Randall Park to star in a Netflix workplace comedy set at the last Blockbuster Video store

Deadline

Superstore and Brooklyn Nine-Nine writer Vanessa Ramos created Blockbuster, a single-camera comedy led by Park -- who once starred in an Ikea-set web series -- taking place in the last remaining Blockbuster Video store. "While Superstore took place at the fictional Cloud 9 superstore, Blockbuster will provide an authentic experience in its trip down memory lane as the producers have acquired the Blockbuster rights and will use the store’s logo and uniforms," according to Deadline. "Blockbuster is an ensemble comedy that takes place in the last Blockbuster Video in America, that explores what it takes – and more specifically who it takes – for a small business to succeed against all odds." Happy Endings creator David Caspe and Superstore and Happy Endings vet Jackie Clarke will serve as writers and executive producers. “To say getting to make a show about a place I love, with my friends Jackie and David, and Randall Park as our star is a dream come true, somehow feels like an understatement,” says Ramos, who credits Netflix "for being on board with so many weird jokes.” As Deadline's Nellie Andreeva notes, "there is a lot of symbolism — and irony — in the pickup as Netflix originated as an underdog movie rental upstart that was almost crushed by then-dominant giant Blockbuster Video. Netflix co-founders Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings actually tried selling the company to Blockbuster for $50 million in 2000 but were rebuffed. Hastings went on to build Netflix into one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world, while Blockbuster ceased operations in 2014."