Jury Duty is a mockumentary-style show starring James Marsden and the internet's newest obsession. Here's what we know about the hilarious new show and where to watch it.
Mockumentary-style shows have been on the rise in popularity ever since the debut of NBC's hit sitcom The Office. Amazon Prime's newest series, Jury Duty, follows a similar formula, showing what happens when you get a group of law-abiding citizens together to fulfill their civic duty of being a juror.
The show, however, adds a hilarious twist - all but one of the people present are actors - and that one man, Ronald Gladden, believes that they're being filmed during the trial for a documentary about the judicial system. Little does he know that the trial is entirely farcical.
In a Truman Show type of plot, hilarity ensues as the actors must adjust and react to Gladden, who believes the whole trial to be true. James Marsden, along with the other 11 jury members, the judge, the bailiff, and the 12 fake witnesses giving phony testimonies are all improv actors faking their way through a 17-day ruse.
Where to watch Jury Duty?
Jury Duty is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video, which also hosts new hit shows like Daisy Jones & The Six, even if you don’t have a subscription - the platform’s 'Freevee' service is streaming the show completely for free!
The first four episodes, which were released on Freevee on April 7, are available to stream now. From there, every other episode in the series will air on Fridays.
Outside of your home country, a reduced selection of Prime Video titles is available to stream so if you're on vacation a VPN can help!
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Does Ronald know who James Marsden is?
People will try anything to get out of Jury Duty.#JuryDutyOnFreevee is now streaming. pic.twitter.com/euRCUGpzyhApril 7, 2023
In a hilarious twist, James Marsden is actually playing himself in the series - however, he's playing a more exaggerated version of himself, one who is totally irritated that he had to show up for jury duty.
"It’s the wildest experience I’ve ever done, I’ve been doing this for 30 years. It’s a Truman Show concept where you have myself playing myself, or a version of myself," James told Access Hollywood.
The producers said that, ultimately, they didn't want to prank Ronald - they wanted to make him into a hero.
"We’re not pranking him. We created a hero’s journey for this guy, we’ve surrounded him with a group of weirdos and hopefully by the end of the show, he becomes the leader and unites us all. And he did that because he’s a great guy," James said.
People are already loving the comical show with one tweeting, "the entire cast of #JuryDuty is phenomenal. This is one of the funniest shows ever. The writing is also top tier."
People have also been rooting for Ronald the whole time, saying that he's a great example of a kind and heroic human.
"Right I think it’s fairly safe to say that Ronald Gladden from #JuryDuty is one of life’s truly nice, genuine people. The way that he treats all of the weird characters with so much respect and kindness is so heartwarming to watch," one person said on Twitter.
