Last week, NBC took advantage of the popularity of The Voice to launch Trial & Error, a new comedy more bizarre than anything I have ever seen on TV. I mean that in the best way, because this show brings a weird hilarity to primetime that I quite enjoy. The first 2 half hour episodes aired last Tuesday, followed by episodes 3 and 4 last night.
The storyline follows Larry, who is on trial for the murder of his wife. Proving him innocent is going to be more difficult that it should be, which is bad for his lawyer Josh and great for us. For a more complete recap of the first two episodes, check out this review from A.V. Club.
If you want the short version of episodes 3 and 4, this is it:
Your #trialanderror update: last night there was an aggressive owl, head lacerations and a "missing stick" murder weapon
— N&O TV Blog (@WarmTV) March 22, 2017
First up was The Other Man, where we learn Larry Henderson’s (John Lithgow) wife was having an affair. This was surrounded by general hilarity, but nothing incredibly important (at least not yet – I have a feeling everything is going to turn out important, because that’s just how smart this show is).
This leads into the second episode, where we follow the team on a series of jailings due to the mysterious coma of the lead police officer in the investigation of Larry’s wife’s murder. Somehow, every member of Larry’s legal team gets blamed for this coma. It’s all straightened out in the end, with the help of some brilliant ideas in the midst of a dozen zany ones.
Somehow, in two episodes all that happened was that the evidence collected by the dirty cop was thrown out, and the walking pole believed to be the murder weapon was found. This all happened with what felt like 2 minutes left in episode 4. It took a long time to get there, but it’s okay, because the way there had me dying laughing.
If you need more proof of the humor involved, don’t miss the show’s writers live tweeting the episode, which is how we ended up with this gem:
Pro tip: having someone fall into a coma because of a whitefish allergy doesn't get a writing staff as much free whitefish as you'd think.
— TRIAL & ERROR STAFF (@TrialWriters) March 22, 2017
The casting in this show is perfection, with Nicholas D’Agosto, Jayma Mays (who I’ve been missing since Glee) and Sherri Shepherd absolutely killing it. I cannot wait to see what twist is coming yet. And also, someone needs to figure this out:
Did you know? Every week there is a new clue in every title sequence of #TrialAndError
— jeff astrof (@jeffastrof) March 22, 2017
Watch Trial & Error online with a free Sling TV trial!
Trial & Error is on NBC every Tuesday at 9 pm between The Voice and Chicago Fire. You should really watch it, because no recap is ever going to do it justice. And you’ll miss the reason for what seems like a completely random statement like this:
Little known fact: owls love bagels. The more you know. #TrialandError
— StevenBoyer (@SteveBoyer5000) March 22, 2017
