Karl Puschmann: Netflix's Blockbuster a massive flop

Melissa Fumero as Eliza and Randall Park as Timmy in Blockbuster. Streaming on Netflix.

Netflix's new sitcom Blockbuster is the worst show I've watched this year. It's a real stinker. Cheesy with tired characters and dusty situations. It's also not at all funny.

Worst of all is its representation of life working at a Blockbuster video shop. Having actually worked at a Blockbuster I can speak with authority on this matter. Believe me when I say the show is about as accurate as a broken compass.

Shock horror I know. "Goofy TV show not accurate" is hardly going to lead the front page. But it's the closest I've come to feeling the outrage that historians do when they settle in to watch a movie set within their area of expertise. A Blockbuster shop is not Pearl Harbor but for those of us that worked there it may as well be. We want it to be correct. We want it to be right. Blockbuster is neither.

It looks the part. But it quickly becomes clear that all the Blockbuster livery in the show is mere facade. Its purpose is only to provoke nostalgia and allow characters to drop movie titles as punchlines. You could transplant this show into any struggling business and not miss a beat.

You could argue that the show is about the people and not the setting. But the show is named after the setting. The setting is the sole reason I was excited to watch the show in the first place.

So if it's not about Blockbuster what is it about? Against the backdrop of America's last Blockbuster store there's a will they/won't they? love triangle, a plucky band of misfits working together to triumph, or at least keep the store open, and a morality tale about human connection. None of which is particularly convincing.

The love triangle stuff between store manager Timmy, his long-term crush Eliza and her cheating ex has zero spark. Timmy spends most of his time whining and Eliza is constantly in "eye-rolling at his ideas" mode. They seem more like friends than two people with the hots for each other.

As for the plucky band of employee misfits, well, the less said about them the better. The supporting characters are nothing new and not interesting, except for comedian JB Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm). Sadly, he's forced to water down his wildcard comedy style to fit.

Show creator Vanessa Ramos (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) took inspiration from America's actual last Blockbuster. But it seems she never spent any time in it. There are no heated discussions about movies. No championing or disparaging of stars or directors. No espousing of movie theories or chats about favourite scenes. No love of movies. No nothing. They may as well be working in a supermarket for all the difference it would make.

Blockbuster is a massive flop. A video shop is a fantastic setting for a pop-culture riffing meta sitcom. But Blockbuster blows it by going big and broad instead of tight and focused. It's cheesy and obvious instead of smart.

The funniest thing about the whole show is that it's on Netflix. The global streaming giant is largely responsible for delivering Blockbuster's deathblow. No one wanted to go out and rent movies when you could stay home and stream them instead.

The show is so mediocre that it's hard to see it getting a second season. This of course means Netflix will get to kill Blockbuster a second time. Now that's comedy.