‘Blockbuster’ Season 1 Spoiler-Free Review: Not So Bad If You’re Feeling Stuck in ‘07
Image Credit: Netflix
Created by Superstore’s Vanessa Ramos, Netflix’s Blockbuster feels like an NBC comedy stuck in the era of NBC sitcoms. A period when shows like Brooklyn 99, Parks and Rec, and The Office controlled our Thursday nights, often with laughter and delight.
The premise for Blockbuster is that this is the very last store on the planet (not to be confused with the Netflix comedy… about the last Blockbuster on Earth). Where inside, in a very Superstore-meets-Clerks-styled approach to characterization, we meet film-buff Timmy Yoon (Jimmy Woo himself, Randall Park). Who tries to keep the store and its original in-person spirit alive. With Timmy comes the aid of his longstanding crush, Eliza (Amy Santiago from Brooklyn 99, Melissa Fumero), and strange dealings with his lifelong best friend and landlord, Percy (J.B. Smoove). All for a premise set-up just well enough to make for a store-themed comedy that could have gone places.
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What’s best about the in-on-the-joke-styled comedy is despite being set in the present, many of the conflicts within the series present themselves with solutions being the need for a time when people interact in person. The nostalgic flair of a pre-smartphone and pre-Netflix era, where stores like Blockbusters deserved our attention. What’s worst about the series… well, is what makes it charming. Everything about the show feels incredibly dated, with storylines that rehash other comedies that have come before it.
The acting in the series feels like an NBC comedy. Fumero and Park share some decent chemistry despite the will-they-won’t-they style of partnership feeling a bit outdated. Together, the two definitely lead the best acting moments within the series, providing much-needed charm and heartfelt chemistry with the audience. The problem, then, lies in the writing of the show’s conflict. Because there are just so many in-vain attempts to keep the store alive and do or purchase something physical over digital that can drive a series so far. Especially in an age where we’re more online than ever before.
So while the show’s comedy finds its roots in its character-centric-eccentrics – whacky, zany friends and coworkers you’d expect from a Lorne Michaels cast member comedy – the timing feels off. The jokes sort of drag out as the show drudges through its 10 episodes, and the pacing may have suited itself better on primetime, a place where commercial breaks force cutaways and the need for editing down content. Too often throughout the season, jokes would feel dragged out in the episode instead of the more dramatic throughlines, an odd choice, given that those didn’t actually need to be there, and the series might have worked better as a rapid-fire comedy much like 30 Rock.
Ironically, if there weren’t a million other video content streaming services – the very cause of Blockbuster’s demise – I think the series would have fared better, as at the moment, it’s sitting at a 24% fresh rating and audiences scores… aren’t fairing that much better. Ultimately, Blockbuster feels like a sitcom stuck in 2004. You’d find the exact type of comedy on the un-rented corner shelf of a Blockbuster.
Rating: 5/10
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Source(s): Netflix