With the shutting down of Brooklyn-99 I think we are going to start seeing a lot of he actors and actresses from that beloved cop-comedy attempting to branch out a bit while the iron is still hot in regards to their fame. This of course doesn't apply to Andy Samberg or Terry Crews but the rest of them, get ready because Blockbuster is probably just the beginning of ill-contrived sitcoms that are probably in the works for the near future.
While the story behind this is historically important and also something that people that were alive in the 90's remember very well, I'm afraid that this nostalgia isn't enough to make a show that is actually funny. The demise of Blockbuster the business was one that was a slow but guaranteed death. I was there when it happened Gandalf!
I dated a girl in college that worked at a Blockbuster and the company seemed to be opening as many stores as they possibly could. This wasn't just the case in my own city but all the rest of them in USA as well. Blockbuster was absolutely uncontested as far as "king" of movie rentals was concerned. It may have been this arrogance that lead to their rather rapid decline. These days there is only one Blockbuster that remains open and they do that just out of a tourism sense, nobody actually needs to rent DVD's anymore.
The story of this real-life last Blockbuster is the premise for the show and it takes place after the demise of the movie rental industry in general.
While she is not truly the top-billed star it is undeniable that Melissa Fumero from Brooklyn 99 is the major reason why people are going to even give this show a chance.
She plays the role of Eliza in the show and she has a crush on the manager Timmy who is played by Randall Park who I have seen in various roles but I can't exactly put a finger on what any of them are. It is evident in the first 20 minutes of episode one that these two are inserted into the storyline in order to have some sort of romantic edge that I would imagine comes to fruition later on in the episodes. I can't say for sure that it does because I didn't make it that far.
I only made it through one episode and after getting a few smiles out of me based on some old-school jokes about how the video rental industry totally died, I started to realize that they don't actually have any other comedic material other than that. You can only joke about the mistakes that Blockbuster (the actual business) made but so many times before it elicits an eye-rolling reaction rather than a chuckle.
I don't know how they could have made this better but they could have started by having it be at least a little bit funny. I think that in many ways shows like this are destined to fail because of diversity quotas and because of the fact that so many topics are "off-limits" these days. This, I suspect, is part of the reason why Brooklyn 99 shut down conveniently right about the time that Hollywood started to have a negative impression of police officers.
I don't know the real reason behind it but honestly, it has been a while since I have seen a well-funded sitcom that was filled with decent actors that somehow managed to be this unfunny.
Should I watch it?
If that not funny trailer isn't enough to convince you then I don't know what will. Go ahead and watch the first episode and see for yourself. I would bet money that you wont make it through the entire episode unless you see the situation as a dare of some sort. It's that bad.
