by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
I always admired the skill it took for improvisation. As a whole, it takes a special type of person. In proper hands, improv can be hilarious. In the wrong hands, improv feels out of place, uncomfortable, or in worst case scenarios just plain bad.
This is the case with Murderville. There are hits and there are misses.
Murderville, which premiered on Netflix, stars Will Arnett as Detective Terry Seattle (amazing name for a detective). Seattle gets a new case each episode and a brand new celebrity partner that has to solve the crime. Seattle assists ,but ultimately the celebrity guest makes the call on who they think the suspect is. Both Arnett and the celebrity guest improv their way through the investigation, whereas I’m assuming the rest of the cast has a script, or at least a guide. The celebrity guests include late night comedy legend Conan O’Brien, former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch, actor and comedian Kumail Nanjiani, actress and comedian Annie Murphy, actress Sharon Stone, and actor Ken Jeong. Murderville is based on the BBC show Murder in Successville.
The format is pretty similar from episode to episode. Each starts with Seattle getting his new partner and them getting to know each other. Together, they examine the body and the crime scene. There are typically three suspects for each episode, and each one of them is interviewed by the team. One interview usually involves the celebrity guest interviewing the suspect alone with Arnett telling them what to say through an ear piece.
Arnett is the perfect star to portray Seattle. He remains semi-in-control of the situation and plays well off most of the guest stars. The format is creative, and the audience can play along with trying to figure out who the murderer is per episode. Solving the case typically involves both paying attention to the surroundings and listening to the interviews for what each suspect says. The quality is superb as well. I would assume something like this would make it feel like a TV show live studio audience. The bit actors are clearly working on point, since they rarely react when either Seattle or the celebrity guest. There’s room for improvement if Netflix decides to give this another shot. The format does get a bit repetitive. Luckily, the final episode throws a wrinkle, so that’s a plus to keep things fresh. Potentially seeing more episodes about different crimes would be interesting too. This has all the makings of potentially becoming a game show one day.
The real wildcard with each episode is the celebrity guest. Whereas Arnett can hold his own and still manage to keep the story progressing forward, the celebrity guests can either make or break the episode. It’s split into three different groups for celebrity guest on a good, better, best scale. With only six episodes, that’s a wide range for variance. Two celebrity guests are perfect for this format. They can hold their own, play off of Arnett well, and managed to correctly pick the killer. Two celebrity guests were generally fine. One felt like they were getting frustrated with the format, which makes sense because if they have to make everything up as they go, some things are bound to not work. The only non-actor in the group also falls under this category because at times, Lynch was funny, but he also felt lost. Two celebrity guests didn’t work. One broke character too much and the other didn’t seem to care about being on the show, which makes me wonder why they were even on the show in the first place.
One of my favorite moments of Murderville involved Seattle guiding a celebrity through an interview with an earpiece. He often makes them say crazy things in order to make them laugh, or at minimum, get them out of their comfort zone. One moment in particular that was funny was Seattle giving O’Brien a name during an interview with a suspect. Seattle starts with the name Todd, which O’Brien repeats, and then says his last name Care. Not seeming satisfied, Seattle adds Ing, Ton, and Beg to the last name, so O’Brien then repeats these all of this while trying not to laugh. As an added cherry on top, Seattle adds Son and Field to the last name, so O’Brien finally repeats, “Caringtonbergsonfield” is his last name to the suspect. O’Brien looks confused, all while still trying to remember the entire length of the last name and remaining in character. This is just one of the great results that happen when celebrity guests give themselves to the format and roll with the situation instead of questioning why they’re doing it this way.
Most of the celebrity guests have a moment in each of their episodes. A few of my greatest hits moments came from Nanjiani’s episode. Seattle has a common thread where he encourages his celebrity guests to either do a different voice or an accent so the suspects don’t recognize them. One instance where Seattle himself tries to change his voice is when he tries a Pakistani accent in front of Nanjiani, who himself is Pakistani. This comes at Nanjiani’s suggestion about having an inner voice. It’s clearly a terrible attempt on Seattle’s part, but Nanjiani’s reaction is absolutely priceless. He’s trying to stay in character while simultaneously trying not to laugh. Another moment in his episode is when Seattle tells Nanjiani to “walk ugly.” After a few attempts to get it right, Nanjiani pulls off an absolutely hideous walk. Seattle can’t even keep a straight face and even suggests Nanjiani adds a high pitched noise. This is another example of how Nanjiani used not only his physical comedy, but improv skills to make the situation more funny.
One of my fellow SiftPop writers encouraged me to check out clips of Murder in Successville since he said it doesn’t really even compare in terms of the comedy. I’m inclined to agree with him of the clips I’ve seen so far, and now I’m intrigued to watch more somehow. Overall, Murderville is an enjoyable show with funny moments, but it doesn’t quite live up to the sum of its parts. I do hope Netflix gives this another shot with some tweaks. Definitely funny, and as someone who loves escape rooms and mysteries, figuring out who actually is the killer is part of the fun.
Grade: C-
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