Netflix Comedy Series Blockbuster Adds Brooklyn Nine-Nine Star Melissa Fumero
The era of nostalgia bait has reached its inevitable height: here comes a workplace sitcom dedicated to Blockbuster Video Store. The kicker? The series comes from none other than Netflix. Perhaps you've heard of this tiny DVD mail company turned streaming giant — it's the one that Blockbuster once had the chance to purchase before the company blossomed and eventually buried them. Now only one Blockbuster remains standing, a tourist attraction and singular reminder of the place where so many movie lovers found their sole outlet for exploration. Ironically, said business also happens to be the subject of Taylor Morden's documentary "The Last Blockbuster," currently housed over on, you guessed it, Netflix.
Keeping the irony train going, Netflix is following the doc up with a fictional 10-episode look at an ensemble of video store employees, working at the last Blockbuster Video which is stuck in "a dying strip mall in a dying town." Previously announced to star "Fresh Off The Boat," "Always Be My Maybe," and "Ant-Man and the Wasp," comedian Randall Park, "Blockbuster" has just added another familiar face to its video store staff — "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" alum, Melissa Fumero.
The (fictional) return of Blockbuster
Now that the "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" has officially concluded, Fumero is free to move on to a new workplace comedy setup — and what better place to work than the world's last Blockbuster! Netflix's "Blockbuster" is described as a "10-episode ensemble comedy that takes place in the last Blockbuster Video store in America. It explores what it takes — and, more specifically, who it takes — for a small business to succeed against all odds."
The premise promises plenty of heart as its characters work to keep the dying business afloat. Fumero is set to play Eliza, a dedicated mother whose marriage to her high school sweetheart is on the rocks. After a semester at Harvard, she ended up dropping out to start a family and now works at Blockbuster alongside Randall Park's Timmy "as his trusty No. 2 — and maybe more." That's the setup of a Jim and Pam-esque love story if I've ever heard one. Though we haven't seen this duo onscreen together yet, it's certainly an exciting prospect. Randall Park played rom-com lead to perfection in "Always Be My Maybe," and Fumero spent 150 episodes as one-half of her NBC sitcom's grand romance.
The series also reunites the actress with former "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" writer Vanessa Ramos, creator and showrunner of Netflix's "Blockbuster." Ramos' credits also include episodes of "Superstore," and she'll be joined in the writers' room by fellow sit-com alums David Caspe ("Happy Endings") and Jackie Clarke ("Happy Endings," "Superstore"). Between the two proven comedic forces leading the show and experienced sitcom writers behind the scenes, "Blockbuster" seems bound to tickle our funny bones, comfortably nestled in the sweet spot between "Superstore" and "The Office."