After my brief one-day as a potential juror, I thought I should review some jury duty-related TV shows and movies.
By itself, the classic feature film “12 Angry Men” isn’t available to stream, but the “Courtroom Double Feature” of “Twelve Angry Men” as the original teleplay for Studio One and “The Defender” is included in Prime.
12 Angry Men (1954) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
By today’s standards, the black and white film may seem soft focus and the lighting harsh. You’ll immediately notice how times have changed. The jury it totally comprised of White men. They all wear suits. They leave the courtroom which has wooden chairs to enter a jury room of wooden chairs. They complain about the lack of air conditioning. The men smoke cigarettes. One man smokes a pipe.
This is quite a contrast to today’s reality. The Long Beach courtroom is totally air-conditioned. You cannot smoke inside it. As part of our at-home courtroom preparatory video, we are warned of the appropriate way to dress. Yet most people did not wear suit and ties. There were plenty of women and people of various backgrounds, including people whose first language was not English. The play also has a White man whose class is the same as the defendant (Juror 5 played by Lee Philips) and one whose first language isn’t English (Juror #11 played by Czech-born naturalized US citizen George Voskevec).
The premise of this teleplay is that a young man is on trial for murder. We never see the defendant. We never hear the attorneys’ arguments. We only see the jury dismissed from the courtroom and entering the jury room. The jury room, which has an attached restroom, is where the main action takes place. The foreman, (Norman Fell) is urged to take a vote which is done by a show of hands. Only one man, juror #8 (Robert Cummings), isn’t ready to vote guilty.
At the end of Act 1, Juror #8, proves an important point by a little stagy stunt, but after a secret ballot, there are now 10 votes for guilty. In Act II, we find out whose vote changed. If the men were impatient before, now they are angry and almost come to blows with Juror #3 (Franchot Tone) losing his temper. Although the other men are able to stop a fight from breaking out, the bailiff (Vincent Gardenia) interrupts.
In Act III, when a new vote is taken, the split is even–six to six. The continued discussions lead to Juror #10 (Edward Arnold) revealing the extent of his bigotry, saying “There isn’t one of them that’s got any good in them.” In the end, the jury decides to vote not guilty, after the last “guilty” vote folds to peer pressure.
The camera work a bit shaky when it moves around the room. Fans of Hollywood and pop culture might be tickled to recognize some actors who would go on to more prominent roles in film and TV. The one juror who votes “not guilty” at the beginning is played by Robert Cummings (1910-1990). Cummings was in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1942, “Saboteur” and the 1954 “Dial M for Murder.”
Juror #3 (Franchot Tone, 1905-1968) was a leading man in the 1930s and 1940s. He had been nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for the 1935 “Mutiny on the Bounty.” He had been married to Joan Crawford (1935-1939).
The patient foreman was played by Norman Fell (1924-1998) who went on to be in the classic films “Ocean’s 11” (1960, “The Graduate” (1967) and “Bullitt” (1968) and two successful TV sitcoms–“Three’s Company” and its spin-off, “The Ropers.”
The teleplay “Twelve Angry Men” was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and written by Reginald Rose for Studio One. It was staged as a live production on CBS (20 September 1954) and then rewritten for the stage in 1955. It went on to become the feature film “12 Angry Men.”
The original Studio One production won three Emmy Awards: writing (Rose), direction (Schaffner) and Best Actor (Robert Cummings).
The 1957 film was nominated for Best Picture (Henry Fonda and Reginald Rose), Best Director (Sidney Lumet) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Reginald Rose). At the British Academy Film Awards, it was nominated for Best Film and Henry Fonda won Best Foreign Actor.
The Defender (1957) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The video quality of this film, “The Defender,” is even softer even though it was broadcast live in 1957 in two parts for the CBS television series, “Studio One.” The courtroom drama was also written by Reginald Rose (“Twelve Angry Men”). This production, however, is directed by Emmy and Academy Award nominated Robert Mulligan (“To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962) and “Same Time, Next Year (1978)).
The prosecuting attorney reminds the jury that “this is a court of law not a theater.” And yet, we’re watching because we like this kind of theater. In this teleplay, we’re less interested here in the all-White male jury. We’re more interested in the interaction between the attorneys, particularly the father and son defense team of Walter Preston (Tony Award-winner Ralph Bellamy) and Kenneth Preston (Star Trek favorite William Shatner). Steve McQueen, the King of Cool, plays the defendant, Joseph Gordon, who has been accused of murder. Walter believes that Gordon is guilty. Kenneth believe that he may be innocent. Gordon never falters in proclaiming his innocence. Kenneth engineers a theatrical stunt to sway the judge and jury, but we never know if Gordon is guilty or innocent.
This teleplay inspired Rose to develop the TV series, “The Defenders,” with E.G. Marshall as the father Lawrence Preston and pre-Brady Bunch Robert Reed as his son, Kenneth Preston. The show ran for four season between 1961-1965. William Shatner appeared in six episodes. The series took on serious issues like abortion, capital punishment, custody rights and immigration quotas and the issues were not always wrapped up neatly by the end. “The Defenders” was well-regarded at the time winning 13 Emmys, including three in a row for Outstanding Drama Series.
There was an attempt to make a sequel series that would feature Marshall as Lawrence Preston by the Showtime network in 1997. That was cut short by Marshall’s death in 1998. Marshall had been Juror #4 in the feature film version of “12 Angry Men.”
A clip from “The Defenders” was featured in the second season of “Mad Men.”
Clips from the teleplay, “The Defender” was incorporated into an episode of Shatner’s “Boston Legal” TV series in 2007. The clips were used as flashbacks for Shatner’s character, Denny Crane, (Sean 3, Episode 18, “Son of the Defender”).
Bull TV series (2016-2022) ⭐️⭐️
The French and legal term “voir dire” will be burned into your brain if you watch all six season of the CBS legal drama “Bull” (2016-2022). Starring Michael Weatherly, the series is about a jury consulting firm, Trial Analysis Corporation (TAC) which is run by Dr. Jason Bull, a psychologist with three PhDs. He likes to call himself a trial science expert, and he and his team help their clients select the right jurors and track the trial using mirror jurors.
The show is inspired by the early career of Dr. Phil McGraw, who only has one doctorate according to Wikipedia. In 1990. McGraw was one of the co-founders of Courtroom Sciences, Inc (CSI), a firm that performed simulated courtroom cases to offer advice about what worked. He is no longer a director or officer of that company, but “Bull” is based on his experiences as a trial consultant but adds a lot more technology than was available in 1990 or even in 2016. McGraw is credited as one of the creators of “Bull” and served as an executive producer.
While at first Weatherly’s Bull is affable enough, he’s a bit too superior and he wins too much. This is the kind of legal drama that is comfortable rather than challenging. It might make one fearful of the extent and intrusiveness of technology. Too often, solutions come from breaking the law to get files or information that should be confidential. While the cast has diversity with the original top lawyer, Benny Colón (Freddy Rodriquez who abruptly leaves and doesn’t appear in the last season) and the fashion consultant gay former football star Chunk Palmer (Christopher Jackson) who later rises to become a lawyer, it’s unfortunate that the office is mainly run by women. Marissa Morgan (Geneva Carr) is the woman who keeps the algorithm running and reports to Bull via earpiece. Eventually, Bull’s lack of consideration becomes one of the main themes of the last season, that’s almost too late for viewers. Also on the computer hacking end are Cable McCrory (Annabelle Attanasio who left after the second season to direct a film) and MacKenzie Meehan (Taylor Rentzel) who replaces Cable. There were strong female attorney characters, including one what was involved romantically with Bull, but the team could have used a woman in the forefront.
Yes, it is unfortunate that there’s not Asian American in the mix.
The most interesting part of “Bull” is how the script explains the odd questions the lawyers ask to determine what potential jurors they want. Yet everything seems too pat and slick and the last seasons seemed like they jumped the shark.
None of the jury selection processes I’ve been involved in had weird questions. In Long Beach, we did get a peanut butter and jam sandwich question and were admonished that if even if the trial doesn’t disclose what type of bred was used, we just needed to deal with the facts as presented. If the prosecuting and defense attorneys don’t ask the question, then it’s not an important consideration.
“Voir Dire” means “to speak the truth” in French and is the process by which attorneys select and reject jurors for a case.
I believe the question that disqualified me was that I watched true crimes films and documentaries. I noted that I often did research on real trials because they were often the topics of plays and movies. I like to see what was fact and what was fiction. The only other potential juror who watched true crimes was also eliminated and she didn’t volunteer such information although she said she thought that because police officers were trained, they would likely be better witnesses. The case was for a carjacking incident in the Long Beach area.
You can stream all six seasons of “Bull” on Amazon Prime Video.
Jury Duty TV series (2023) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This reality show hoax made a hero of an everyday Joe. Created by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, the sitcom staged a fake jury trial with actors playing regular people, actor James Marsden as an exaggeratedly entitled version of himself and a man, Ronald Gladden, who believes he really is on jury duty. Gladden, a solar contractor from San Diego, has no idea that his jury duty summons wasn’t not real, that everyone–from the bailiff to the judge to his fellow jurors are actors.
This could have been cheesy. It could have been cruel. But instead it was sensitive and even touching as Gladden becomes foreman and attempts to see the best in his fellow jurors and earnestly work within the US legal system as a good juror.
The series was filmed in 17 days in a real courtroom. The actors all had improv backgrounds. There are eight episodes, the first being (what else?) “Voir Dire.” That’s followed by “Opening Arguments,” “Foreperson,” “Field Trip,” Ineffective Assistance,” “Closing Arguments,” Deliberations” and “The Verdict.” In the end, Gladden is able to see how the series was filmed and how he was guided along. They definitely picked the right person here.
I don’t mind serving on a jury although sometimes it does disrupt one’s schedule. Jury duty doesn’t have to be 12 angry men or women. Gladden was kind and thoughtful throughout and that made me think what a better world it would be if we all tried to act that way. Although Marsden does help set the tone, at the center is the only person acting out of oblivious innocence. In the end, it all seems like a rather sweet experiment. I don’t know if this could possibly have a second season, but, it was an interesting premise from two former writers of “The Office.”
“Jury Duty” is also available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
Monk
Season 4, Episode 16: “Mr. Monk Gets Jury Duty” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
One helpful reminder during the beginning of the pandemic was Tony Shalhoub’s germ-phobic “Monk.” I rewatched the whole series and writer Peter Wolk paid homage to the film “12 Angry Men” with this episode.
Private investigator Adrian Monk (Shalhoub) has been selected for jury duty on a case involving a young man (Edo Walker) accused of stabbing and robbing Karl Pillemer (Blake Silver).
Elsewhere, Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) and Lieutenant Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford) have captured a drug lord (Carlos Gómez) and must babysit him until he is transferred into FBI custody.
The two cases will come together and Monk will solve a murder.
Although Monk is supposedly in the San Francisco area, this episode was mostly shot in Los Angeles. Wolk had been a criminal defense attorney and written for the sequel series of “The Defenders” which became three TV movies (“The Defenders: Taking the First,” 1998; “The Defenders: Choice of Evils,” 1998 and “The Defenders: Payback,” 1997).
As always Monk is brilliant, but manages to alienate his fellow jurors with his various phobias, obsessions and habits. Jury duty is an opportunity to be part of the Law & Order reality, but, as it turns out, being too fascinated with legal dramas may result in being excused from the jury pool in reality, but not for Adrian Monk.
“Monk” is available on Amazon Prime Video.
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