NBC picks up superhero comedy Powerless and murder comedy Trial & Error

By Sam Barsanti | May 12, 2016 | 1:54am

Aux Features TV

After the pickup party at Fox’s place yesterday, NBC has decided to hold a small shindig of its own. Fox gave series orders to four dramas and two comedies, but NBC’s guest list is a little smaller (for now) and it has only picked up a pair of Warner Bros.-produced comedies. The first of the two is Trial & Error, which is sort of a parody of HBO’s The Jinx and stars John Lithgow as a poetry professor who is accused of murdering his wife. We’re not sure where the comedy part comes in, but maybe Lithgow will vehemently deny that he’s a murderer in a funny voice or something.

The other show is Powerless, a workplace comedy about insurance adjustors that’s set in the DC Comics universe. It stars Vanessa Hudgens, with Community’s Danny Pudi playing her best friend and Zootopia’s Alan Tudyk (just kidding, it’s Firefly’s Alan Tudyk) playing her boss. Though Powerless will feature known DC characters, they’ll almost certainly be significantly lower-tier than heroes like the Flash, the Green Arrow, or Supergirl—but that could easily change if the ratings are bad/good enough.