Jury Duty (2023 TV series)
Jury Duty is an American reality hoax sitcom television series created by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, about a fake jury trial. It stars Ronald Gladden as a juror who is unaware of the hoax. James Marsden co-stars alongside an ensemble cast. It premiered on Amazon Freevee on April 7, 2023.

The series received three nominations at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Marsden.

Synopsis
The series chronicles the inner workings of a jury trial in the US through the eyes of juror Ronald Gladden, a solar contractor from San Diego, who is unaware that his jury duty summons was not official, and that everyone in the courtroom aside from him is an actor. Everything that happens, inside and outside the courtroom, is planned.

Cast

Jurors
 Ronald Gladden as himself (Juror #6), the only juror who is unaware the entire case is fake
 James Marsden as himself (Juror #14), portraying a parody of himself as an alternate juror
 Mekki Leeper as Noah Price (Juror #11), a rideshare driver who misses his vacation with his girlfriend due to jury duty
 Edy Modica as Jeannie Abruzzo (Juror #4), a promiscuous juror with an attraction to Noah
 Ishmel Sahid as Lonnie Coleman (Juror #13), an alternate who takes over Tim's spot when he gets injured
 David Brown as Todd Gregory (Juror #2), a socially awkward inventor
 Cassandra Blair as Vanessa Jenkins (Juror #8)
 Maria Russell as Inez De Leon (Juror #10), a juror who has ambitions to be the foreperson
 Kirk Fox as Pat McCurdy (Juror #1)
 Susan Berger as Barbara Goldstein (Juror #5), a juror who keeps sleeping during the trial
 Ross Kimball as Ross Kubiak (Juror #12), a teacher who is having marital troubles
 Pramode Kumar as Ravi Chattapodhyay (Juror #3)
 Ron Song as Ken Hyun (Juror #9), a candy machine business owner
 Brandon Loeser as Tim Smith (Juror #7), a juror who gets injured and released from the trial

Other
 Alan Barinholtz as Judge Alan Rosen
 Rashida Olayiwola as Officer Nikki Wilder, the bailiff
 Whitney Rice as Jacquiline Hilgrove, the wealthy plaintiff who owns the business, Cinnamon and Sparrow
 Ben Seaward as Trevor Morris, the defendant, an employee of Cinnamon and Sparrow, who is accused of harming the business
 Trisha LaFache as Debra LaSeur, the plaintiff's attorney
 Evan Williams as Shaun Sanders, Trevor's defense attorney
 Kerry O'Neill as Officer Christine Sugalski, who becomes friends with the jurors and helps Noah check on his girlfriend's Instagram
 Peter Hulne as key witness for the plaintiff. He plays Randy "Cody" Schiller. Randy explains that he hired Trevor and was intoxicated while at work that day and he passes out defecates his pants.

Episodes

Production
On September 15, 2022, it was reported that a semi-improvised docu-style comedy series starring James Marsden and a group of up-and-coming actors with improv backgrounds had secretly been filmed for Amazon Studios. The 17-day shoot was filmed in a real courtroom south of Los Angeles. According to executive producer Todd Schulman, Jury Duty began as an attempt to make a sitcom like The Office about a trial, with a real person at the center of the show who doesn't know that he's surrounded by actors. Creators Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky both previously worked as writer-producers on The Office.

In order to find a non-actor for the show's lead, an ad was put up on Craigslist. Marsden stars as an alternate version of himself, alongside other actors including Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger, Cassandra Blair, and Rashida Olayiwola. Cody Heller serves as showrunner and executive producer, and Jake Szymanski as director. The series is also executive produced by David Bernad, Lee Eisenberg, Ruben Fleischer, Nicholas Hatton, Stupnitsky, Szymanski, and Andrew Weinberg.

Release
The series' first four episodes premiered on Amazon Freevee on April 7, 2023, and the fifth and sixth episodes followed on April 14. The final two episodes, including the season finale, were released on April 21, 2023.

Reception

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 81% approval rating with an average rating of 8.1/10, based on 31 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While this courtroom comedy isn't as tedious as actual jury duty – largely thanks to a very game James Marsden – the verdict is still out on whether its stylistic gambit pays off." Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 51 out of 100 based on seven critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Rendy Jones of RogerEbert.com called the series "a solid workplace comedy that tells a resonant story of community, delightfully unpacking how it's not just about serving in this world but who you're serving with." Charles Bramesco of The Guardian gave the series 2 out of 5 stars, writing, "With the head of a hidden-camera prank show, the heart of a workplace sitcom, and the body of a true crime documentary, the boundary-blurring new comedy Jury Duty makes for an odd chimera of genres."

Accolades

See also

 The Joe Schmo Show – a reality television hoax show
 Invasion Iowa – a reality television hoax show
 Living the Dream (New Zealand TV series) – a reality television hoax show

References

External links 
 
 

English-language television shows
2020s American sitcoms
2020s American mockumentary television series
2023 American television series debuts
Television series by Amazon Studios
Amazon Freevee original programming
Reality television series parodies