During its first season, NBC’s Trial & Error was a lovely surprise: a clever parody of the true crime genre, a mockumentary style that didn’t feel stale, a laugh-out-loud performance from John Lithgow as an accused murderer, and an emphasis on jokes that felt like a throwback to the Must See TV era. At just 13 episodes, there was barely any room for filler — just heightened stakes and humorous twists (that were often genuinely surprising). The second season, which premieres this week, swaps out Lithgow for Kristin Chenoweth and ramps up everything that made the first season so good. It doesn’t disappoint — in fact, it’s even better.
If you haven’t seen season one, you can still jump into this season, but here’s a quick recap: New York defense attorney Josh Segal (Nicholas D’Agosto) travels to East Peck, South Carolina to try his first murder case. His “team” consists of lead investigator Dwayne Reed (Steven Boyer), a dimwitted guy who means well and craves Josh’s friendship, and his assistant Anne Flatch (Sherri Shepherd), who remains plucky and optimistic despite her ever-increasing list of afflictions that range from face blindness to walking backwards after she gets a flu shot. Their office is shared with a taxidermist because, why not?
Trial & Error: Lady, Killer — emphasis on the comma — follows a brand new case: heiress Lavinia Peck-Foster (Chenoweth) is accused of murdering her husband. It’s an inspired casting choice, especially when you factor in that this season is clearly a send-up of The Jinx (season one was more like The Staircase), and Chenoweth is essentially playing Robert Durst. Chenoweth nails it throughout, hamming it up while relying on her penchant for blending sweetness with melodramatics. (And yes, she does sing.) What worked with Lithgow’s Larry Henderson was his accidental, clueless knack for making himself seem guiltier and guiltier as the season went on, despite his protests. What works here, with Lavinia, is her nonchalance because she’s the most popular person in town and is virtually untouchable. When her husband’s body is found in her trunk, she’s not worried, but inconvenienced.
Lavinia is considered the “First Lady of East Peck,” so beloved that if Josh & Co. don’t win their case, they could be run out of town. The first few episodes of the series followed outsider Josh as he was introduced to the weirdness of East Peck, a town “that randomly fires cannonballs every 12 hours” and where the number of Saturdays in a month is determined by whether a moose sees his breath. Fortunately, it quickly had Josh — who has since moved there full-time — embrace East Peck rather than gawk at it. East Peck is a strange but fully-formed fictional town in the same vein as Pawnee in Parks and Recreation or the titular setting in Schitt’s Creek, which makes it all the more endearing. Trial & Error is so good at mining silly humor from East Peck and its inhabitants, and the second season delights in further creating this world, particularly with the existence of “Lady Laws.” The outdated bylaws provide for an incredibly funny running gag involving women drivers, and an easy way to write out last year’s female Judge because one law states that a woman is not allowed to publicly judge another woman.
One of the most impressive things about Trial & Error is that it’s littered with “dumb” jokes, but they almost always land. The sitcom’s commitment to running gags is reminiscent of Sideshow Bob stepping on a rake: Even if it temporarily stops being funny, it’s likely to come back around. Halfway through season one, I worried that Anne’s laundry list of afflictions would become stale and repetitive but they remain great — especially because they pile up on each other and watching Shepherd go all-in is funny in itself. (Another favorite joke that carries over from last season, in which the team regularly chants “Murder board! Murder board!,” is so infectious that my living room frequently joins in.) With all the ridiculousness and the town’s adventures, it would be easy for the actual murder case to fade into the background but Trial & Error builds an engaging mystery just as effortlessly.
It’s almost a two-for-one deal: I love the inherent comedy of Trial & Error but I also love the true crime-esque twists that propel the main narrative. Not only do we get a mystery — who killed Lavinia’s husband? — but we get the ongoing court case with verbal sparring between Josh and Carol Anne Keane (Jayma Mays), his nemesis and occasional love interest. Trial & Error doesn’t stop at parodying The Jinx, either, as there’s some Law & Order and even S-Town thrown in, too. A welcome addition is Amanda Payton as Nina Rudolph, another New Yorker who travels to East Peck in order to record a podcast about the trial.
The first five episodes screened were full of sharp and fun comedy, easily making the case for why Trial & Error should be added to your must-watch roster. Like Josh, you’ll fall in love with East Peck enough to stick around.
