With the current TV season about to end, networks are already looking to the future and preparing the fall-lineup.
Today, NBC ordered two new comedies, Powerless and Trial & Error, straight-to-series for the 2016-2017 TV season. Deadline reports the pickup is a little early for the network, but the project Powerless demanded and early pickup, only giving NBC until the end of the day today to make a decision. NBC has been highly invested in both Powerless and Trial & Error since greenlighting pilots for both single-camera comedies last summer.
Powerless will break new ground as the first DC Comics comedy. Vanessa Hudgens stars in the comedy as an insurance adjuster who, despite not having any superpowers, becomes a bit of a hero. The series takes a comedic (but also kind of realistic) look at how normal people are affected by superheros. Have you ever watched a superhero-flick and while two super-powered individuals are fighting it out and destroying everything in sight wondered “man, I hope the person who owns that car or building has good insurance?” Well, that’s Emily’s job. She stands up for those who suffer damages at the hands of warring superheros.
Joining Hudgens in the cast of Powerless are Alan Tudyk (Firefly), Danny Pudi (Community), and Christina Kirk (A to Z). Ben Queen penned the pilot and will serve as executive producer alongside the director of the pilot, Michael Patrick Jann.
The second comedy to receive a series order on NBC, Trial & Error, is a quirky series about a lawyer (Nicholas D’Agosto) from New York who heads to a small Southern town to kick off his career. And it just so happens that his first big case is not going to be easy. D’Agosto’s character is tasked with defending a very strange poetry professor (John Lithgow) who has been charged with murdering his wife. To add to the small-town charm, the young lawyer’s office is situated behind a taxidermy shop, and he gathers a team of local misfits to help him out. Despite his client constantly making himself look guilty, the young lawyer is determined to win his first case.
Sherri Shepherd (The View), Steven Boyer (The Wolf of Wall Street), Krysta Rodriguez (Smash), and Jayma Mays (Glee) also star in the comedy. Jeff Astrof and Matt Miller will serve as the writers and executive producers. Jeffrey Blitz will direct the series.