Jury Duty: Pranking Done Right

Jury Duty. Instant classic.

By R.J.F.

So many prank shows tend to lean towards the side of embarrassing someone, Jury Duty isn’t about that.

*Light Spoiling Ahead*

eople are weird.

It seems like every now and again, we all come across a person that makes us internally scratch our heads and think, what the hell? If you’ve ever been to jury duty, you have definitely come across some folks that made you scratch your head. I have been summoned for jury duty three times, technically four, because I have a summons for this summer. Every time I have had to drive to whatever courthouse I was assigned to, I would look around the room at everyone else that had been summoned that day and assess what type of person I thought they were, and I noticed some real odd balls in the room.

No one likes jury duty, or at least everyone I know says they don’t like it. So when I found out that Ronald Gladden, the subject of the show Jury Duty, willingly signed up to be in a documentary about life as a juror, I thought he was a glutton for punishment. The creators of the show lured him into being in what he thought was a documentary, but what Gladden didn’t know is that he had been chosen to interact, unbeknownst to him, with actors that were playing jurors, the judge, the lawyers, the plaintiff and defendant, as well as the bailiff in an intricate prank show that hinges on Gladden’s reactions to all kinds of bizarre scenarios.

After watching the show, I can’t believe that Gladden didn’t catch on that he was being pranked! Some of the situations that he was put into and witnessed were crazy, and he kept saying in his interviews and to the other “jurors” that this would make a great reality TV show, but he never seemed to pick up on it. I’m sure Gladden looks back at those statements now, after the big reveal, and is probably kicking himself for being so oblivious to it, but it made for an excellent series!

When the big reveal happens and Gladden is told that he has been wildly pranked, his reaction is one of pure shock and disbelief; it was a total moment from The Truman Show for this guy. Luckily for Gladden, everything that he went through was all in good fun, and none of his personal interactions or interviews would cause him embarrassment with the show’s release.

To put it in basic terms, this is a really good dude. Gladden rolled with every scenario, accepted his fellow jurors and all the quirks, was a team player the entire way through, and was completely genuine with everyone.

It would be a totally different viewing experience for the audience if Gladden was a jerk who talked shit about his fellow jurors, but the guy was really sweet about every crazy thing that happened to and around him. Take for instance when Todd, played by David Brown, decides it would be a good idea to wear crutches that are attached to his pants, so he can sit down wherever he wants. It’s obviously a terrible idea and turns into a humiliating situation for him when he gets chastised by the judge for his choice to wear his “chants” (chair pants) to court. Later on, Gladden consoles him by saying that Todd took a risk with his creation and that it’s not a big deal. Even in his post-incident interview, Gladden doesn’t make fun of or mention how weird the whole thing was.

If the producers of the show had chosen someone other than Gladden, maybe someone who has a mean streak in them, they might’ve completely torn Todd down in the interview, and/or made fun of him to his face. Because Gladden is trying to make Todd feel at ease with his personality oddities and quirks, the viewer also feels for and is rooting for Todd. Gladden is an example for the viewers about accepting people for who they are, regardless of the parts of them that are deemed as strange, and how this is the way we all should be acting and treating people.

As far as prank shows go, this one is incredibly lighthearted. Unlike other prank shows that put people in uncomfortable or angering positions in order to get an extreme reaction from them, Jury Duty is far from that kind of vibe. All of the actors playing the jurors are pleasant people, for the most part, and the pranks that they are pulling on Gladden aren’t cruel or obscene, which is an enjoyable break from the usual pranks that get televised.

For the sake of saving major spoilers, I’ll say this, the creators and producers of the show made a series that I think we need right now. There are so many people out there that are ostracized for seeming like they are odd, or stuck up, or eccentric, or foreign, but Gladden is an example of how to bring different people together regardless of differences. They called his role, the only non-actor, the “hero”, which I believe is true.

A hero doesn’t need to be someone that saves people from a burning building, or other acts that we have decided are heroic. Sometimes a hero is just an average person that wants to help build people’s self-esteem, or wants to make others feel comfortable, or just be a good person. Jury Duty highlights the importance of being kind to each other and how we can all take part in that.