There was an obvious risk at the heart of Amazon Freevee’s recent—and recently Emmy-nominated—comedy series Jury Duty, one inherent to any show operating in the “prank show” mold: What if the mark figured it out? In this case, that would mean solar contractor Ronald Gladden might realize that he was the only “real” person involved in the trial he was apparently serving on the jury of—including his new pal actor James Marsden, playing a weirdo version of himself.
Now, Marsden, who just picked up an Emmy nom of his own for his improvisational work on the series, has revealed that the producers of the show did have a back-up plan in place if Ronald started noticing he was trapped in something that was starting to feel like a comedy show: Get very, very boring.
This is per an interview Marsden gave to Vulture this week, which was, by volume, at least 50 percent about what a good and pleasant guy Ronald Gladden is. (“He is such a lovable, good-hearted person who took it all in stride and took a liking to characters who were supposed to repel him,” Marsden said at one point. “If we didn’t have him, I’m not sure we would be sitting here talking.”) But it also discussed the show’s contingency plan if he started to suspect that the trial wasn’t real, which would have sent the series entirely off the rails if it had solidified into certainty.
Here’s Marsden:
It was, “Ronald is onto us. Tomorrow, get ready for six hours of no comedy and the most boring court experience you’ve ever seen. There’s going to be a lot of sitting around. There’s going to be a lot of mundane chitchat. There’s going to be a lot of legalese in the court. This isn’t going to feel like a show.” It would take Ronald down from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 2. He would’ve been like, “This can’t be a show, because this was the most boring day of my life.”
(The pedant in us would like to note that DEFCON 5 is actually the least severe condition, and 2 is significantly worse; it’s like golf, but with nuclear annihilation.)
Luckily, it never came to that. (Other reality shows of this type have had to deal with getting exposed, notably The Joe Schmo Show, which had to entirely re-orient its second season after one of its marks figured out the con.) Now, both the show, and Marsden have Emmy nominations, as does writer and co-star Mekki Leeper. “I got a nomination and just about levitated off my sofa,” Marsden said in the interview. “It’s not familiar territory for me. That said, I’m allowing myself to enjoy the praise, enjoy the excitement, and share it with all my Jury Duty pals.” He added that Gladden was the first person he called with the news.
