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. It also received nominations for two Golden Globe Awards, Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and Best Supporting Actor 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.

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 alternative 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 Randy "Cody" Schiller, a witness for the plaintiff.

Episodes
The last episode does not have a writer because it is unscripted (see summary).

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 balad 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.

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 82% approval rating with an average rating of 6.7/10, based on 33 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."