‘Jury Duty’ star James Marden / Remembering Roy Book Binder

Fresh Air

NPR

Books, Society & Culture, Arts, Tv & Film

4.3 • 36.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2026

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

‘Jury Duty’ is the Prime Video series about one unwitting regular guy who becomes part of a staged fake jury, not knowing that everyone around him is an actor. Season two is now streaming, with a new setting. It’s called ‘Company Retreat.’ We’re listening back to our interview with James Marsden, who played a satirical version of himself in the first season.

Also, we remember raconteur Roy Book Binder, known for playing southern blues and hillbilly music. He died March 3rd at age 82.

Justin Chang reviews the new Ryan Gosling space epic, ‘Project Hail Mary.’

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Fresh Air. I'm David B. and Cooley.
0:03.3	Jury Duty is the Prime Video streaming series about one unwitting regular guy who becomes part of a staged fake jury, not knowing that everyone around him is a professional actor.
0:15.2	Season 2 of Jury Duty premieres today on Prime, but in a new setting, the corporate retreat of a fake hot sauce company
0:22.7	called Rockin' Grandmas, which is in the midst of a corporate takeover. Again, one lone employee
0:29.4	knows nothing of the ruse and is surrounded by actors. The new season is called jury duty presents
0:35.9	company retreat. Today, we're going to listen to our
0:39.8	2023 interview with James Marsden, the most well-known of the actors in the original jury duty.
0:46.2	In that show, a regular guy named Ronald Gladden had agreed to participate in a documentary
0:51.9	about the experience of being a juror in an L.A. courtroom.
0:56.3	He doesn't know that everyone around him, the rest of the jury, the judge, the witnesses,
1:01.5	is an actor who is improvising. They're all kind of odd, and their behavior is unpredictable,
1:07.6	even more so than in a regular reality show.
1:16.9	Marsden plays a satirical self-absorbed version of himself, serving as an alternate juror.
1:23.2	Marsden's other recent TV shows include Westworld and Dead to Me, and next month he joins the cast of John Hamm's Apple TV series Your Friends and Neighbors. His films include The Notebook,
1:30.1	the 2007 version of Hairspray, and Disney's Enchanted. He also played Cyclops in the X-Men
1:36.6	film franchise. We're going to listen to Marsden's interview with Fresh Air Sam Brigger. Let's
1:43.0	hear a clip from the original jury duty.
1:45.7	The potential jurors are sitting in the courtroom waiting area,
1:49.1	and Ronald realizes that the man's sitting next to him is James Marston.
1:54.3	Dude, that's why I know you from.
1:55.7	You're an ex-man.
1:57.3	Oh.
	...

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