The 2022 Vanessa Ramos-created Netflix series "Blockbuster" is tinged with both nostalgia and irony.
The nostalgia is heartfelt - if, a number of times, forced. Having been born in 1985 and come of age during the 1990s and early 2000s, I lived at Blockbuster Video pretty much every weekend and would often come home with my late mother with two bagsful of rented movies. And it was a crying shame that the three Blockbuster Video retail stores in my hometown all shuttered their doors by the end of the decade.
The irony of all this is that Netflix, the digital video service that practically KILLED much-loved video-store chains like Blockbuster Video, has produced a 10-episode TV series righteously enough called "Blockbuster," a workplace comedy depicting a fictionalized version of the real-life "world's last remaining Blockbuster Video retail video store" that's located in Bend, Oregon.
This series has a simple enough premise that follows Timmy Yoon (Randall Park, "Fresh off the Boat") as the owner and general manager of the last remaining Blockbuster Video store in the world in Grandville, Michigan, and his enthusiastic attempts to keep his business open. He has a loyal and colorful team supporting him including his long-time crush Eliza (Melissa Fumero); the much-older Connie Serrano (Olga Merediz); Carlos (Tyler Alvarez), a college-age film geek and aspiring filmmaker who wants to be like his hero Quentin Tarantino; the friendly but inexperienced Hannah (Madeleine Arthur); and Kayla (Kamaia Fairburn), the youngest employee on Timmy's staff and who is also the 16-year-old daughter of his landlord and best friend Percy (J. B. Smoove).
Much of the series' humor arises from the typical workplace situational comedy, but it would be better served if that same humor was reserved for some more of the nostalgic references to our favorite films - and by extension - the much-better days of pre-online streaming services. It could have also worked even better as a pointed satirical commentary on how online streaming giants, like Netflix, have strongly affected retail stores (and small businesses, in general) and forced many of them to close up shop forever.
(In a sense, the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the best things to ever happen for online streaming services since because so many people were in lockdown with nothing to do all day and couldn't leave their homes, they just simply binged on all their favorite TV shows and movies - which they were more than happy to provide. The impact felt by a lot of retail stores was harsh.)
But these are just observations and criticisms. The series appears to be too light-hearted for any of that - though regrettably it seems that "Blockbuster" could work much better as something MORE than just a workplace comedy.
6/10.
The nostalgia is heartfelt - if, a number of times, forced. Having been born in 1985 and come of age during the 1990s and early 2000s, I lived at Blockbuster Video pretty much every weekend and would often come home with my late mother with two bagsful of rented movies. And it was a crying shame that the three Blockbuster Video retail stores in my hometown all shuttered their doors by the end of the decade.
The irony of all this is that Netflix, the digital video service that practically KILLED much-loved video-store chains like Blockbuster Video, has produced a 10-episode TV series righteously enough called "Blockbuster," a workplace comedy depicting a fictionalized version of the real-life "world's last remaining Blockbuster Video retail video store" that's located in Bend, Oregon.
This series has a simple enough premise that follows Timmy Yoon (Randall Park, "Fresh off the Boat") as the owner and general manager of the last remaining Blockbuster Video store in the world in Grandville, Michigan, and his enthusiastic attempts to keep his business open. He has a loyal and colorful team supporting him including his long-time crush Eliza (Melissa Fumero); the much-older Connie Serrano (Olga Merediz); Carlos (Tyler Alvarez), a college-age film geek and aspiring filmmaker who wants to be like his hero Quentin Tarantino; the friendly but inexperienced Hannah (Madeleine Arthur); and Kayla (Kamaia Fairburn), the youngest employee on Timmy's staff and who is also the 16-year-old daughter of his landlord and best friend Percy (J. B. Smoove).
Much of the series' humor arises from the typical workplace situational comedy, but it would be better served if that same humor was reserved for some more of the nostalgic references to our favorite films - and by extension - the much-better days of pre-online streaming services. It could have also worked even better as a pointed satirical commentary on how online streaming giants, like Netflix, have strongly affected retail stores (and small businesses, in general) and forced many of them to close up shop forever.
(In a sense, the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the best things to ever happen for online streaming services since because so many people were in lockdown with nothing to do all day and couldn't leave their homes, they just simply binged on all their favorite TV shows and movies - which they were more than happy to provide. The impact felt by a lot of retail stores was harsh.)
But these are just observations and criticisms. The series appears to be too light-hearted for any of that - though regrettably it seems that "Blockbuster" could work much better as something MORE than just a workplace comedy.
6/10.