In Store

I just watched the first two episodes of the new NBC sitcom Superstore.  It's a workplace comedy set in Cloud 9, a Target/Walmart sort of establishment.  It's a one-camera show but unlike The Office, which some have oddly compared it to (maybe not so odd considering creator Justin Spitzer wrote for that show), it's not done documentary style--no one talks into the camera, and stories are told conventionally.

There have been a number of movies set in large stores, and some TV shows occasionally going there (such as Lucky Aide in Malcolm In The Middle--"the L stands for Value"), but I don't recall another sitcom set entirely at such a place.

The leads are America Ferrera as Amy, the efficient floor manager who's a veteran at Cloud 9 but wishes for something better, and Ben Feldman as Jonah, who's just started to work at the store but doesn't take it too seriously.  The two are opposites who seem meant for each other.

The rest of the cast is the kind of wacky one-note characters you expect in a sitcom.  At the top is ineffectual store manager Glenn, played by former Kids In The Hall member Mark McKinney, putting on a funny voice and no longer looking like a kid.  Then there's assistant store manager Dina, a burly gal who has a thing for Jonah and thinks it may be reciprocal.  The other employees are Garrett, a paraplegic who likes to joke around, Mateo, a new worker who's a suck-up, and Cheyenne, a young woman pregnant by her trashy boyfriend.

Some of the gags were okay, but they often seemed over the top and worse, clichéd.  For instance, the non-romance between Jonah and Dina--we've seen this kind of thing before. I hope they drop that angle soon.

The best thing about the show is America Ferrera, who's fresh and believably human.  But so far she and Ben Feldman, as the quirky guy who can maybe show her a new way to look at the world, don't have much chemistry.  If the show is built around anything, it's built around that.

Superstore has possibilities but doesn't seem there yet.  The question is will the audience (including me) stick around as it figures out its tone.