes Carol Anne
Keane (Jayma
Mays, “Glee”),
the ambitious
and aggressive-
ly flirtatious
prosecutor
whohasher Tuesday,April18,onNBC. eye on the title
of district attor-
ney and wants
to see Larry
hang, and Larry’s daughter, Summer (Krysta Rodriguez, “Smash”), who also becomes a murder suspect.
Though the series pulls elements from true-crime shows in general, this first season is specifically inspired by “The Staircase,” a documentary that hit Sundance channel in 2004. The doc examines the case of Michael Peterson, a man suspected of the mys- terious murder of his wife, Kathleen, in their North Carolina home.
“[‘Trial & Error’] is shot in exactly the same way. We rigorously observe all the rules and rituals of that genre,” Lithgow told E! News, “and yet every- body in it is completely ridiculous.”
Neither viewers nor the majority of the cast of “Trial & Error” will learn the truth of Larry’s guilt or innocence until the finale, which additionally serves as an introduction to next season’s crime. If all goes according to plan, showrunners are banking on seven seasons, with each one focusing on a different case, but with the same cast and setting.
“Every year is a different crime.The main characters in the town will stay the same,” co-creator and executive producer Jeff Astrof told the Hollywood Reporter following a Television Critics Association press tour panel. “This year was inspired by ‘The Staircase,’ maybe [if we get a second season] we’ll be inspired by ‘The Jinx’ or ‘Mak- ing a Murderer.’ Thankfully, people have killed a lot of people!”
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Of course, the extent of Lithgow’s presence in a second season will depend on the outcome of Larry’s
trial, which we’re about to learn. The show may be comedically driven, but at its heart it’s still
a murder mystery, and avid
follows are keen to learn the identity of the killer, once and for all. As D’Agosto told E! News,
“It’s very funny, it’s very out- rageous, but at the end of
the day we’re all really trying to solve something very serious.”
Do yourself and favor and get caught up on “Trial & Error,” then find out whodunit in the two- part season finale, airing
Nicholas D’Agosto as seen in “Trial & Error”
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