‘Trial & Error’ gets a second season on NBC

[ntscuser]

NBC has picked up a second season of its comedy “Trial & Error,” meaning that all but one of the comedies it aired this season will be back in 2017-18



The renewal comes about a week after the network announced its lineup for next season. At the time, NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt called “Trial & Error” “a show we really like” and said the network was negotiating with producer Warner Bros. TV on a way to bring the show back.

The negotiations worked out. “Trial & Error” will return for 10 episodes (down from 12 this season) in the back half of the 2017-18 season. (NBC has one more show in limbo, “Chicago Justice.” There’s no word in its future yet.)

The show averaged a 0.9 rating among adults 18-49 and 3.86 million viewers in initial airings this season, improving to 1.2 and a little under 5 million viewers with a week of DVR and on-demand viewing. Those are hardly world-beating ratings, but they’re in line with those of “Great News,” which is on the fall schedule, and not far behind early pickups “Superstore” and “The Good Place.”

NBC says “Trial & Error” overperformed among households with incomes over $100,000, which may have helped tip the scales toward renewal.

The only NBC comedy canceled this season was “Powerless,” which was pulled before it finished its run.

“Trial & Error” parodied true-crime documentaries like “The Jinx” and “Making a Murderer.” It starred John Lithgow as a man accused of killing his wife and Nicholas D’Agosto as his defense attorney. Sherri Shepherd, Krysta Rodriguez and Jayma Mays and Steven Boyer also starred.

Whether all — or any — of the cast returns next season remains to be seen. Creator Jeff Astrof has said he wants each season of the show to focus on a different case.