When you’re watching a mystery movie or a crime TV show, it’s fun to try to guess who committed the crime. With Murderville, you get the joy of trying to figure out who the killer is and watching comedians try not to break character during crazy improv sessions.
There are only six episodes of Murderville, so it’s incredibly easy to binge it in a day. And believe me, you’ll want to. There’s a new murder investigation in each episode, led by detective Terry Seattle (played by Will Arnett) and his new partner (played by a new comedian every episode).
While the main cast (Will Arnett, Haneefah Wood, and Lilian Bowden) has a loose script to go off of throughout the show, the comedians involved have no idea what’s happening. That’s what makes this show incredibly hilarious. You get to see the improv skills of six different comedians (and often improv from Will Arnett too).
The six comedians featured in the first season of Murderville are, in order, Conan O’Brien, Marshawn Lynch, Kumail Nanjiani, Annie Murphy, Sharon Stone, and Ken Jeong. Although it’s hard to pick a favorite, I absolutely loved episode three with Kumail Nanjiani. His episode had me cracking up the entire time, and he was one of few comedians able to make Will Arnett break character.
In each episode, lead detective Terry Seattle gets a new partner (aka a new comedian) at the beginning of the show. His new partner has no idea what’s going on until Terry fills them in at the beginning of the episode. Over 20-25 minutes, the comedian improvises their role as Terry’s partner, pursuing leads and taking notes on the murder they’re investigating.
Murderville takes improv to the next level, and it’s fun seeing the comedians try to figure out who did it (alongside you, of course). Since they don’t have a script ahead of time, they aren’t privy to who the murderer is and have to guess at the end of the episode. The fact that the comedians can get the answer wrong is part of the fun as well.
Netflix, especially over the past few years, has become a haven for niche shows, and many of them have gone on to become extremely popular (hello, Squid Game). I love that Netflix is making shorter, off-the-cuff shows like Murderville because they’re not a long commitment and, more often than not, are entertainment gems.
Of course, Will Arnett and the comedians on this show are popular enough that it’s not surprising that Murderville made the cut. You might know Will Arnett from hosting the Lego Masters show or Arrested Development. Or, you might know his voice from the popular animated comedy BoJack Horseman.
Murderville is a quick watch on Netflix. Each of the six episodes is only about half an hour-long, so you can easily watch the entire series in a day. Hopefully, there’s a second season with a new cast of comedians!