FOX shows it isn't kidding about bringing some powerful new series to the air this summer.

The Jury - First out of the gate is this winning drama from Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson ("Rainman"), Emmy-winning writer Tom Fontana and Peabody-winning writer James Yoshimura, the men behind the phenomenal series "Homicide: Life on the Street."

Perhaps a bit heavy for summer viewing, this thought-provoking series challenges our views on what is right and what is wrong -- and how the justice system fits into that belief system.

While a revolving group of actors plays the 12 jury members each week, Billy Burke and Jeff Hephner play the passionate prosecutors, with Shalom Harlow as the defense attorney beginning to strike out on her own and Anna Friel as the legal aid defense attorney.

Rounding out the impressive cast are Adam Busch as the quirky court bailiff and Cote de Pablo as the legal intern. Levinson pulls double duty, playing the no-nonsense judge.

But the main players are the jurors, who must decide the fate of the person on trial. The viewers see how the prosecutors present the case and how the defense counters the claims. Then, the jury members debate the merits of the case while bringing in their own personal stories.

In one case, a juror decides that she simply cannot send a teen to jail as an adult after seeing him in court -- even if the young man is guilty of the crime.

The payoff for this drama is that at the end of each case, after we hear the jury's decision, we see what really happened. Was the teen guilty of murder? Was it assisted suicide or murder in the case of two young lovers?

The quick cuts back to the scene of each crime throughout the hour help move the action along, but the deliberations between the jury members keep us watching.