Netflix’s Newest Comedy Is Set In The Last Blockbuster, And People Think The Irony Is Hilarious
Netflix's newest sitcom offering is Blockbuster, and yes, you read that correctly.
CBS
Netflix — the streaming company that started as a movie rental service — has made a show about Blockbuster, the nearly defunct movie rental company.
It's a workplace comedy in the vein of Superstore, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Office that follows the staff of a Blockbuster who find out the company is going under. The ensemble cast is led by Randall Park and Melissa Fumero, which sounds like a match made in TV heaven to me.
No, the sitcom isn't set in the past during Blockbuster's heyday. It's set in present day and takes place at the last Blockbuster store in the country.
The actual last Blockbuster store is in Bend, Oregon.
People have definitely noticed the irony of the situation:
Netflix making a series about Blockbuster is mad. It'd be like Macbeth making a wacky sitcom about King Duncan.
They put a docuseries about Blockbuster on Netflix?? That’s like if a deer family projected the movie Bambi on a hunter’s ass
I’m screaming at how Netflix really created a show around the demise of Blockbuster when Netflix are the exact cause of it 😂 #Blockbuster
The fact that Netflix made a comedy series about working at the last Blockbuster feels like pissing-on-the-corpse-of-those-you-vanquished territory
Netflix making a TV show about blockbuster is straight up bullying. It’s like if a meteor directed Jurassic Park.
Before you get too offended on Blockbuster's behalf, this probably isn't a case of Netflix purposefully rubbing salt in the wound. No beating of dead horses here.
Fox
Turns out, the show was developed by Vanessa Ramos with Universal Television at NBC. When NBC passed on the show, Universal tried to find a new distributor, and that's when Netflix stepped in.
Ramos confirmed herself during an interview that the connection is unintentional.
