Store Manager Glenn (Mark McKinney) and Cloud 9 Employee Cheyenne (Nichole Bloom). Source: nbc.com |
The customers of Cloud 9 are not given much dialogue, but each episode is interspersed with cutaway gags featuring customers doing ridiculous things in the aisles of the store. (My favorite is the one where a pageant mom is applying spray tan to the arms of her fully-made up, already-in-her-sequins toddler daughter.) These scenes neatly subvert the easy punchline of bad customer service by showing us bad customers.
In this week's cleverly titled episode, pregnant cosmetics counter clerk Cheyenne nearly gives birth to her baby in the store. This inspires her co-workers to approach corporate about paid maternity leave. Corporate hears "union" and sends in a "labor relations consultant."
Jonah and Amy make a fateful phone call. Source: nbc.com |
In the episode's final scene, the Cloud 9 employees stage a walkout and emerge from the store in their royal blue vests and a cloud of victory. The moment, perfectly punctuated by a remix of The Who's "Baba O'Riley," was, frankly, moving.
Like nearly every other show worth watching right now, Superstore airs on Monday nights. Even though NBC's viewership was lower than the other three major networks for the 8 o'clock time slot last night, considering Superstore was up against The X-Files finale and The Bachelor, 4.68 million viewers is not a bad haul. Today, TV Line reported that the show will get a second season. All the more reason for you to catch up now!
So, what kind of comedy does Superstore want to be? A clever one. One with heart. One that will surprise you. It's the kind of NBC comedy I wasn't sure we'd ever see again. But it's here. Get together with Superstore before you get much older.