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Parents' Guide to

Trial & Error

By Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 12+

Clichéd courtroom comedy is funnier than it should be.

TV NBC Comedy 2017
Trial & Error Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

Community Reviews

age 15+

Based on 4 parent reviews

age 16+

Hilarious and smart but not for kids

The show is nice and smart. Every episode gets you thinking about what happened in a hilarious way but there is too much sexual innuendo for kids. The protagonist has a relationship that results in a pregnancy and some weird sayings, but the main plot is really funny and clever.
age 16+

Not for younger teens

I was looking for a show to watch with my 13 year-old, and we found this recommended for 12+ here. The pilot episode mentions "love fluids" and buggery, with one character offering buggery to another. By the time the second episode got to a character who is a chronic mastorbator, we hoped out. Whoever rated this has very different standards than I do about watching things with my kid. As for the content, it was funny but trying to hard to be quirky and relays on the stupid/eccentric trope of Southerners. It had potential, but too suggestive for family viewing.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (4 ):
Kids say (1 ):

Though it scans as pieced together from other beloved-but-gone comedies, this legal-hijinks comedy is funnier than it should be despite the painfully clichéd setting. Southern people -- they're funny, right? And the minute you hear that the workplace of this workplace comedy is a taxidermy studio, you may have one foot out the door. But the writing and the jokes are funnier than they have a right to be, and the seasoned actors are pros at delivering them. When Josh, Larry, and company find it expedient to snoop into a man's financial details at a bank left unoccupied while its head officer goes to join his wife in labor, office manager Anne (Sherri Shepherd) stays behind to lock up and winds up manning the front desk. She meant to leave, she explained; it's just that customers kept coming in. "I just approved a small business loan," she beams, before urgently telling Josh that there's no better time to refinance. This is positively Dwight Schrute-level absurdity -- we didn't realize how much we'd missed it.

TV Details

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Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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