That show: Jury Duty

So this is gonna sort of be about consent, feel free to skip if that's not your thing.

A friend of mine recommended the "comedy" show "Jury Duty." Here's the premise: some random schmuck is told they are doing a documentary about the Jury Duty process in America so he goes to the courthouse and sits through a bunch of trial stuff with several other jurors and they decide the case.

Then the surprise: It was all a hoax, the case wasn't real, and in fact, all the other jurors were actors doing scripted shenanigans to make the experience more funny and interesting for the TV show. Even the judge was an actor. Spoilers: in the end they decide to give the one "real" person, the star of the show, $100,000 for being on the show. A happy ending.

Here's my take: I'm a big fan of consent, ever since I was in LA that word became much more important to me. In LA it seemed like everyone out there had no idea what consent meant. People in my grad program were fucking around and messing with me in subtle ways that drove me crazy. I'll never get the license plate of the car that hit me, but it felt very non-consensual, and also like I was on some kind of reality TV show. Was my LA experience some sort of blooper TV non-hit like "Jury Duty" where I was the rube invited to be fucked with by a bunch of actors without being told? I'll never know if that happened. But its also sort of not important for this discussion.

If I were to be put in a reality TV show, how much money could buy my consent? That is the wrong question. It's a little like asking "Do you forgive the rapist?" the comical answer is "If the rapist is doing their job I won't have a choice." But there is truth in good jokes, that's why humor is so feared by powerful jerks. Here's the truth for me: I don't want to be in some crummy reality TV show that poisons the well for me to do real work. By real work, I mean making people happy, giving people something to enjoy after school or a hard day of work, giving people a bit of joy in an otherwise dark world with tons of miserable stuff in the news.

What could buy my consent? I guess a modest cash prize would help, because I'm a bit pressed for money, but what I really want, and have always wanted, is to be part of the entertainment world. I want to serve audiences and make the world more fun and happier. And that's the big reason I say "no means no" to this "Jury Duty" show: it wasn't particularly interesting or funny. I found it boring, and "cringe" as the kids say. The main character rube looked like a quality guy from start to finish, so they didn't tarnish his name, but also he was super boring and not too interesting. And the show was really not worth watching. To some extent, if they had proper consent, they could make jokes at the main character rube's expense, knowing he was in on it, and make a more interesting show!

So if I'm to be part of a reality nonsense crappy fake bullshit thing, I want it to be a really fun and funny and well done bullshit thing. With humor like Mel Brooks, or Mike Myers, or Tina Fey. James Marsden is a great star, but he was mostly wasted in the show, he did some basic shtick but his performance of "the Hollywood jerk" was not too memorable.

As I say: if reality is to be a game, why can't it be a good one that is actually fun, stress free, and makes you laugh?