HARK! I hear … an echo…
You may get a creeping feeling, while watching – and, probably, laughing your way through – Jury Duty.
That incredulous look into the camera … Jim, right?
The guy in denial about his girlfriend cheating on him – is that straight up Andy, or what?
And, though hardly and thankfully not a full-blown homage, the defense attorney fumbling his way through an animation-gone-bad is a faint echo of the Michael Scott School of (Mis) Management.
Jury Duty is pretty dang funny, on its own: This is a comically bold idea – a fake trial in which everyone is an actor in on the joke, except for one "regular guy" – that repeatedly scores laughs. Sometimes it tries way too hard to be clever, but when the show just cruises along in the courtroom, it scores again and again – usually thanks to the likeable Everyman.
The Freevee show that debuted in April is available via Prime.
The only one in the cast you’ll likely recognize is James Marsden, a borderline A-lister best known for known for playing Cyclops in X-Men; he plays a satirized version of himself (unless he’s really that vain). The breakout star is the only nonactor: Ronald Gladden, who thinks he has the bad luck to be picked as a juror for the worst trial ever.
The men behind this series are Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, who were writer-producers of early seasons of The Office.
Though, as a whole, Jury Duty hardly attains the comic heights of The Office, this new show has many moments of finely-tuned awkward comedy.
And it's free; although, just like good old TV, you "pay" by watching commercials.