"Murderville: Season 1" - STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

There's so much content out there these days that it can be hard to find anything worth watching. I know that sounds backwards, but there are simply so many options that the true gems are hidden among the ranks of the mediocre, or even the outright bad. Besides, modern shows are designed with carefully planted cliffhangers so that once you get started, it's hard to walk away. Then you look up, and six hours have passed, and you realise that you didn't really enjoy any of it. It was distracting, and it got its hooks in you, but you kinda wish that you had those six hours back.

This isn't a full review. Think of it as early impressions. I am scouting ahead and reporting back to you, but I'm not that far ahead. If the show is promising, I might circle back and give it a full review later. Or I might just cross one title off of that never-ending list of content.

Murderville: Season 1

Legendary homicide detective Terry Seattle (Will Arnett) needs a new partner, but the new trainee is a little bit clueless. Literally. Let me explain the genius premise behind Murderville: Will Arnett plays a detective with a mystery to solve. In each episode he collaborates with a new partner in order to solve a crime. The twist is that his guest co-star doesn't get a script. So while the mystery is scripted, the co-star has to improvise.

The unique blend of scripting and improvisation leads to a dynamic that I honestly don't think I've seen in a show before. It is chaotic, but the chaos is controlled. Where a lot of other improv shows wander wildly off course, the structure of the murder mystery keeps Murderville contained. The end result is really a best-of-both-worlds situation. You get surprising moments from the improv, especially with the calibre of performers they've brought in as guests, but you also get really great scripted scenes.

Take the first episode as an example: a magician is performing the classic "sawing a woman in half" illusion when it goes horribly wrong. See, the woman actually gets cut in half. A crime that vile and violent can only be solved by a legendary homicide detective like Terry Seattle. However, even a legendary homicide detective like Terry Seattle can't solve every case on his own, so it's up to comedian Conan O'Brien to make the ultimate accusation of guilt.

What follows lands somewhere between an improv show, a police procedural, and really high-quality pranks. As Terry Seattle, Will Arnett plays a broad, absurd character that he uses to shuffle Conan O'Brien from set-piece to set-piece. Then Conan is left stranded in a bizarre social interaction where he's forced to improvise on the spot.

• Can Conan successfully infiltrate a meeting of the Mothers Against Magic Association?
• When a young child asks Conan when the sawed-in-half lady will get unsawed, can Conan explain the concept of death?
• How does a interrogation proceed while Terry Seattle is trying to trick him into consuming large amounts of hot-sauce?

Under other hands, this might just be a disaster, but Will Arnett has serious comedy chops, and they've brought in co-stars who can carry their weight. The end result is super weird, of course, but it's also a lot of fun. The crime doesn't take itself too seriously (in fact, it doesn't really take itself seriously at all), but it's hard not to smile when Conan takes a stab at solving the case at the end of the episode.

A premise this good could easily become a gimmick, and maybe future episodes won't stand up nearly so well as the opening episode. Again, this isn't a full review, and it's possible that the show peaked with Conan O'Brien. But with that said, the first episode is so good that I cannot wait to watch more.

The Verdict:

Stream it!

This is an extremely silly comedy, but its intended audience will love it. As a satire of police procedural fiction, it is sharp and pointed. As a vessel for improv, it manages to actually make sense instead of drifting into awkwardness. It's charming, and the premise sounds like the sort of thing you'll enjoy, you will. Give it a shot, and see if you can't crack the case of the sawed-in-half-woman faster than Conan O'Brien.

"Murderville: Season 1" is available via Netflix.