I'd heard a bit about the premise of Jury Duty around when the Prime Video series made its debut in 2023; however, it wasn't until recently, when Season 2 was about to arrive on the 2026 TV schedule, that I finally decided to check out the original season. I realize I'm late to the party here, but I didn't anticipate just how laugh-out-loud hilarious this show would be at times. If you have an Amazon Prime subscription but you're on the fence about watching, I'll break down what to expect without major spoilers.
One Guy Is There For Real, Everyone Else Is An Actor
Season 1 of Jury Duty features a guy named Ronald Gladden who shows up at what he thinks is normal jury duty at a Los Angeles courthouse. Sure, James Marsden happens to be there (even X-Men can get called for jury duty, after all), and a documentary about jury duty happens to be filming, but Ronald assumes this is all pretty standard. Of course, we know otherwise. Here are the basic bullet points to understand how this show works:
- Ronald thinks he's really doing jury duty.
- Everything that's happening around him from the moment he shows up is staged.
- The people he interacts with -- fellow jury members, the judge, the defendant, the attorneys, James Marsden, etc. -- are all actors who are in on this season-long prank.
- Scenarios play out in each episode, all arranged around and toward Ronald's reactions.
- The entire season is one long prank on this guy.
When I Tell You, This Show Is Funny
Created by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, Jury Duty is so much funnier than I could have expected. I love a good prank series, but I think I doubted I would remain invested beyond an episode or two of a show where the prank is happening to the same person across an entire season.
Apparently not, and this is as much a credit to production for crafting the entire plot as it is the actors involved – including Marsden, who plays a version of himself – for managing to keep the ruse going and get through some ridiculous moments without breaking. I spent every episode laughing at the absurdity of some of the things that were happening (the cast really is so funny) and wondering how Ronald would react. The more the show let us get to know him and see him deal with these situations, the more invested I got in the season.
Using Jury Duty As The Setting For The Series Is Brilliant
There probably aren't a whole lot of scenarios that would bring this particular group of characters together for a week. Jury duty really is one of the few I can think of to make the situation work so that a person -- in this case, Ronald -- might not question just how random and somewhat mismatched this assortment of people really is. Not only does jury duty bring a fairly random sampling of a local community together, but it's also a scenario that forces them to interact and work together to come to a decision, which makes for some especially interesting and amusing situations on this show.
But I Love That Season 2 Picked A Different Setting
I've only just begun to watch Season 2, but I appreciate that the set-up isn't jury duty this time around (and critics seem to like it so far). As much fun as it would be to see another run-through of a person serving on a jury, the general concept of the series really can be adapted to other situations, which is what Season 2 is doing. In the case of Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat, the season features a new set of characters played by actors (no James Marsden this time around) and a new subject around which the whole thing is based. Anthony is this season's likable mark -- an intern newly hired at a family-run hot sauce business.
Anthony follows the team to a company retreat where things don't go as planned. Like with Season 1, the group is confined to a specific location, and scenarios are staged so that the main character is sort of forced to be involved with what's happening. While some weird things are playing out, everyone involved has to play their role and also make sure Anthony remains in the dark about what’s really going on. It's bizarre and funny and a little bit cringy at times, but in a good way.
I'm hopeful that Season 2 will turn out to be as funny and satisfying as the first season. There are TV comedies, and there are prank shows. Being a bit of both, Jury Duty really isn't like anything I've seen on TV, at least not anytime recently. I'd been wondering about it since I first heard about the series, but after watching all of Season 1 and the start of Season 2, I'm kind of kicking myself for not watching it sooner.
