This week’s edition of “For Your Consideration” features the Justin Spitzer created show Superstore. The show premiered in the fall of 2015 on NBC, and you can catch its third season Thursday nights this fall! Best known for his writing on The Office, Spitzer has created the workplace network comedy that we didn’t know we needed since the days of The Office and Parks and Rec. Comedies are tricky, finding the balance between the ridiculous and the heartfelt is something this show can do wondrously though. Also, there’s nothing like a workplace comedy that makes you feel like you should be working there too.
The Premise
Superstore takes place in a Walmart-like big box store in St. Louis, Missouri. It follows a group of employees at “Cloud 9” and the misadventures that they take part in at work. The show begins when we meet Amy (America Ferrera), the unhappy floor manager who clashes with the new employee and business school dropout, Jonah (Ben Feldman). The show follows the lives and relationships of an ensemble of crazy characters, imputing just the right amount of social commentary and straight out not-possible-to-get-away-with-at-work antics. There’s the store manager, Glenn (Mark McKinney), whose inability to lead pairs hilariously against Dina’s (Lauren Ash) almost obsessive watch as assistant manager. Garrett (Colton Dunn) is the cool, sarcastic employee who could care less about his job, while Mateo (Nico Santos) cares too much. And then we have Cheyenne (Nichole Bloom), the bubbly, sweet Cheyenne; all equally important to the stories and all equally funny, while a cast of recurring characters makes the show that much stronger.
Why You Should Watch
While Superstore might seem like another cheesy network comedy, I beg to differ. It is a workplace comedy that takes a peek into the lives of working class people, real everyday Americans, like most shows don’t do these days. Middle America has gotten a lot of press, especially in the last year, but this show gives these people a space to exist where their lives are just as important and interesting as the rest of the country, a space where they can be funny and smart and multidimensional. Somewhere they can be free of stereotypes, but full of loving eccentricities. Another thing that makes Superstore so worthwhile is the fact that the majority of the main cast is made up of non-white actors. They are real people and the show does them justice by allowing each one of them to shine. This is something producer and lead actress, America Ferrera, has spoken of with so much love for the show. The characters weren’t written with any particular ethnicities in mind, and for probably one of the first times ever, the default wasn’t white.
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