Superstore In the Media

[Jaded]

America Ferrera to Exit ‘Superstore’ After Current Season

America Ferrera Leaving Superstore

Edited February 28, 2020 by Jaded

[Harvey]

Great news. She was never a likeable lead character. Plus, it's a ballsy move for a show to write off one of it's leads so you know the season finale will be interesting. Hopefully she and Jonah break up and next season will be better.

Edited February 28, 2020 by Harvey

[Marley]

I think it sucks she’s leaving. The show won’t be the same and whenever main characters leave shows they start to suck most of the time. The show should just end.

I like her and Jonah together too.

[Ms Lark]

Sounds like she's leaving to be a mom and spend time with the second baby coming. She's also quite an activist, so that may take up her time, too. Priorities.

I do wonder if turning her character into an incompetent bumbler didn't help her make the choice to leave. It had to be frustrating to play such an ineffectual manager when she started out so dynamic. Just a thought.

[Irlandesa]

I'm of two minds on this.  I like her and I liked Amy but they've written her into a corner lately.   The dynamics have changed and I don't know if it's because of the story or the show runner change but there's something not smooth about how she's incorporated as a boss but also a love interest.  Those two roles don't serve her comedic potential because the character has to walk the line between being a hero and a an antagonist.   They can't go too far either way as the middleman.

So even though I like her and will miss her, there's potential to do a mini reboot.

It sounds like this was her decision.   Or at least I hope so.  She's not only expecting her second child but she might want to get more into producing.  It might give her more flexibility that being on set all day can't offer.

[SnarkEnthusiast]

I wish America well. I don't really care about Amy leaving at all (her character added nothing to the show for multiple seasons and has been Flanderized into a bizarre combo of buzzkill and doofus), but what about Jonah? His character is built on being into Amy, as big of a letdown as their relationship payoff turned out to be. He's the Jim of Superstore if Jim and Pam's relationship were dour and joyless. It was implied they were headed towards engagement a few episodes ago, so I don't see the writers pulling a hiatus break up, but it feels like a waste of Jonah's potential to saddle him with an off-screen marriage. Ben Feldman has wonderful chemistry with everyone, but I don't think they'll undo the show's main pairing to let him have a new love interest. So his character is basically yet again thrown under the bus for Amy, which is irritating.

[Trillium]

My only hope is they fuck her departure up so much that a rewatch of the series is unbearable, ala the How I Met Your Mother disaster of a finale. 

[Harvey]

5 minutes ago, SnarkEnthusiast said:

I wish America well. I don't really care about Amy leaving at all (her character added nothing to the show for multiple seasons and has been Flanderized into a bizarre combo of buzzkill and doofus), but what about Jonah? His character is built on being into Amy, as big of a letdown as their relationship payoff turned out to be. He's the Jim of Superstore if Jim and Pam's relationship were dour and joyless. It was implied they were headed towards engagement a few episodes ago, so I don't see the writers pulling a hiatus break up, but it feels like a waste of Jonah's potential to saddle him with an off-screen marriage. Ben Feldman has wonderful chemistry with everyone, but I don't think they'll undo the show's main pairing to let him have a new love interest. So his character is basically yet again thrown under the bus for Amy, which is irritating.

They have been setting up this conflict of Corporate's interest Vs. The workers interest all season. Jonah will probably go into being a worker's right activist even more so that will give him something to do outside of his romantic relationship.

[Artsda]

Lead actress departing I didn't expect. Especially when she produces.

[chitowngirl]

If she stays on as Producer, perhaps Amy will pop in occasionally. Will Amy move up to Corporate?

[Kip Hackman]

Terrible news. While I never had any investment in the Jonah/Any relationship, I just can't imagine the show without America.

Sure, The Office continued after Steve Carell left. But it probably shouldn't have.

[North of Eden]

They need to do what CHEERS did when Diane left.bring in a completely different type of character like Rebbeca was to shake up the dynamic.

[Aulty]

If America is game for the odd guest appearance they could have Amy move up to coorporate and keep Jonah in the store. I don't really want them to break those two up.

[Kiddvideo]

I’m ok with this, and I hope Jonah goes with her. I think those characters can be rolled into one person who is smart and competent but still thinks managing a retail discount store in suburban St. Louis is a few steps below where they thought they’d be. I think the stars of the show are the odd ball employees w a smaller nod to the customers.

[Kip Hackman]

3 hours ago, Kiddvideo said:

I hope Jonah goes with her.

Doubtful. The producers aren't gonna let Ben Feldman go anywhere. He's basically the 2nd lead character. If anything, he'll probably get a raise. He can continue to play the hipster d-bag, no matter who the boss is.

Looking back, it now seems pretty clear why they dialed back the Amy/Jonah romance this season. 

 

[reallyjustjen]

On 2/29/2020 at 6:31 AM, Aulty said:

If America is game for the odd guest appearance they could have Amy move up to coorporate and keep Jonah in the store. I don't really want them to break those two up.

I hope the writers are reading your idea, LOL!   The show runners do seem to enjoy infusing social and societal commentary into the show, so the whole “failing upward” thing could work nicely, given Amy’s bumbling incompetence for much of this season.  

[dovegrey]

I've been a casual viewer from the start and am curious to see where the show will go without Amy. She's become my least favorite part of the show; I don't believe her as the store manager; and I think she's the most boring part of most episodes. 

I imagine they'll promote her to corporate, she and Jonah will split, and the store will get a new manager. I'm interested to see what they do with that manager. In any event, when I worked big-box discount retail back in college, salaried managers and store managers were there one second, gone the next, and everyone just moved on. NBD.

Edited March 1, 2020 by dovegrey
clarification

[chaifan]

On 2/29/2020 at 6:31 AM, Aulty said:

If America is game for the odd guest appearance they could have Amy move up to coorporate and keep Jonah in the store. I don't really want them to break those two up.

I don't really care if Amy & Jonah break up, but I would like to have her not totally written out of the script.  I'm not sure how they come up with a reasonable reason for her leaving, except for corporate (or to work for some other entity corporate owns).  She could be like Jeff - pop in for 5 minutes 2-3 times per season.  It will be interesting to see what they do with Jonah without Amy.  Please, please, please, just leave him as single (or long distance dating Amy). 

The funny thing is, when I saw that she was leaving I was thinking, "wait, don't most sitcoms contract their actors for 5 seasons?"  And then I realized this was the 5th season.  Seems to have gone by rather fast. 

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, chaifan said:

The funny thing is, when I saw that she was leaving I was thinking, "wait, don't most sitcoms contract their actors for 5 seasons?"  And then I realized this was the 5th season.  Seems to have gone by rather fast. 

I think it's longer these days. The articles about her departure talk about her leaving with a year left on her contract. 

[wknt3]

10 hours ago, chaifan said:

The funny thing is, when I saw that she was leaving I was thinking, "wait, don't most sitcoms contract their actors for 5 seasons?"  And then I realized this was the 5th season.  Seems to have gone by rather fast. 

 

7 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I think it's longer these days. The articles about her departure talk about her leaving with a year left on her contract. 

It is longer and has been for a long time. The standard contract is 7 years (or in some cases these days 6 with a studio option for the 7th). The studios and networks would probably prefer more, but California has a law which prohibits personal services contracts for longer than 7 years. So yes she is leaving before her contract is up and I assume at some point we will learn about some sort of backstage drama.

[Aulty]

Amy's farewell will probably be pushed to the next season after production had to shut down early.

[Irlandesa]

I would imagine they would have a ton of material for next season--whenever they get around to filming again.

[Irlandesa]

Nico Santos said his stepfather died from the coronavirus and his mother has been diagnosed with it as well.

 

[Harvey]

On 3/21/2020 at 3:04 AM, Irlandesa said:

I would imagine they would have a ton of material for next season--whenever they get around to filming again.

What makes you say that? Do you have some amazing ideas for upcoming plotlines?

[ItCouldBeWorse]

4 hours ago, Harvey said:

What makes you say that? Do you have some amazing ideas for upcoming plotlines?

The world has changed. I don't think that even comedies can completely ignore it. It would be like pretending 9/11 never happened, except more so because everyone is affected by this. It will be a challenge how to integrate it.  For instance, was the store open the entire time? Will there be an episode devoted to toilet paper hoarding, or at least a mention of the fact that it happened? 

[Irlandesa]

18 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Will there be an episode devoted to toilet paper hoarding, or at least a mention of the fact that it happened? 

Exactly.  I'm guessing people working in stores like Cloud 9 have stories.

[chaifan]

2 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

The world has changed. I don't think that even comedies can completely ignore it. It would be like pretending 9/11 never happened, except more so because everyone is affected by this. It will be a challenge how to integrate it.  For instance, was the store open the entire time? Will there be an episode devoted to toilet paper hoarding, or at least a mention of the fact that it happened? 

There's enough material in what has happened the last few weeks to make a whole new show!  After all, Tragedy + Time = Comedy. 

 

 

[Harvey]

 

7 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

The world has changed. I don't think that even comedies can completely ignore it. It would be like pretending 9/11 never happened, except more so because everyone is affected by this. It will be a challenge how to integrate it.  For instance, was the store open the entire time? Will there be an episode devoted to toilet paper hoarding, or at least a mention of the fact that it happened? 

I guess there could be a story about one of the employees catching the disease and dealing with that, the others being paranoid about being infected and stuff like that.

Edited March 30, 2020 by Harvey

[DanaK]

The Futon Critic site is indicating Superstore's season finale is on April 9 instead of April 23. Can anyone else confirm? It's probably due to production shutdowns due to the pandemic

[Aulty]

Yes, they had to shut down production due to corona (they were about to film America's final episode which will now be part of season 6) and episode S05E21 (California Pt. 1) will be the season finale. 

[DanaK]

Deadline and other news sites say the finale is confirmed to be April 23 https://deadline.com/2020/04/nbc-new-finales-seasons-cut-short-coronavirus-shutdown-indebted-1202899375/

[Kip Hackman]

9 hours ago, DanaK said:

Deadline and other news sites say the finale is confirmed to be April 23 https://deadline.com/2020/04/nbc-new-finales-seasons-cut-short-coronavirus-shutdown-indebted-1202899375/

Makes no sense to me.

There's one episode left. They're gonna make us wait 3 weeks to see it?

[chocolatine]

On 4/3/2020 at 6:37 AM, Kip Hackman said:

Makes no sense to me.

There's one episode left. They're gonna make us wait 3 weeks to see it?

I guess NBC is trying to stretch out whatever new content they have left so it doesn't dry up all at once. But I agree, it's annoying to make us wait three weeks for one episode that's not even a real season finale.

[Trini]

'...Stars and Showrunners Reveal Their Favorite Episodes of Their Own Shows'

Quote

Ben Feldman - Superstore

S1E9, "All Nighter" - "This is a fan fav but its also unanimously was one of the cast's favorites to do and to shoot. We're stuck in the store all night and get super drunk (still not convinced America wasn't *actually* drunk shooting it)." 

S2E22, "Tornado" - "We don't mess around with season finales. This one involves a natural disaster (ill leave it to you sleuths to guess what kind) but also two characters finally kiss which I guess makes this an important episode." 

S3E5, "Sal's Dead" - "Our Halloween episodes are consistently bananas but this one cold opens on a dead guy stuck in a wall so I'm choosing it over the others."

S2E14, "Valentine's Day" -  "One of my all time favorite storylines was in season 2 about a lonely character who created a fake romance with another character who was actually dating a different character and this is most ridiculous episode from that storyline. Also I go undercover to catch a thief. 

S2E13, "Ladies Lunch" - "Another cast favorite. The women on this show are insanely funny and smart and different and weird and ridiculous. This episode highlights that, while mostly cutting the fat (the boys). Also a chance to see the late, GREAT Linda Porter do what she did best on our show (be offensively off-putting) and we introduce one of my favorite guest characters, Jerry." 

S4E6, "Maternity Leave" - "Amy has to come back to work like 2 seconds after having a baby because she doesn't have maternity leave and its a disaster. Curious why America is a huge star? She has a breakdown in this episode that is a masterclass in stupid hilarity and genuine emotional diarrhea." 

S5E15, "Cereal Bar" - "It's about suspicions of corporate ulterior motives but it's also got this super funny/creepy romance between one of the more eccentric characters and a criminal."

S2E4, "Guns, Pills & Birds" - "One of my favorite "me" episodes, but its also about gun rights and contraceptives, perfect guest cast and an all around great/emblematic Superstore episode." 

S2E21, "Cheyanne's Wedding" - "Another perfect Superstore episode with high stake work issues, adorable romcomy vibes, dancing, real heartache, rap, formal attire and the most ridiculous and legendary returning character on the show, Bo." 

S3E13, "Video Game Release" & S3E20, "Gender Reveal" - "I told America Ferrera and Lauren Ash that I'd include these episodes as they (respectively) directed and wrote them And I'm scared of both of them. But also they belong on quintessential Superstore best of lists anyway. VGR is my favorite of the eps AF directed and its filled with weirdo cosplaying gamers and America and I go on an adventure in a tunnel! It's a really smart and well done episode. Gender Reveal is all babies all day and its insanely funny but it also ends with a crazy emotional moment and a major announcement."

 

[Irlandesa]

2 minutes ago, Trini said:

S2E14, "Valentine's Day" -  "One of my all time favorite storylines was in season 2 about a lonely character who created a fake romance with another character who was actually dating a different character and this is most ridiculous episode from that storyline. Also I go undercover to catch a thief. 

S2E13, "Ladies Lunch" - "Another cast favorite. The women on this show are insanely funny and smart and different and weird and ridiculous. This episode highlights that, while mostly cutting the fat (the boys). Also a chance to see the late, GREAT Linda Porter do what she did best on our show (be offensively off-putting) and we introduce one of my favorite guest characters, Jerry." 

Reading the description of these two episodes is making me nostalgic.  Season 2 was so good for this show.  Jeff wasn't ridic.  He and Mateo were sweet together.  And Sandra's fake relationship with Jeff was also hilarious.  It was one of this show's best long term stories.

[Grundoon59]

Superstore was an answer on Jeopardy tonight but no one got it.  I felt sad.

[ApathyMonger]

A livestream of just the interstitials:

 

 

[Kip Hackman]

'Superstore' Bosses Break Down the Amy & Jonah Finale Cliffhanger and America Ferrera's Return (Exclusive)

[ApathyMonger]

https://youtu.be/C9H_7O0pGho

[Trini]

5 hours ago, ApathyMonger said:

https://youtu.be/C9H_7O0pGho

How to Make Superstore Guacamole - Cooking with Colton

Quote

Watch Superstore's Colton Dunn whip up a delicious guacamole based on a Superstore episode in the first installment of his new digital exclusive cooking series. Grab an apron and follow along as he creates dishes inspired by NBC shows.

[Harvey]

That was a really well-done cooking segment, I love how it even had automatic subtitles and all the blue pop up text was timed perfectly. This was much higher quality than a lot of the current live from home broadcast talk show things they currently air on Tv.

[Trini]

'Unaired Season Finales 2020: What Would Have Happened?'

Quote

SUPERSTORE (NBC)

Number of Episodes Aired: 21 (out of 22)

What Would Have Happened in Planned Finale: The shutdown forced the workplace comedy to halt production on America Ferrera’s final episode, which will now come at the start of Season 6. Per co-showrunners Gabe Miller and Jonathan Green, Amy and Jonah would have had conversations about his rash decision to join her in California ahead of her big move. The show also intended to follow-up on Cheyenne’s 21st birthday bash, but that storyline will probably be rewritten now. “We were supposed to have about 250 extras,” Green told TVLine. “We think it’ll probably be impossible.”

 

[Girl in a Cardigan]

I understand they need/want the actor to stay, but I don't know why Jonah moving to California with Amy is the "rash decision" part of that whole storyline. He works in retail, but could literally do anything when he moves and they already live together. That just seems normal.

[Kip Hackman]

NBC Fall schedule revealed (assuming they ever start filming again). Only comedies remaining are Superstore and B99.

 

[peachmangosteen]

The Comic Con @ Home panel will be on July 23rd at 6 pm edt.

Quote

The cast and showrunners of Superstore come together for a fun-filled hour stocked with their favorite shared moments over the past five years. Watch the cast celebrate Comic-Con from home, and treat fans with what to expect when the series returns next season on NBC. You never know what surprises are in store! Cast members Ben Feldman, Mark McKinney, Lauren Ash, Colton Dunn, Nico Santos, Nichole Sakura, and Kaliko Kauahi will all join the conversation, along with showrunners Gabe Miller and Jonathan Green.

 

[ApathyMonger]

 

[Kip Hackman]

'Superstore' Cast Recounts "Surreal" End to Season 5

[AnimeMania]

Superstore Season 6 - Thursday, October 22 on NBC - 8 p.m.

[possibilities]

I wonder if they'll have curbside pick up, delivery service, and mask mandate for the store. Lots of stories could be mined from that. I don't really understand how they go back into production under current conditions, but if they're doing it, I think they really ought to incorporate the pandemic into the stories. They have the perfect setting to do that, more than many other shows.

[Harvey]

So much sooner than pretty much any other show I watch! I don't understand how will they pull it off, but I'm very happy right now ❤️ .