By Coren Feldman
Superstore is a workplace comedy that follows the employees of Cloud 9, a Walmart/Target-estque store in St. Louis, MO. When Jonah (Ben Feldman), a business school dropout, accepts a job While he expects it to be temporary, he quickly realizes he cares about the store family, as well as the floor supervisor, Amy (America Ferrera).
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| Having a heavenly day. |
I'm very passionate about this show (I just rewatched all 6 seasons, only months after the show went off the air), so I'm going to try to organize my thoughts about what makes this show incredible in a way that isn't just word vomit:
The actors
This is very much an ensemble show, and most of the actors come from sketch comedy/ standup backgrounds. Mark Mckinney, the Christian, naïve, mild mannered store manager, starred in Kids In The Hall. Lauren Ash, the by-the-book, intense assistant manager, is an award-winning improvisor (I know that sounds fake but you can google it). And Colton Dunn, a sardonic associate doing the bare minimum, wrote for Key and Peele. The list goes on.
But not only does the show feature them, it encouraged and often used their improv in their episodes, giving the show a very natural and very funny tone.
The issues
The show didn't set out to be a Diverse Show That Tackles Issues. In fact, no characters were written with ethnicities attached. (save for Matteo, who was originally written as Hispanic but later cast as Filipino - it's a long story.) But the cast they ended up picking is very diverse, which over time allowed them to tackle systematic issues in society, something that wasn't planned, but rather happened organically.
The main thing the show tackles in different ways is workers rights - whether that's unions, maternity leave or healthcare, but always from a surprising, effective and funny angle. It's not a preachy show, despite the various causes it advocates for,
The romance
Like most workplace sitcoms, this show has a will-they-won't-they between Jonah and Amy. Unlike most shows, I feel that Superstore does it right. I'll explain. As a viewer who's also a writer, it feels easy and cheap to show that characters like each other through stolen glances, or worse, by having them outright say it. The way they get it so right here is you're made to root for these characters to get together by seeing how compatible they are, how happy they make each other and how much fun they can have.
Looking back at the list I made, I think what really stands out about Superstore is really how organic it all feels. Even the interstitial bits between scenes depicting shoppers doing funny things are often lifted or inspired by real things the cast and crew had seen in similar stores.
Superstore is just fun. It's a great comfort watch, a show that humanizes people working retail jobs and impeccably written and performed comedy. So instead of rewatching The Office for the fifth time, give Superstore a shot. You won't regret it.
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| Coren is the founder of CorenTV and nonbinary - because gender is a performance and theirs is a middle school production of Wicked where no one knows the words. |