Netflix has unveiled the release date for Blockbuster, a comedy series set in, you guessed it, the last Blockbuster on the planet.
Official plot synopsis: “Timmy Yoon Is an analog dreamer living in a 5G world. And after learning he is operating the last Blockbuster Video in America, Timmy and his staff employees (including his long-time crush, Eliza fight to stay relevant. The only way to succeed is to remind their community that they provide something big corporations can’t: human connection.”
That Blockbuster will be released on Netflix is an irony that won’t be lost on many. At the risk of sounding like an old man gathering kids around for a story of “the good old days”, Netflix’s DVD delivery by mail service was one of the thickest and swiftest nails in Blockbuster’s coffin. They filed for bankruptcy in 2010.
Notoriously, there is just one store left, in Bend, Oregon. This was depicted in a charming documentary called, appropriately enough, The Last Blockbuster. In 2020, the store offered a chance for fans to sleep over in the store–hopefully on a couch and not on that nasty carpet.
Blockbuster stars Randall Park (ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat) as the store’s manager, Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) as a co-worker and potential love interest, Olga Merediz (In the Heights) as a mother figure to the employees, and Tyler Alvarez (Netflix’s American Vandal) as an aspiring director. Curb Your Enthusiasm’s JB Smoove is listed as a recurring guest star.
The first season of Blockbuster will have ten 30-minute episodes. Blockbuster streams on Netflix on November 3rd.
Do you have good memories of Blockbuster Video in its prime? Or were you happy to see it crumble when Netflix came to town? Let us know who you ultimately pick in the home video wars below!