jury duty and the surprise of genuine people

(yes this is about that new show!)

oh hey friends.

A few weeks ago, Amazon released a new show to promote their new streaming channel. The concept of the show is absolutely wild. Truly unhinged! And I love it.

Ok so if you haven’t watched it yet, let me set the stage. In California, people can volunteer for jury duty. So these producers put an ad on craigslist offering to pay someone a few hundred bucks and cover food and lodging for three weeks if they’ll volunteer for jury duty and allow themselves to be filmed for a “documentary.” So this guy, Ronald, volunteers and they bring in in for jury duty. Except, it’s all fake. The producers rented out an empty courthouse and everyone involved is an actor. Not a real judge. Not real jurors. Not a real case. Everything was fake fake fake. They put this guy in absolutely insane, hilarious, off the wall scenarios and every single time he shows what a genuinely good person he is. He’s consistently kind, generous, patient, thoughtful, honest, loyal. I mean. Just the best person. Eventually they reveal that the whole thing has been faked and he’s won a $100,000 and all is well. But I cannot get this show out of my head for a few reasons.

First - Ronald formed genuine relationships with these people who were playing characters. He called them a family before he found out none of it was real. This could have been potentially emotionally and psychologically damaging for him. And the actors knew it. James Marsden, who plays himself in the show, said that it was extremely important to him that Ronald knew at the end, that they were all really friends. He said, “When you’re messing with someone’s human experience for three weeks of their life … it was important to me (that we don’t) finish this and go “Nice to meet ya, see ya!” He emphasized to the producers that he wanted to make sure that Ronald knew at the end that all of the friendships were real. And this successful, famous, Hollywood actor, made sure that that happened. They’re all still friends, they get beers, they all hang out. They took care of Ronald and remained friends with him even when they weren’t contractually obligated.

Second - At the end of the show, when they make the big reveal, I kept my eyes on all of the actors. They all looked like they were going to cry. They looked so nervous. Like they were second guessing everything they just did because they didn’t expect to fall in love with this guy. They thought they were just doing a funny bit for a check and then he ended up being such a genuine person that they all started feeling guilty. I don’t think any of them were expecting that. They were truly caught off guard by the character of this random man who found an ad on craigslist.

The show, while very much an adults only kind of show, is so incredibly wholesome. Ronald represents a genuineness that most people aren’t used to. Someone who has no agenda, isn’t working any angles, and seems to be so sweetly simple. Not in a “this guy has no depth” kind of way, but in a “this guy is just being himself and that’s it” kind of way. There was conflict without politics. Resolution without theatrics. It was just so real, even though 90% of it was fake. It’s so fascinating to me.

We have become increasingly more and more disconnected from each other. We’ve moved ourselves into comfortable communities of likeminded people and I don’t think that’s always a bad thing. But I do think that when we do that, we miss out on the surprise and delight of relationship and connection. When we always have our guard up, when we’re testing people out, listening for political and theological dog whistles, waiting for someone to show us who they really are, we rob ourselves of the beauty of openness, vulnerability, and true connection.

This is what this silly little show has me thinking about this week and I don’t even like reality TV. But darnit! Jury Duty has got its hooks in me! It’s lighting in a bottle - a show that wouldn’t have worked before this and probably will never work again, but gosh it’s so good!

Ronald is a surprising, refreshing reminder of the good that openness and kindness can bring into the world. I happen to be married to a Ronald-type man, but I want to be a Ronald. And that’s what I’ll be ruminating on this week.

Have you watched the show yet? If you have, please can we talk about it in the comments??