{"id":2432528,"date":"2026-05-26T10:49:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T10:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2432528"},"modified":"2026-05-26T10:49:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T10:49:47","slug":"jury-duty-presents-company-retreat-anthony-norman-on-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/jury-duty-presents-company-retreat-anthony-norman-on-whats-next\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat’: Anthony Norman on what’s next"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Anthony Norman didn\u2019t know he was on television when he ran full speed down a grassy slope in Agoura Hills, determined to stop a deal he believed would ravage the small hot sauce company, Rockin\u2019 Grandmas, he\u2019d joined only days earlier.<\/p>\n

As a temp, he had no real title. He had no reason to believe the head of the business would listen. He went in anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cFather to father,\u201d he told owner Doug Womack Sr. (Jerry Hauck) that he overheard the buyer\u2019s plans to get rid of all of its workers. When Womack asks Norman whether he\u2019s telling the truth, he responds, \u201cI go home in two days. I genuinely have no dog in this fight besides I care about y\u2019all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Womack listens. And the temp saves the day.<\/p>\n

While the scenario was pre-constructed, Norman\u2019s lines were not. \u201cYou\u2019re giving us way too much credit,\u201d creator Lee Eisenberg says, regarding viewers who suspect Norman\u2019s line were scripted. \u201cI could never come up with \u2018father to father.\u2019 It took my breath away.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sincerity is the heart of \u201cCompany Retreat,\u201d<\/a> the second season<\/a> of the hit quasi-reality comedy \u201cJury Duty.\u201d The premise remains the same: Surround one real person with actors<\/a>, build an entire world around them, and hope they respond with decency. But the second season was more ambitious.<\/p>\n

The first installment revolved around solar contractor Ronald Gladden<\/a>, who participated in a court case along with a preposterous group of actor-jurors sequestered together for the proceedings. The new season takes place at the fictional Oak Canyon Ranch Retreat, providing more areas for the cast \u2014 and thus more places for their unknowing star to roam.<\/p>\n

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<\/picture>\n
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Bonding exercises at the \u201cCompany Retreat\u201d with Alex Bonifer, from left, Emily Pendergast, Anthony Norman and Warren Burke.<\/p>\n

(Prime)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

The task required the writers to rehearse for months to map out contingencies and shape character arcs. During the actual filming of the show, they had to rewrite storylines on the fly as unexpected events took place. But the most difficult challenge was the fact that Norman didn\u2019t know he was at the center of the production, so he had to be constantly baited.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to create a scenario where there\u2019s basically games where you\u2019re bringing Anthony into it,\u201d Eisenberg said. This was necessary because the \u201cmain character isn\u2019t inherently active in every single scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are on the edge of your seat all day long,\u201d executive producer Anthony King added. \u201cThere\u2019s so many times you\u2019re like, \u2018OK, he\u2019s going to the kitchen. Everyone get ready. What\u2019s he going to do? Why is he there? Are we set up?\u2019 It\u2019s tense all day long.\u201d<\/p>\n

To follow Norman\u2019s every move, the set contained 46 cameras \u2014 most of them hidden \u2014 to capture over 4,600 hours of footage. To coordinate events in real time, the team used code words and hand signals. And because the storyline called for employees who already knew one another, actors had to memorize years of shared backstory in case Norman asked about their history.<\/p>\n

The Rockin\u2019 Grandmas staff is full of outsize characters: Jimmy Weber (Jim Woods), the warehouse manager whose misunderstanding of progressive ideals at times makes him more offensive; PJ Green (Marc-Sully Saint-Fleur), a receptionist and snack influencer who periodically has segments with Norman trying out exotic nibbles; and Helen Schaffer (Stephanie Hodge), the company accountant who never holds her tongue.<\/p>\n

Despite the fragile construction of \u201cCompany Retreat,\u201d always at risk of being undone by a minor mistake or unforeseen circumstance, the series\u2019 biggest miracle isn\u2019t that the ruse is successful \u2014 it\u2019s that Norman never shied away from giving pep talks, offering a helping hand and being a leader amid chaotic events. The CEO\u2019s son Dougie Jr. (Alex Bonifer), who is set to become the next head of the company, has a penchant for self-sabotage. Norman frequently gives him positive words to keep him motivated.<\/p>\n

Norman\u2019s instinct to jump in didn\u2019t come from nowhere. When asked how he became so self\u2011motivated, he pointed to his father.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was my coach a lot of the time,\u201d Norman said. \u201cHe would tell me, if we were practicing or something, just jump in there. It\u2019ll take you far.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Behind <\/picture>\n
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Behind the scenes of \u201cJury Duty Presents: Company Retreat.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Prime)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

It did, even before he landed on the Prime Video series. Norman said he earned a baseball scholarship because he was the first player to step forward during a drill at a college camp. That same instinct shaped his entire journey on \u201cCompany Retreat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe should be a Little League coach and be the greatest coach maybe in the history of the world,\u201d Eisenberg said. \u201cHe just knows how to support people and prop them up and make them feel like the best versions of themselves \u2026 seeing Anthony kind of navigate this world and navigate these characters \u2026 and really understanding what it means to stand up for an underdog \u2014 that\u2019s the special sauce. No pun intended.\u201d<\/p>\n

King says the chance to show the beauty of humanity was what drew him to the second season. \u201cSeason 1 was just full of kindness and warmth and people connecting who had no reason to connect,\u201d he said. \u201cThe chance to do that on a grander scale on a deeper level in Season 2 was really exciting. There\u2019s so few things in culture that are just all about showing warmth and humanity and connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Norman doesn\u2019t see himself as a hero. When asked what\u2019s next, he didn\u2019t mention Hollywood, or becoming an entertainment personality. Instead, he talked about home; he hopes to build a baseball field and facility in Nashville to give back to his community.<\/p>\n

Although his future plans are returning home, he says the experience on the show caused him to see himself differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest change in my life is the ability to love myself. I feel like before this, maybe I didn\u2019t love myself as much as I should have. I wasn\u2019t as kind to myself as I was to others. This opportunity has allowed me to see the true me,\u201d Norman says. \u201cTo see [myself] from the outside perspective is a good feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anthony Norman didn\u2019t know he was on television when he ran full speed down a grassy slope in Agoura Hills, determined to stop a deal he believed would ravage the small hot sauce company, Rockin\u2019 Grandmas, he\u2019d joined only days earlier. As a temp, he had no real title. He had no reason to believe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2432529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2432528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Jury-Duty-Presents-Company-Retreat-Anthony-Norman-on-whats-next.com2Fa52F322F7eba33b349cd97388890623e.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2432528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2432530,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432528\/revisions\/2432530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2432529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2432528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2432528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2432528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}