2 out of 5

Created by: Vanessa Ramos

The lowness at which the fruit of this show’s writing hangs is impressive. Blockbuster is one of the most casual workplace comedies I’ve seen, not stressing really trying to be too funny, or too memorable, on the assumption that nostalgia for its titular locale – mixed with some self-aware “I use Netflix too” nods, and namechecks of level 1 indie bands or movies – will be enough to merit viewership. And because the cast is likeable, and J.B. Smoove is there, it just barely works, keeping its head above absolute cringe and very occasionally peeking into territory where the material would potentially be funny if there was more effort surrounding it, but otherwise, this is a 10-episode blur of laughlessness, with some occasional half-smiles.

The gist is promising: Timmy (Randall Park) has learned that his Michigan based Blockbuster – a physical movie rental store, for those unawares – is now officially the last one, and can essentially operate as its own business, no longer part of a franchise, given its corporate office is shut down. Timmy is a lifer at Blockbuster, and decides to make a go at running the joint on his own, backed by a solid staff of sitcom regulars – the snarky one, the love interest, the bubble-headed one, and the weird one. I’ll call out Olga Merediz as embracing her role well as the series trudges on, though she’s given the greatest character latitude as the aforementioned weird one; others do acceptably, but are stuck with grinding through lazy episode lessons and forced hijinks setup. Melissa Fumero pitches her Brooklyn 99 attitude towards a slacker employee, but Randall Park is not equivalent to Andy Samberg (or really any of her costars from that show) – no shade on Park, exactly, but a big indicator of Blockbuster’s casualness is that there are no leads here: no actors who can carry things on their own, and allow others to play off of them. It’s a bunch of play-off-ofs doing scripted line deliveries.

With broken clock timing, the episodes sometimes land on a funny idea, and I guess a plus side to the casualness is that the writers don’t even have the energy to beat a funny idea into the ground, so it gets tossed out there for a chuckle and passes by, and things are… okay. And then the next episode autoplays, you shrug at its harmless preview image, and finish the series while folding laundry.