Murderville: Season 1

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Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Ratings

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5.8

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5.8	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Ratings

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Murderville

Now Playing: Murderville

Season Details & Credits

Netflix | Season Premiere Date: February 3, 2022

Summary: In this adaptation of the British series, Murder in Successville, each episode features Homicide Detective Terry Seattle (Will Arnett) with a new murder case and a new guest star as his partner. With no script, Kumail Nanjiani, Conan O'Brien, Annie Murphy, Sharon Stone, Ken Jeong, and Marshawn Lynch must improvise and try to figure out the killer.

Genre(s): Comedy, Drama, Suspense

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Season 1 Episodes

tbd
S1:E6. The Cold Case
Air Date: February 3, 2022
tbd
S1:E5. Heartless
Air Date: February 3, 2022
tbd
S1:E4. Murder by Soup
Air Date: February 3, 2022

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Aaron Barnhart

Feb 15, 2022

Murderville isn’t remotely a murder mystery, or even a parody of a murder mystery. But it offers a fresh take on improvisational comedy, one of the few underrepresented subgenres in today’s television landscape. Read full review

Joel Keller

Feb 3, 2022

Murderville isn’t a show you watch for any sort of story; you watch it to see how the guest stars react to what’s going on around them. And you watch it to laugh. And you’ll laugh a lot. Read full review

Richard Roeper

Feb 2, 2022

Breezy and creatively goofy six-part series. Read full review

Quinci LeGardye

Feb 1, 2022

When everything melds together on Murderville, with the guests feeling like part of the troupe instead of a name air-dropped in, it’s a very enjoyable watch. When the celebs aren’t a great fit, it’s up to Arnett and the cast to keep everything going, and they often do. Read full review

Rob Owen

Feb 4, 2022

It’s occasionally but not frequently funny. Read full review

Clare Martin

Feb 9, 2022

The dull production choices and misguided changes just compound the lack of creativity that comes with lifting an already established premise. Read full review

The Guardian Jack Seale

Feb 3, 2022

Mediocre comedy is depressing to watch, but mediocre improvisation is excruciating, and almost every Murderville scene is torturous cringe. Arnett just doesn’t have the skills: he is unable to drive the action with any authority, corpses far too often, and has a knack for throwing his guests lines to which there can be no amusing answer. Read full review

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User Score

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5.8

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User Reviews

drlowdon

May 24, 2022

Each episode sees eccentric detective Terry Seattle (Will Arnett) team up with a celebrity guest to investigate a murder. The twist? The celebrity guest has no script and must improvise their way through everything that's thrown at them.

Some episodes work better than others, but overallEach episode sees eccentric detective Terry Seattle (Will Arnett) team up with a celebrity guest to investigate a murder. The twist? The celebrity guest has no script and must improvise their way through everything that's thrown at them.

Some episodes work better than others, but overall Murderville provides plenty of laughs, quite often for the cast as well as the viewer!… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

rxerick

Feb 12, 2022

I really enjoyed the show, but it doesn't do anything particularly well. Decent show if you like improv. The guests were good choices and responded well to Will. I would watch a second season.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

jamess

Feb 5, 2022

If your all time favorite SNL sketch is the Debbie Downer Disneyland sketch, then you'll loove Murderville. Imported from a BBC series (much like Who's Line Is It Anyway, those Brits love the improv), Murderville stars a very game Will Arnett as detective Terry Seattle. Slightly grizzled,If your all time favorite SNL sketch is the Debbie Downer Disneyland sketch, then you'll loove Murderville. Imported from a BBC series (much like Who's Line Is It Anyway, those Brits love the improv), Murderville stars a very game Will Arnett as detective Terry Seattle. Slightly grizzled, with a great cop mustache, Seattle is intrusted with a new "trainee" at the start of each episode. That trainee just happens to be a celebrity like Conan O'Brien or Annie Murphy, who is thrown, unscripted, into a murder investigation. Three suspects are introduced and the celebrity trainee, along with the audience, has to figure out the murderer. So it has elements of improv comedy and a game show mashed together. The comedy comes from the investigation and the hoops that Arnett/Seattle puts their partners through. And of course, breaking. Or desperately trying not to break. And credit to Arnett for orchestrating the improv, forcing the celebrities to behave like a rowdy audience in an improv club. His forcing Kameel Nujami (forgive my spelling) to walk "cool", keeping upping the ante, till he walks like a lumbering fool is typical. So much fun.… Expand

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

MetacriticOnur

Feb 5, 2022

bad
[ bad ]

adjective, worse, worst;(Slang) bad·der, bad·dest for 36.
not good in any manner or degree.

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

teatom

Feb 6, 2022

Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to love the show, I simply didn't enjoy a single thing about it.
Whilst Arnett tries hard and delivers his scripted material well, the premise never really worked in any of the episodes I watched, swinging between cringe worthy discomfort, and simpleUnfortunately, as much as I wanted to love the show, I simply didn't enjoy a single thing about it.
Whilst Arnett tries hard and delivers his scripted material well, the premise never really worked in any of the episodes I watched, swinging between cringe worthy discomfort, and simple boredom.
The first episode, for example, has Conan as the unscripted guest, and throughout the entire episode he is constantly taking everything that Arnett says personally and in return giving no humour, a masked smile and trite responses. Stone, similarly, doesn't want to engage and gives the audience nothing other than 'I don't want to be here but I'll respond if I must' "improv".
"Okay, but surely the comedians must be better" I hear you say, but no, not really. Nanjiani is like Conan, a fixed smile throughout, with a look like he'd rather be anywhere else, barely hidden, whilst giving zero invention to the cause.
Ken Jeong, at least, seems to want to be there, but even his episode gives nothing to the audience to enjoy, beyond a few of Arnett's scripted moments. Perhaps surprisingly, Marshawn Lynch (being english, this is someone I'd never heard of but he's apparently a rugby player, or something) gives the best performance of any guest, being either an extremely quick wit or else coming prepared with a wealth of one-liners, up his sleeve. Unfortunately, even a good guest doesn't elevate the show very much and rather highlights the major flaw with the show, in that it's an incredibly structured buddy-cop set up. This is a cliche that has run and run for so long, now, that even unscripted spoofs of the genre are so plodding and predictable that it's even a dull background watch.
If murderville does make it back for a second season, the best thing that could happen for the audience is a complete scenario change. This one is played out.… Expand

4 of 4 users found this helpful40

KJ_20

Mar 22, 2022

Murderville will go down as one of the 'comedy shows' with the least amount of jokes. After the few good jokes (around 2-3) are finished, for the rest of the season you are given to jokes, no interesting developments and crude humour. The worst thing is the horrible plot which makes no senseMurderville will go down as one of the 'comedy shows' with the least amount of jokes. After the few good jokes (around 2-3) are finished, for the rest of the season you are given to jokes, no interesting developments and crude humour. The worst thing is the horrible plot which makes no sense to improvise. Add to that, horrible writing and acting and you get this series.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

UncleWillard

Feb 10, 2022

I really liked the idea behind this, but in the end, it's just a showcase to trot out guest stars. It's like Who's Murder Is It. Improv is great, but I got tired of it quick in the first episode. No for me.

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

Seasons & Episodes

65

Series Overview
Season 1

65
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: February 3, 2022
- tbd
  S1:E6. The Cold Case
  Air Date: February 3, 2022
- tbd
  S1:E5. Heartless
  Air Date: February 3, 2022
- tbd
  S1:E4. Murder by Soup
  Air Date: February 3, 2022
- tbd
  S1:E3. Most Likely to Commit Murder
  Air Date: February 3, 2022
- tbd
  S1:E2. Triplet Homicide
  Air Date: February 3, 2022
- tbd
  S1:E1. The Magician's Assistant
  Air Date: February 3, 2022