Blue-Color Jobs: A Superstore Retrospective

Big box retail has never been a workers' paradise, and Superstore explores the pain and pressure of living under the indifferent eyes of a giant corporation. Superstore is also a strange example of a network sitcom surviving in a television landscape that has changed the way we understand what a hit show looks like.

0:00 - Introduction
13:20 - Superstore Says Hello
18:26 - Working Class Heroes
27:47 - Going For Olympic Gold
31:00 - The Amy and Jonah Union
48:06 - Product Placement
50:03 - Employee Rep
52:29 - Mateo
56:28 - Garrett
1:02:36 - Dina
1:06:02 - Cheyenne
1:09:18 - Glenn
1:13:03 - Sandra (and the rest)
1:18:32 - 2020 Arrives
1:26:48 - All Sales Final
1:32:12 - Clearance

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[JoseBird]

To save people some time, "Blue-Color" is a play on the term "Blue-Collar". Because they're wearing blue vests. I hope that clears things up for people.

[Neyshtradamus]

Dina as a character was absolutely brilliant. What started as a “female Dwight type” turned into the most endearing character in the series.

[RealLukeWilson]

The fact that Justin Spitzer never wanted the show to take a stance on politics, but through the act of trying to accurately represent normal people living a typical life, MADE a political stance, speaks volumes.

[Very_Okay]

i loved how explicitly pro worker Superstore was. really looking forward to watching this one

[asseenontb]

This show is sooo underrated. Spent 3 years working night shift at Walmart. Came across this show one day. Showed it to my buddy and we both agreed there are so many little things they get right that it’s extremely relatable to anyone who works in big box stores

[ilostthecat]

One of my favorite things about superstore is when Jonah will give these long thought out speeches (kinda like Jim Halpert) and it works like 25% of the time, and most times people dislike him for it

[lucypreece]

I love in the scene when Mateo is being taken away by ICE that the colour looks like it has literally drained from the world. Even the bright colours of peoples clothes like the blue of the vests look dull and lifeless and it really adds to the emotions and the weight and the seriousness of the scene. this isn't a moment for lightheartedness, this isn't a moment for jokes and smiles. This is dark and horrible and depressing the the visuals show that perfectly. Flawless.

[BugsyFoga]

At this point I’ve realized they’ve made a work space comedy about almost every job, wether about teachers at a school, a police force, game developers working at a study, and grocery store employees working at a store, honestly surprised we’ve yet to get one on animators in an animation studio, someone really should hope on to that concept.

[HandsomeLongshanks]

I worked at target for a few years and watching this show felt like working there. There's a scene where they have to unload the truck. The dialogue they use is SPOT ON and accurately used to describe the process we used at target. It felt great to see how much effort they out into the show to get the lingo PERFECT.

[youtubeuniversity]

I like how the show and store aren't named the same.

Dodges confusion in analysis and discussion.

[BobtheRedead]

Fun fact about the union-buster being played by an actor with the last name "Bogatinski." His last name literally means "rich guy" in Russian. (Bogatiy = wealthy.) Unexpectedly perfect casting.

[tedros]

Not sure how aware Americans are of this, but in Canada there is an actual chain of supermarkets called superstore. Having worked at one myself, this show was like ptsd for me

[lonerdreamer]

Another fun fact for Nicole Sakura aka Cheyenne for the gamer viewers; she was also Emily in Until Dawn

[Violetnuit]

this show really saved me through the worst period of depression i have ever experienced. i had lost 30 lbs in a month from not eating and i didn’t get out of my bed for weeks at a time even having seizures from malnutrition until one day hulu recommended me superstore and it was the first time i had laughed in forever. it changed my mood i was so distracted bingeing it i stopped being so in my head and i started slowly taking care of myself again. four years later i have every episode memorized, this show is pure comfort and my mental health has never gotten that bad again :)

[morganm.]

My first experience with Superstore was watching a clip of an episode on the television in the psychiatric hospital I was in at the time. It was to advertise the upcoming episode- the one where Mateo creates the toy drive to help show that he was a valuable citizen. That clip was the first time I had truly laughed in a while. So when I discharged, I had to find the show, and there it was on Hulu. I watched the whole thing up to the point it was at, and then watched every week to see the new episode. The show still feels comforting to me nearly 5 years later

[TherealMatthias]

I was lucky enough to visit the superstore set at universal once, it’s insane how small it actually was. It didn’t feel any bigger than two classrooms put together

[criticalevent]

I watched it when it was broadcast, and even though I was 20 years removed from my time at Walmart, it barely registered as parody to me, it was spot on for everything from the union busting to the affairs to the floor workers turning to back stabbing piles of garbage as soon as they got a manager tag.

[AlexJ]

It's funny - as I was watching this I was thinking "It'd be cool to have Jonah as an undercover union buster from corporate whose character arc has him joining forces with the workers" and welp, they thought of it first I guess. Could be a great movie.

[samirabdel-aziz]

I was working at Kroger when i started watching this show. I kept seeing aspects of my life in the show and i quickly became a major fan.
This has one of the best finales in tv history.

[josemaria]

Superstore is one of the best recent sitcoms. A wonderful show that serves as a modern day equivalent to a Norman Lear show, being hilarious and dealing with serious social issues at the same time