''Superstore'' is an American
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
television series that aired on
NBC from November 30, 2015, to March 25, 2021.
The series was created and produced by
Justin Spitzer
Justin Spitzer is an American television and film writer, producer, and series creator whose credits include ''Scrubs'' and ''Courting Alex''. He worked as a writing assistant on '' Queer as Folk'' (U.S. version) and ''Grounded for Life'' prio ...
. Starring
America Ferrera and
Ben Feldman
Ben Feldman (born May 27, 1980) is an American actor and producer. Throughout his career, Feldman has undertaken roles on stage, including the Broadway play ''The Graduate'' along with more prominent roles in television series such as his role ...
(who both also serve as
executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
s), ''Superstore'' follows a group of employees working at Cloud 9, a fictional
big-box chain store in
St. Louis,
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
. The ensemble and supporting cast includes
Lauren Ash
Lauren Elizabeth Ash (born February 4, 1983) is a Canadian actress and comedian based in Los Angeles, but originally from Belleville, Ontario. Ash is best known among television audiences for her role as Dina Fox on the sitcom '' Superstore''. ...
,
Colton Dunn
Colton Dunn (born June 30, 1977) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his role as Garrett McNeil on the NBC workplace comedy '' Superstore'' (2015–2021) and for his work on Comedy Central sketch co ...
,
Nico Santos,
Nichole Sakura
Nichole Sakura O'Connor (born December 15, 1989), formerly credited as Nichole Bloom, is an American actress and model. She is best known for her role as Cheyenne in the NBC sitcom '' Superstore.''
Career
She had the recurring role of Amanda o ...
,
Mark McKinney, and
Kaliko Kauahi
Kaliko Kauahi (born January 11, 1974) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Sandra Kaluiokalani in NBC's comedy television series ''Superstore'' (2015–2021). Additionally, she played the recurring role of Principal Kwan in the ...
. A Spanish-language adaptation, titled ''
Supertitlán
''Supertitlán'' is a Mexican television sitcom adapted from the American series '' Superstore'', created by Justin Spitzer. It premiered on Azteca 7 on 30 May 2022. Starring an ensemble cast headed by Jesús Zavala and Sofía Espinosa, ''Super ...
'', debuted on the Mexican television network
Azteca 7
Azteca 7 (also called El Siete) is a Mexican network owned by TV Azteca, with more than 100 main transmitters all over Mexico.
Azteca 7 is available on all cable and satellite systems. A substantial portion of their purchased programming include ...
on 30 May 2022.
Cast and characters
Main
Recurring
Notable guest stars
*
Fred Armisen
Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen was the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series ''Portlandia''. He ...
as a representative for a charity.
*
Eliza Coupe as employee magazine reporter.
*
Howie Mandel
Howard Michael Mandel (born November 29, 1955) is a Canadian-American comedian, television personality, actor, and producer. Mandel voiced the character Gizmo in the 1984 film ''Gremlins'' and the 1990 sequel '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch''. I ...
as himself, a comedian whom Dina mistakes as a newly hired Cloud 9 employee.
*
Natasha Leggero as shoplifter.
*
Cecily Strong as fictional Olympic gymnast Missy Jones.
*
Tony Plana
José Antonio Plana (born April 19, 1952) is a Cuban actor and director. He is known for playing Betty Suarez's father, Ignacio Suarez, on the ABC television show ''Ugly Betty'' and for voicing Manuel "Manny" Calavera in the video game ''Grim ...
as Ron Sosa, Amy's father. (In Ferrera's previous series, ''
Ugly Betty
''Ugly Betty'' is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which was originally broadcast on ABC. It premiered on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian t ...
'', Plana also played her character's father.)
*
Marlene Forte
Ana Marlene Forte Machado, better known as Marlene Forte, is a Cuban actress and producer. She is perhaps best known for her role as Carmen Ramos on the television soap opera ''Dallas'' (2012–2014). Forte also had recurring roles in '' Fear th ...
as Connie Sosa, Amy's mother.
*
Brenda Song as Kristen, Glenn's foster daughter and former love interest of Jonah.
*
Felipe Esparza
Felipe Esparza is a Mexican born American stand-up comedian and actor. He began performing stand-up in 1994. He won ''Last Comic Standing'' in 2010.
Esparza has hosted a weekly podcast called ''What's Up Fool?'' since 2014.
Early life and educa ...
as Cody, a stoner stockroom associate.
*
Brian Howe as Neil Penderson, Cloud 9
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
.
*
Fred Melamed
Fred Melamed (born May 13, 1956) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for portraying Sy Ableman in the Coen Brothers' ''A Serious Man'' (2009). He is also known for his collaborations with Woody Allen appearing in seven of ...
as Richard Simms, Jonah's father.
*
Meagen Fay
Meagen Fay is an American actress known for her work in television. Best known as Roxy in '' Ohara'' (1987-1988), Principal Halloron in ''Life With Louie'' (1995-1998), and Gretchen Mannkusser in ''Malcolm in the Middle'' (2002-2004) and Loot on ...
as Marilyn Simms, Jonah's mother.
*
Eden Sher
Eden Rebecca Sher (born December 26, 1991) is an American actress, best known for her roles as Sue Heck from the family sitcom series '' The Middle'' (2009–2018) and as Star Butterfly from the Disney Channel animated fantasy dramedy series ...
as Penny, a young woman who works at Cloud 9 for one day.
*
Chrissy Metz as Luanne, a Cloud 9 corporate employee who investigates the source of damning Tweets at the store.
*
Anjelah Johnson
Anjelah Nicole Johnson-Reyes (born May 14, 1982) is an American actress, comedian, and former NFL cheerleader. Johnson was a cast member on the series ''MADtv'' during its 13th season. Her characters included a Vietnamese nail salon employee na ...
as Robin Green, union leader.
*
Jason Ritter as Josh Simms, Jonah's brother.
*
Sean Gunn as Card Shopper
*
Dean Norris as Howard Fox, Dina Fox's estranged father
*
Affion Crockett
Affion Crockett (born August 12, 1974) is an American actor and comedian.
Early life
Crockett was raised in Germany and Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Career
Crockett appeared in HBO's ''Def Comedy Jam'' in 1996, demonstrating his impression ...
as Tommy, organizer at the Raise the Wage protest
*
Jacob Wysocki
Jacob Wysocki (born June 20, 1990) is an American actor and comedian.
Life and career
Wysocki became interested in acting while still in high school. During these years, he also performed with ComedySportz and started to act in school plays. Af ...
as Frisco, friend of Bo (Cheyenne's husband)
*
Dave Foley
David Scott Foley (born January 4, 1963) is a Canadian actor, stand-up comedian, director, producer and writer. He is known as a co-founder of the comedy group The Kids in the Hall, who have appeared together in a number of television, stage and ...
as Lowell Anderson, son of Cloud 9's founder
Episodes
Production
Development and filming
The series was one of three pilots picked up by NBC on January 14, 2015. The series was the first project for
Ruben Fleischer's newly formed company The District as part of a two-year deal with Universal, as he directed the pilot episode. ''Superstore'' was officially picked up as a series on May 7, 2015, by
NBC.
The first season consisted of eleven episodes, after the episode order was reduced from thirteen on October 19, 2015. NBC announced on November 2, 2015, that the series would premiere on Monday, January 4, 2016, but before the premiere it would air two back-to-back episodes on November 30, 2015, following ''
The Voice''.
On February 23, 2016, the series was renewed for a second season by NBC. On May 15, 2016, NBC announced that the series would lead off its Thursday night primetime programming in the 2016–17 season. The second season premiered on September 22, 2016,
with a 22-episode order that was announced on September 23, 2016. The season concluded on May 4, 2017.
A special Olympics-themed episode aired on August 19, 2016, during the network's coverage of the
2016 Rio Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...
. On February 21, 2018, NBC renewed the series for a 22-episode fourth season, which premiered on October 4, 2018.
On March 4, 2019, NBC renewed the series for a fifth season,
which premiered on September 26, 2019.
On February 11, 2020, the series was renewed for a sixth season.
In March 2020, production on the show was shut down due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, which resulted in the fifth season having 21 episodes instead of the originally-planned 22. The sixth season began filming on September 8, 2020. The season premiered on October 29, 2020. In December 2020, NBC announced that the sixth season would be its last. Production on the final season was completed on February 28, 2021. The series finale aired on March 25, 2021.
Casting
It was announced on February 20, 2015, that
Lauren Ash
Lauren Elizabeth Ash (born February 4, 1983) is a Canadian actress and comedian based in Los Angeles, but originally from Belleville, Ontario. Ash is best known among television audiences for her role as Dina Fox on the sitcom '' Superstore''. ...
had been cast as a series regular, and would be playing Dina, the store's assistant manager. On March 2, 2015, ''Deadline'' reported that ''Superstore'' had added three other cast members:
Colton Dunn
Colton Dunn (born June 30, 1977) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his role as Garrett McNeil on the NBC workplace comedy '' Superstore'' (2015–2021) and for his work on Comedy Central sketch co ...
,
Mark McKinney and
Nico Santos. The website reported that Dunn would be playing Garrett, the often-sarcastic narrator of the piece, McKinney would be playing Glenn, the intense store manager, and Santos would be playing Mateo, another new employee and a brown-noser from an impoverished background. On March 12, 2015,
Nichole Sakura
Nichole Sakura O'Connor (born December 15, 1989), formerly credited as Nichole Bloom, is an American actress and model. She is best known for her role as Cheyenne in the NBC sitcom '' Superstore.''
Career
She had the recurring role of Amanda o ...
was announced to have joined the show as Cheyenne, a pregnant teenage employee.
''
Deadline'' announced on March 13, 2015, that
Ben Feldman
Ben Feldman (born May 27, 1980) is an American actor and producer. Throughout his career, Feldman has undertaken roles on stage, including the Broadway play ''The Graduate'' along with more prominent roles in television series such as his role ...
had landed the male lead in ''Superstore'', as Jonah, a new employee in the superstore Cloud 9. Three days later, ''
TVLine'' announced on March 16, 2015, that
America Ferrera had landed the female lead as the floor supervisor Amy in the Cloud 9 store. It was also reported that Ferrera was also a producer for the show.
On May 22, 2019, NBC announced that recurring cast member Kaliko Kauahi who portrays Cloud 9 worker Sandra has been upped to a series regular for the fifth season.
America Ferrera's departure
After NBC had initially announced the sixth season renewal of the series, the network revealed on February 28, 2020, that series star America Ferrera, would be departing the series at the end of the fifth season citing a desire to work on new projects and to spend more time with her family.
After production of the fifth season was cut short by one episode due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Ferrera noted her departure from the show might be delayed into season 6 in order to give her character's arc a proper closure. Ultimately, Ferrera was in the first two episodes of the sixth season as well as the final three episodes.
Crossovers
Different Cloud 9 store locations have appeared in other series produced by NBCUniversal Television, including
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
's ''
The Mindy Project
''The Mindy Project'' is an American romantic comedy television series created by and starring Mindy Kaling that began airing on Fox in September 2012 and finished its run of six seasons on Hulu in November 2017. The series was co-produced by Uni ...
'', NBC's ''
Good Girls'' and ''
I Feel Bad
I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plural ...
''.
Cloud 9 Superstore
![Cloud9 Superstore Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Cloud9_Superstore_Logo.jpg)
The Cloud 9 Superstore is a fictional
big box store. In addition to typical American everyday products, Cloud 9 sells guns
and liquor,
and has a pharmacy.
Cloud 9 has its own credit union for its employees.
It also had a
photo studio.
The spokesman for Cloud 9 was Daniel Hertzler (as ''Kyle the Cloud 9 Cloud''), until he was arrested and charged with
cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...
.
The corporation, which is based in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, does not offer
paid maternity leave,
health insurance
Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among ma ...
, or paid overtime to its employees.
Under Cloud 9 policy, employees may take one bathroom break per shift, and are allotted 15 minutes for lunch.
In an effort to control what is happening in the individual stores, all locks and lights,
as well as temperature control and music,
are controlled from the corporate office. In 2017, Cloud 9 changed its store brand from Halo to Super Cloud. Cloud 9 also has its own magazine called ''Stratus''.
The main characters for the show work at store 1217, the "Ozark Highlands" store, which is located in
St. Louis,
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
, on Ozark Highlands Road.
The store fell under Jeff Sutin, who was district manager from 2006 to 2018, and then again from late 2020 (formerly Laurie Neustadt in 2018 and Maya from 2019 – 2020).
The store was destroyed by a tornado during the season 2 finale, and reopened during the season 3 premiere. Other area locations include
Kirkwood,
Fenton,
Easton,
and
Bel-Ridge.
Additionally, there are locations mentioned in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
,
and in
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
.
Cloud 9 has locations in multiple countries, with stores in
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
,
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
Taipei
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...
, and
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
.
The pilot was shot at a redressed
Kmart in
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...
(with Kmart signage visible throughout the episode), but the rest of the series was shot on sets constructed on two soundstages.
Reception
Ratings
The series debuted as a "preview" on November 30, 2015, following an episode of ''
The Voice'' with 7 million viewers, making it the second highest new comedy behind ''
Life in Pieces
''Life in Pieces'' is an American sitcom television series created by Justin Adler and which premiered on CBS on September 21, 2015 and concluded on June 27, 2019. The series was produced by 40 or 50 Years, Inc., Kapital Entertainment in associa ...
''.
The series then moved to its regular Monday at 8:00 pm timeslot on January 4, 2016, with more than 6 million viewers making the highest rated NBC comedy that did not have ''
The Voice'' as a lead-in since ''
The Michael J. Fox Show
''The Michael J. Fox Show'' is an American sitcom television series starring Michael J. Fox, that aired on NBC in the United States from September 26, 2013, to January 23, 2014, as part of the 2013–14 American television season. Fox made his r ...
'' back in September 2013.
Critical reception
On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the first season has a score of 58 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews" based on reviews from 21 critics. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the first season has a 64% rating, based on reviews from 33 critics, with an average rating of 5.01/10. The site's consensus is: "''Superstore''s talented cast and obvious potential are slightly overshadowed by a tonally jumbled presentation and thin, formulaic writing."
As the first season went along, reviews started to become more positive. Following the finale "Labor", the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' called it one of TV's best new comedies." Pilot Viruet of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' wrote that the "first season ... got better and more confident as it moved on", and that the first-season finale "is a nice little cap to a nice little sitcom that could’ve used a little more attention." After the series aired its Olympics special, ''
Variety'' wrote that the show was "a funny, pointed and essential workplace comedy", and that "there are no weak links in
heensemble".
The second season was lauded by critics and has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on reviews from 7 critics. The third season has 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 11 critics. The site's consensus reads, "''Superstore'' graduates from the clearance section of network comedies to stake its claim as one of the most lovable ensembles on television, fleshing out its charming cast while expertly teasing out its central romance." The fourth season received critical acclaim with critics saying "''Superstore'' remains a furtively fearless riot in its comedic approach to heavy, timely issues." with a score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 15 reviews. The fifth season received critical acclaim with a score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 9 reviews. The sixth season has received positive reviews with a score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 13 reviews.
Accolades
Cancelled spin-off
In December 2020, it was reported that a spin-off, titled ''Bo & Cheyenne'' and starring
Johnny Pemberton
John deJarnette Pemberton III (born June 1, 1981) is an American actor, comedian, podcast host and streamer from Rochester, Minnesota. He is best known for his role as the titular ''Son of Zorn'' in the short-lived Fox sitcom, and has also appea ...
and
Nichole Sakura
Nichole Sakura O'Connor (born December 15, 1989), formerly credited as Nichole Bloom, is an American actress and model. She is best known for her role as Cheyenne in the NBC sitcom '' Superstore.''
Career
She had the recurring role of Amanda o ...
, was in early development at NBC. The series was to be a co-production between Spitzer Holding Company, The District, and Universal Television, with Bridget Kyle and Vicky Luu as writers. On March 25, 2021, following ''Superstore''s series finale, the showrunners stated that they did not factor the potential spin-off into the episode because its development was still in early stages. The following day Kyle said in an interview that the project appeared dead, stating, "Unfortunately, yesterday, NBC notified us that they're not going forward with the ''Superstore'' spin-off."
Spanish-language adaptation
In February 2021, it was reported that a Spanish-language adaptation, titled ''
Supertitlán
''Supertitlán'' is a Mexican television sitcom adapted from the American series '' Superstore'', created by Justin Spitzer. It premiered on Azteca 7 on 30 May 2022. Starring an ensemble cast headed by Jesús Zavala and Sofía Espinosa, ''Super ...
'', is in development.
Home media
Notes
See also
*''
Trollied
''Trollied'' is a British sitcom about employees in a fictional supermarket named "Valco", which debuted on Sky One on 4 August 2011 and ended on 23 December 2018. The series was filmed in a purpose-built replica supermarket in the Bottle Yard ...
'', a similar British series developed and broadcast some years earlier, which may have been an inspiration for the series.
*
''Chuck'' (TV series), a comedy spy series set in a fictional big box appliance store.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Superstore
2015 American television series debuts
2021 American television series endings
2010s American LGBT-related comedy television series
2020s American LGBT-related comedy television series
2010s American single-camera sitcoms
2020s American single-camera sitcoms
2010s American workplace comedy television series
2020s American workplace comedy television series
American LGBT-related sitcoms
English-language television shows
NBC original programming
Television series by Universal Television
Television series set in shops
Television shows featuring audio description
Television shows set in St. Louis
Mass media portrayals of the working class