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TV Media Weekly | April 15 - 21, 2017 By Jacqueline Spendlove TV Media M ockumentaries, when placed in the right hands, wield a very special power in that they can take decidedly un- funny subject matter and make it hilarious. From the multiple Christopher Guest-created offer- ings 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 for- mat 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 re- views so far. The season finale airs Tuesday, April 18, on NBC. Drawing from recent docu- mentary 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 Hen- derson, a small-town poetry pro- fessor accused of murdering 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 com- pletely clued out to the serious- ness 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 mur- derous. It was a curious cock- tail," Lithgow said of his charac- ter 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 odd- ball locals who make up his (mostly useless) defense team. This consists of redneck lead investigator Dwayne Reed (Ste- ven Boyer, "The Wolf of Wall Street," 2013), whose bumpkin status is cemented in the revela- tion that his brother is also his cousin, and assistant Anne Flatch (Sherri Shepherd, "The View"), who allegedly suffers from an ever-lengthening string of rare and improbable medical ailments, including face blind- ness. The main cast also includes Carol Anne Keane (Jayma Mays, "Glee"), the ambitious and ag- gressively flirtatious prosecutor who has her eye on the title of district attorney and wants to see Larry hang, and Larry's daughter, Summer (Krysta Rodri- guez, "Smash"), who also be- comes a murder suspect. Though the series pulls ele- ments from true-crime shows in general, this first season is spe- cifically inspired by "The Stair- case," a documentary that hit Sundance channel in 2004. The doc examines the case of Mi- chael Peterson, a man suspected of the mysterious murder of his wife, Kathleen, in their North Carolina home. "['Trial & Error'] is shot in ex- actly the same way. We rigorous- ly observe all the rules and ritu- als of that genre," Lithgow told E! News, "and yet everybody in it is completely ridiculous." Neither viewers nor the ma- jority of the cast of "Trial & Er- ror" will learn the truth of Larry's guilt or innocence until the fina- le, 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 in- spired by 'The Jinx' or 'Making a Murderer.' Thankfully, people have killed a lot of people!" Of course, the extent of Lith- gow's presence in a second sea- son 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 outrageous, but at the end of the day we're all really trying to solve something very seri- ous." Do yourself and favor and get caught up on "Trial & Error," then find out whodunit in the two-part season finale, airing Tuesday, April 18, on NBC. Nicholas D'Agosto as seen in "Trial & Error" 'Trial & Error' wraps up a hilarious first season 2 | Cover story A/Grindstone Charlie's B/Norris Insurance 1 x 4" 455-2700 3833 S. LaFountain • Kokomo, IN 46902 www.norrisinsurance.com • Home • Auto • Business • Life Call for a FREE Quote! Serving You For Over 50 Years Bill Neher

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