Jury Duty
Genrenontraditional court show
Created byVincent Dymon
Written byRob George
StarringBruce Cutler
Theme music composerDavid Kole
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
Production
Executive producersLinda Dymon
Vincent Dymon
Susan Winston
Running time30 minutes
Original release
NetworkSyndication
ReleaseSeptember 17, 2007 (2007-09-17) 
May 30, 2008 (2008-05-30)

Jury Duty is an American syndicated nontraditional/arbitration-based reality court show that premiered on September 17, 2007. Initial market clearances, according to Broadcasting & Cable, were at least 60 percent of the nation's television markets.[1] The show was produced and distributed by Radar Entertainment.

Format

While the show's general concept shared that of most court shows, where two litigants in a civil case present their interpretation of a dispute before a "judge" (in this case, former defense attorney Bruce Cutler), Jury Duty differed drastically in format. As opposed to the bench trial format used in most court shows, Jury Duty used a jury trial to arrive at a verdict. To boot, the show used a panel of three celebrities that served as the show's titular "jury," and who were given their notices at the beginning of each episode.

The presentation of the case was divided into two segments. The first segment was conducted as normal court shows, with Cutler hearing the litigants' arguments. The second segment involved the three jurors cross-examining the litigants, after which Cutler gave the jury their instructions and reminded them what they must do to determine a verdict.

After the commercial break following the presentation of the case, the litigants were taken out of the courtroom and the home audience was shown the panel's deliberations. Whatever they decided was revealed to the litigants in the next segment.

As in a regular criminal case, the three jurors must come to a unanimous verdict. If they couldn't do that, then Cutler rendered his own verdict (just like in most small claims cases and TV court shows). After the verdict was presented, the show closed with the jurors giving their reactions to the case.

References

  1. "Court Shows Go to Court - 2007-02-24 00:03:00 | Broadcasting & Cable". Broadcastingcable.com. Retrieved 2009-07-03.


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