Season 1 - 8 episodes (2023 April 16)
Watch Jury Duty on Amazon FreeVee
Created by: Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky
Starring: Ronald Gladden, James Marsden, Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger
Rated: 16+
Watch the trailer
Plot
It follows the workings of an American jury trial through the eyes of Ronald Gladden, a juror who is unaware the entire case is fake. Everyone except him is an actor, and everything that happens is carefully planned.
Verdict
It's an ingenious concept, and this is absolutely hilarious. It's subtle humor always just on the edge of being believable. That's what makes it so much fun as we walk through an entire trial full of awkward moments and intriguing characters. This guy is stuck in the middle trying to solve a case. With each episode this gets just a bit sillier. An absolutely amazing ending makes a great show that much better as the truth is revealed and then Ronald gets to talk to the actors out of character leading to many touching moments as well as revealing the moments they almost broke character.
Watch It.
Review
Despite these free streaming sites providing wide access, they've never had a mainstream hit. This series might change that.
This is a great idea. It's hidden camera meets The Office, but a little more grounded. Ronald thinks this is a real trial, and in just a few minutes into the first episode this proves to be absolutely absurd and hilarious. These characters are ridiculous but play it just serious enough. You can believe there are people like this, you've probably met people like this. All of the actors do such a great job with these characters. James Marsden playing himself is great, and it's so funny when Ronald can't remember any of Marsden's movies. Marsden is the perfect actor for that.
The set up is smart. The judge seems like a pushover, but when he cuts his hand during a break he's much grumpier and no longer letting people go. I've been on jury duty, and people trying to get off with crazy claims is completely accurate. Someone from my jury pool was dismissed when they stood up and proclaimed drugs should be legalized on a drug case.
The episodes do a great job of setting up a joke for a pay off. One of the jurors, Noah (Mekki Leeper), is concerned his girlfriend is cheating on him with a man named Cody. When a witness is sworn in with that name, it's a great payoff to a small joke. In one episode a shirt with the word "Jorf" appears. It does not mean anything despite the show claiming it's a racist term. That might change now that the show has aired. At first I thought the shirt was funny, but the show soon disabused me of that notion.
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| James Marsden plays a version of himself |
This does reach the point where you wonder if Ronald still believes this. He does state he feels like he's in some kind of movie with everything happening, but you get how he'd believe as things slowly get crazier. At one point the defendant Trevor (Ben Seaward) begins a series of questions he asks himself as both lawyer and witness. I don't know how all of the actors didn't lose it during that sequence.
As funny as this series is, I love the final episode where Ronald can talk to the actors after the ruse is done. It's so heartwarming and sweet. Ronald's still in shock it was fake, but there are so many nice moments where he's asking the actors what was real. I loved seeing behind the scenes as the cast and crew discuss how they set up moments and tried to steer Roanld into certain situations, how they rehearsed, and the moments they were worried would reveal the truth. It's an absolutely amazing ending that makes a great show that much better.
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