Jury Duty: Courtroom comedy meets reality television
Harry Khachatrian
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From the creative minds of Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, producers from NBC’s hit series The Office, comes Jury Duty. This innovative show, which premiered on Amazon Freevee in April, artfully interweaves elements of sitcom and reality TV. Evoking a similar sense of humor to the classic workplace satire, Jury Duty offers a fresh and compelling twist on the conventional TV experience.
Skirting the blurry moral boundaries of reality television, the new mockumentary series revolves around, and largely hinges upon, its charismatic and unsuspecting protagonist, Ronald Gladden. Prior to filming Jury Duty, Ron had just turned 30. His IMDB page didn’t exist; he had never acted before. His prior work experience included fitting solar panels and a project manager role at Home Depot. Between jobs and eager to branch out, Ron applied to an innocuous advertisement on Craigslist seeking jurors for a documentary on jury duty.
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However, unbeknownst to Ron was the unique and covert premise of the alleged documentary: He was, in fact, the sole bystander in a contrived courtroom teeming with performers. The resulting surreal spectacle could be best described as a mashup of The Truman Show and 12 Angry Men, an unusual vaudeville of reality and fiction.
Throughout the show, Ron is subjected to a series of increasingly farcical social tests, all intended to challenge his character and push him into positions of leadership. In an early scene, one of the jurors, Todd (David Brown), an eccentric and socially awkward self-described inventor, shows Ron his backpack fitted with bulging tubes through which he eats and drinks. Ron, with his amiability and candor, instead of scoffing at the outcast, quickly befriends him and has him watch Disney’s A Bug’s Life, a film he felt Todd would resonate with. To think that the actor David Brown sat down with Ron to watch the entire animated film off-camera, unable to break character, is among the many lingering chuckles that arise long after finishing the show.
It is such candid displays of empathy and sincerity, even in the face of absurdity, that elicit some of the show’s best moments. There are myriad scenes in the show that could have gone awry; either an actor could have slipped and inadvertently divulged the charade, or Ron could have reacted poorly to any one of the awkward positions he was forced into. The natural tension resulting from the frequent reliance on improv and unpredictability of Ron’s reaction often made it hard to stop watching. It is a testament to the show’s superb casting that the orchestrated chaos never descended into disaster.
Among the jury of peers is James Marsden, the only recognizable Hollywood actor in the mix. Playing an obnoxious and aloof version of himself, Marsden never misses an opportunity to remind the other jurors of his star status. In a ploy to evade his jury summons, he even phones paparazzi into the courthouse, playing off their intrusion as his burden. In another scene, he asks Ron to help him prepare for a prospective audition. Exploiting Ron’s remarkable geniality — captured through a hidden camera — Marsden spends hours rehearsing a nonexistent film script, with Ron tirelessly providing tips and indulging him without protest.
Primarily, Jury Duty deceives an unwitting participant for the sake of entertainment; it raises ethical questions about the manipulation of trust and the invasion of personal space. Its success is unlikely to be repeated, as the underlying conceit hovers on the precipice of devolving into a distasteful prank show, depleted of any charm.
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Nonetheless, in just eight episodes, Jury Duty pushes the boundaries of conventional television. It is a unique and largely well-intentioned premise that structures the show as a “hero’s journey” for Ronald, testing his resilience and adaptability to exceedingly droll social situations. Impressively, he never demurs; at each turn, Ron rises to the occasion. Blending humor and candid human interaction, Jury Duty makes for a compelling and singular viewing experience.
Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) is a film critic for the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a computer engineer in Toronto, pursuing his MBA.