Trial & Error

Plot synopsis:
Charlie Tuttle (Jeff Daniels) is a partner in a successful law firm, Whitfield and Morris. His boss and future father-in-law sends him to Paradise Bluff, Nevada, to request a continuance in a mail-fraud case involving a distant relative who is believed to be guilty, and is very likely to be adjudged guilty. But the timing of the trip conflicts with Charlie's bachelor party. After Charlie drives from California to Paradise Bluff, he is unexpectedly greeted by his best man, actor Richard Rjetti, (Michael Richards) who is determined to show his friend a great time prior to his wedding.
During the celebration, Charlie is knocked out in a barfight, and is later prescribed painkillers for the resulting pain. The next day — the day of the court appearance — Richard checks on his friend and finds Charlie has taken all of the pills in the bottle. Charlie winds up in no shape to appear in court that day, as legal counsel for con-artist Benny Gibbs (Rip Torn), so Richard impersonates Charlie. When the case unexpectedly goes to trial, Richard and Charlie must continue the charade, or they both will go to prison for perpetrating and conspiring to perpetrate a fraud upon the court.
Charlie coaches Richard as to the use of the rules of evidence, masquerading as Richard's "assistant", surreptitiously using flash cards to tell Richard which basis for objection to use. Charlie eventually loses it and screams at the judge, (Austin Pendleton) trying to overrule Charlie, when Richard disobeys Charlie and takes the "defense" in a broader direction, and Charlie is banned from reentering the courthouse. Later, Richard and Charlie devise a communication system involving a baby monitor and morse-code sounding of Charlie's vehicle's horn, heard through an open window, to instruct Richard as to which type of objection to use.
Meanwhile, Charlie meets and falls in love with an attractive waitress Billie Tyler (Charlize Theron) who causes Charlie to rethink his impending wedding to his shrill, self-absorbed fiancée, Tiffany (Alexandra Wentworth). Richard becomes involved with the prosecutor, Elizabeth (Jessica Steen) against whom he ultimately finds due process for "his" client.

Tags: murder

Review:
I usually don't enjoy comedy sitcoms, as they are rarely funny and often boring, cliché with second hand humor.
I watched this only because John Lithgow.
I love his work and I think he is delightfully funny.
Trial & Error: Quirky, Fun, Twisty-Turny, and Absolutely Freakin' Hilarious!.
I think "Trial & Error" definitely deserves a second season.
She'll bring a whole new dynamic I think.I watched the whole first season in one day because I was so hooked.
I was sooo very wrong because it's such a fun and smart comedy.
It reminds me of "The Office" and of "Parks and Recreation." I so love these mockumentary style shows.
With mentioning these, I do want to say that "Trial & Error" is different from these two in that it's a lot more about the people and their quirks than it is about a workplace.Another thing that sets this show apart is the many plot twists and shocking moments, which to me feels very innovative; this is not just a sitcom, it's a serialized comedy.
Another unique factor is that there are some touches of dark comedy and absurdist humor that really give this show its own identity, which I absolutely adore.So brilliantly cast because the cast does a very good job at delivering funny and heartfelt performances.
Considering the executive producer wishes to make 7 seasons of this show, and I'm totally up for watching them all if they stay this much fun, remain this witty, and uphold this quality.Oh, and, just for the record: Anne is my favorite!
Ugh. Just love her!If you haven't been watching this show you're totally missing out on something so funny, smart, and refreshing.
Like a lot of people, I'm a big fan of John Lithgow, who is a very versatile actor.
The writers make use of a lot of devices to get the humor across, including some quick-hitting sight gags you need to watch for or you'll miss them.
(As an example, check out the slogan for the health club in one of the episodes as the trial begins.)Jayma Mays is a bundle of sexual tension in her role as the ambitious DA and is nearly as funny as Lithgow's character.
Overall, the cast is wonderful and seems to be having a lot of fun with the show.I will say that I don't know if this is a show that has a lot of staying power, though, because it's hard to see where it can go after this first season.
Still, it's a very funny half-hour that really is a lot different from most of what's on right now.
I liked the characters right off the bat, I laugh out loud at every episodes, multiple times.
It's just a good, light, fun show to help you relax and forget about all the sh*t that's happening in the world right now.
I watch it and always mutter that "this show is REALLY WRONG on so many levels (even say "f***ed up often)" but in a good way.
Absolutely one of the best comedies in years!
Best new comedy in a very long time!.
If you love slapstick characters, fast paced smart writing with endless humor, surprising emotional twists with a murder mystery still being the focus point of this show for the season as a who done it, then Trial & Error is for you.
This show is so ridiculous & is only going to get better & better as the season progresses, think of it as if Law & Order had a love child with Parks & Rec.
I do believe you have to have some black humor and be entertained by backwoods-inbred-stupidity to like it as much as we do, but it is now one of our favorites.
I mean, the show has John Lithgow, it has to be good, right?.
Great mix of characters, quirky, funny show....
I have loved Lithgow since 3rd Rock From the Sun, back in the day.
This show is especially funny if you are southern and familiar with certain southern traits such as our dislike of strong displays of painful emotion ("I've never seen my wife so upset!" Camera zoom on wife showing no emotion whatsoever).
Sherry Shepherd is particularly good in her role as a woman who suffers strange ailments for every circumstance.
It's full of quirky nonsense and it makes you laugh all the time.
This show is hilarious, I laughed out loud about 10 times an episode.
Each character is funny and unique in there own way.
I would highly recommend this show to anyone who likes a good laugh..
A young New York lawyer (Nicholas D'Agosta as Josh Segal) is sent down to handle the preliminaries in Larry's trial.
His two assistants--chosen from local talent--are dedicated to the cause, but fairly useless.The conceit of this comedy is that the viewer is watching documentary footage.
Other comic underpinnings are the fish out of water nature of Josh coping with Southern customs and prejudices, the dumb redneck, the secretary who suffers from a plethora of psychological syndromes, and the wackiness of Larry (John Lithgow).
This show has everything you could want in a show.Also watch the season one at least 3 times new jokes everytime you watch it.As to season 2 the fun keeps coming yeeeeeeeeeee haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Smart, Unique, Laugh-Until-You-Cry Comedy.
We have to pause each episode multiple times because we're laughing so hard we can't hear what happens next.
Its a lot like modern family in style, and diversity of humor.
A documentary film crew follows inexperienced New York lawyer Josh Segal (Nicholas D'Agosto) defending Larry Henderson (John Lithgow) accused of killing his wife Margaret.
The second season has Josh moving permanently to East Peck and town founding family member Lavinia Peck-Foster (Kristin Chenoweth) as his new client.This is a quirky faux-doc legal comedy of quirky characters.
I would have liked to have one or two more seasons..
i binge watched each of the season.
I caught this show in its first season and fell in love with it.
It is outrageously funny with some of the weirdest characters you'll find in a TV show.
My favorite characters are the two that work for the main character (Josh, a defense lawyer): Ann (played by Sherri Shepherd) and Dwayne (hysterically portrayed by Steven Boyer).
If you enjoy comedies like "Airplane","Blazing Saddles", and other movies of that type, I think you just might really enjoy "Trial & Error" (more error than trial in this show).
This show is so good, and just so funny.
Such a smart idea to have a new client every season, so many places the writing could go..
I really looked forward to a new comedy starring John Lithgow.
Some writers can make any subject hilarious, but too many of them write jokes in the way which remind me of what I used to think was funny when I was 10 years old.
At least John Lithgow has a way of making even stupid jokes seem innocent and funny.
John Lithgow should have passed on this series regardless of what they are paying him.
After just watching the pilot episode and a second episode we understand that the premise of this series is that a slightly quirky Larry Henderson (John Lithgow) does not seem to be too worried that he is the prime suspect after his wife was apparently murdered and he seems to be more upset that the cable guy is late for his appointment.So Larry Henderson is being represented by a crack pot team consisting of junior lawyer Josh Segal (Nicholas D'Agosto) who is referred to as a good lawyer because he is a north easterner (another name for someone with a heritage that rhymes with "new").
Now this dynamic du(d)o is supported by an administrative assistant named Anne Flatch (Sherri Shepherd) who has an endless supply of ridiculous illnesses such as she cannot recognize any face five seconds after she has seen it, she laughs uncontrollably even when there is bad news being relayed, and she faints when she sees a pretty picture.
I assume the writers thought that we would find Anne's idiosyncrasies funny but I barely grimaced, let alone chuckle.Jayma Mays whose last starring TV role was in the 2009 series Glee plays assistant District Attorney Carol Anne Keane who would like nothing more to than win this murder conviction and see Larry Henderson receive a lethal dose of poison, which she states is the most humane way of ridding the world of Larry who is accused of murdering his wife, who surprisingly happened to die in a similar manner as John's first wife.
Oh and as for John's reason for killing his second wife it is claimed he likes to lock lips with his male personal trainer.In summary Trial and Error is a cross between the 1977 comedy series Soap and the 2009 comedy series Modern Family.
Unfortunately the first two episodes were forgettable and I do not give this series much of a chance of being extended as long as either of the aforementioned comedy series Soap or Modern Family.
I just hope John Lithgow's salary was guaranteed for the first 13 episodes which is more than I can say this series is guaranteed to make it through.Sorry John...
Trial and Error has an entertaining premise and great acting.
"Trail and Error" doesn't but it is entertaining and it's always good to see John Lithgow.
Initially I was going in skeptical based, in part, on the DVD cover & summary looking like a cheap TV soap, crime & trial script, but quickly captured by the intelligent facetious spoofing sardonic & definitely irreverent well acted & scripted look at everything from the crime itself to all the characters involved including the community, defendant, judge, jury & lawyers.
This series is really good with truly several laugh out loud moments in each episode..
Apparently the director must have been saying "you're not overacting and making each joke obvious enough, try harder...Lithgow you've never been more over the top, keep mugging.".
Sherri Shepherd, such a delightful casting, as Sherri is very good and I always enjoy watching her.
*John if this doesn't work out - please do something for those fans of yours - we love seeing you!!.
Dear Jeffrey Blitz, Matt Sohn and Jennifer Celotta (directors, producers & writers of the Office), OK you got away with these stupid zoom-ins and zoom-outs in The Office, but did you have to reproduce that annoying effect in this series?I've tried watching 3 episodes and I couldn't get past 10 minutes into each one.Of those 10 minutes, the humor was stale and the actors try too hard.
Sure, John Lithgow is funny, but humor isn't about acting stupid, childish and pathetic, all the makings of this series.
I watched the premiere of the show and I will tell you that I have not received a good laugh like this at least in a few months from NBC this is definitely not for those who don't get comedy and are not looking to laugh at the show but it is a very good time for the required audience and I will be watching this show for awhile at least John Lithgow is a good fun to watch guy who is just trying to clean up the caious that has just entered into his life and prove his innocence of not killing his wife It is quite a bit more than one Senior citizen can handle this is a very bad situation but a funny story and the cast of it is hilarious i say watch it it's on Tuesday at 10.
We had been looking forward to this show because love John Lithgow-Third Planet From the Sun was one of our favorites.
The camera is tryng to be part of the cast.I like quirky, but I hate this.
The show could be fun if it wasn't for the idiot director trying to be clever and insert hm/herself into the cast..
I have been watching all 3 of these new comedies and I will say that this is in-between the two not sure if it's as funny as imaginary Mary but it is sure funnier than making history i love the entire staff and Lithgow is incredibly hard not to like as he is hilarious and heartwarming all on his own but I don't think I can think of a bad thing to say about this show i highly recommend that you watch it.
Lithgow is perfect for 'Trial and Error'.
With the popularity of true crime shows like 'Making of a Murderer' and 'The Jinx', you knew it wouldn't be long before a show came along to spoof them...and this is definitely it!Starring John Lithgow (The Crown) as Larry Henderson, a roller-skating obsessed poetry professor who has been accused of killing his wife by throwing her through a plate-glass window.
Hired for his legal defense is 'northeasterner' Josh Segal (Nick D'Agostino), who is assisted by bumbling ex-cop Dwayne Reed (Steven Boyer) and completely ineffective secretary Anne Flatch (Sherry Shepard).Viewers of the show "Parks and Recreation" might find this show quite similar to that one.
Although there were funny lines from all the characters, is was definitely Lithgow who carried the show with his incredible comedic timing and dead-pan expressions.
Although the first couple of episodes may have been a little too similar to other 'documentary style' sit-coms, 'Trial and Error' has one important thing that those other shows did not...Lithgow.
***MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS OF ENTIRE FIRST SEASON***I love John Lithgow, and just about anything he's acted in.
Of course, there are - because it's a sitcom, not real life - inconsistencies with reality, but I enjoyed it's portrayal of small- town South Carolina, because I met many of those characters.
But still funny.I didn't find anything in Lithgow's character, Larry Henderson, that reminded me of prior TV characters in similar situations.
I love how Lithgow made Larry lovable, considering his affair, his lies, and other outrageous behaviors.
It seems to me that the writers should have put a little more effort into this, and instead of using the ubiquitous mockumentory style that's so overused today, they could have perhaps had Larry narrate his story (as an epic poem, of course, since Henderson was a poet), or had an omniscient narrator, or even - if you want to take the genre of the Investigation Discovery true crime shows further, had Larry's late wife herself narrate the story from a different omniscient perspective.
I wonder what new and strange medical conditions Sherry Shepherd's character will present with?
I'll start off by saying, I've liked John Lithgow as an actor in general, but I always hated his acting in 3rd Rock.
I've never watch a full episode of that show because the overacting turns me off within a few scenes.
I did like his portrayal as Barney's father on How I Met Your Mother, so I watched the first two episodes of this to see how it would be, but with the above "prejudice".
So with that said....Trial & Error, two episodes in, is in all respects, completely unoriginal and derivative.
It's all the same faux-cumentary gags that have been played out in many other good shows - and many more bad ones.
Or if there is, there's no talent or attempt to find it.Another thing that stood out to me was that this feels like a cheep ripoff of Arrested Development, especially in the lead character of Larry Henderson.
It all just felt like second hand clothes - once fresh and crisp, now just worn and limp.Josh Segal, played by Nocholas D'Agosto, sits uncomfortably in the Michael Bluth slot, the one "normal", sane character surrounded by absurdity - just more the fish-out-of-water in that he's an outsider to the small southern town where the story is set.
Another review mentioned My Cousin Vinny, which I hadn't thought of when watching it, but that is a story that does an infinitely better job of using the the character and idiosyncrasies of southern culture to further the story.
Trial & Error just throws in jokes that have been done a thousand times, lazily presuming they're funny when they're just boring.As for John Lithgow, his portrayal of Larry Henderson, the completely inept, situationally incompetent poetry professor accused of murdering his wife, isn't quite as over-the-top, over done, and buffoonish (from my perspective) as 3rd Rock, but it still has that same feel - just reigned in a little.
And I would probably give him more time to develop the character - if the rest of the show wasn't so uninspired.The only other character I enjoyed a bit was the receptionist Anne Flatch, portrayed by the wonderful Sherri Shepherd.
She pulls back a little on her exuberance in her performance here - but in a good way.
here, with their one fresh idea, the writers even managed to screw it up - they introduced four or five of these disorders over the course of two episode to the point that it took an adorable character with a quirk or two to a total basket case.
Shepherd did her part portraying these, the writers kind of blew their load by throwing so many into what should be a brief glimpse into this character, that they just turned her into a nut job.
As far as character development it's just lazy.Which, I guess, leads to a summary: the writers/creators took a good group of actors, a possibly decent premise, but in the end everything else felt lazy, uninspired, and generally ripped off of other, much more creative predecessors.
The pilot is bad news for comedy.It's simply not funny at all.
The actors, the cast, not all too bad either and I see how on paper this could look funny.
I think its the writing.Over the top, simplistic, easy and not very well thought through.Its a comedy, a murder happened, a young lawyer goes to a small hillbilly town and runs into all sorts of characters.