TV

I hesitate to put a season number on this reality show because it would be fun to have a second season of Jury Duty, but I just don’t see how that could happen. I’ll explain.

A young man by the name of Ronald Gladden accepted a Craigslist posting looking for individuals who wanted to volunteer for Jury Duty that would also be partially filmed as a documentary notating the jury duty process. This would be his first time serving which pretty much makes it perfect for the show’s premise. Everything else about this, from the case, to the judge and Ronald’s fellow jurors, are fake. It’s a reality show meant to see how ridiculous things can get and still be believable. And let me tell you, there were some pretty unreal things, so what I learned most from this show is that Ronald Gladden is just a really good guy.

You know, having never fulfilled jury duty myself, I suppose I would also have no clue what to expect. As far as what was recorded and shown to an audience, sure, they’re going to pick a lot of ridiculous bits and put them together. When I look at it from that perspective, one really odd thing after another, I think I would be pretty suspicious, but I imagine a lot of the time things went as normal as they could given the cast of characters. One person who was not quite totally undercover was actor James Marsden, who played a fictionalized version of himself. This means he was a little self-centered, talked a lot about his job, and tried to get out of stuff he didn’t want to do. What I loved most about this was how everyone else in the cast was “over him” pretty quickly, but somehow Gladden was able to form a close friendship.

Because I have never served on a jury, I also have no clue how long cases are supposed to last. They were sequestered in a hotel together for twelve days. That’s crazy! I’m sure juries have been sequestered before, but I have no idea what other stipulations there are usually in that situation. I have to imagine though that going to Margaritaville and throwing a surprise birthday party are not on the list. You can decide for yourself what you would likely believe in that situation, but I think eventually I would have caught on. Do not fear, the truth is revealed to Gladden in the final episode where they walk him through some of the “movie magic” for getting everything pulled off. They all seemed to have formed such a good friendship that I don’t know if I wouldn’t have been pissed in his situation. Sure, he got a hundred thousand dollar payout, but he could have been made to look like a fool. Just further proof that Gladden is a good person.

Spoiler alert: they are all still friends and hang out! That warmed my heart to see. And Gladden can also brag that he’s part of an Emmy nominated series! In the end, it really wasn’t a bad break. I desperately want to get called for jury duty, so maybe I need to start doing some Craigslist searching!