Superstore (TV series)

Superstore is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from November 30, 2015, to March 25, 2021. The series was created and produced by Justin Spitzer. Starring America Ferrera and Ben Feldman (who both also serve as executive producers), Superstore follows a group of employees working at Cloud 9, a fictional big-box chain store in St. Louis, Missouri. The ensemble cast includes Lauren Ash, Colton Dunn, Nico Santos, Nichole Sakura, Mark McKinney, and Kaliko Kauahi. A Spanish-language adaptation, titled Supertitlán, debuted on the Mexican television network Azteca 7 on May 30, 2022.

Cast and characters

 * America Ferrera as Amelia 'Amy' Sosa: A Honduran-American Cloud 9 employee who worked as an associate and floor supervisor before being promoted to store manager. Amy always wears a different name tag because she does not like strangers using her real name. Amy has a teen daughter with her high school sweetheart, Adam; though they divorce, Amy later has another child with Adam. In the second episode of season 6, Amy leaves the store for a corporate position at Cloud 9, but she returns for the final three episodes.
 * Ben Feldman as Jonah Simms: A Cloud 9 sales associate. A college student who later dropped out of business school, Jonah initially struggles with working a customer service job, something he hides from his upper middle class family. He and Mateo are both hired in the series' pilot episode by Dina. While he dates other women during the series, his attraction to Amy is obvious.
 * Lauren Ash as Dina Fox: Cloud 9's intense and no-nonsense assistant store manager. She has worked for Cloud 9 for over 10 years and has a strong, forthright demeanor. She is a strict vegan which is temporarily compromised in S3:E9 "Golden Globes Party" to show her dedication to friendship. She shares her apartment with a large collection of birds whom she calls her babies.
 * Nico Santos as Mateo Fernando Aquino Liwanag: A Cloud 9 associate. After finding out that he has unknowingly been living as an undocumented immigrant, he tries to keep his status a secret, but he is arrested by ICE at the end of season four. Later, he is hired by the store's optician but realizes that optician is using him to carry out his nefarious tasks. He then is swapped to an assistant to the manager, the only job he can be hired for without corporate becoming involved. He is gay and was romantically involved with district manager Jeff, and later with Amy's brother Eric. In season 6, he and Eric get engaged and in a flash-forward at the end of the last episode they are seen showing off their wedding rings.
 * Colton Dunn as Garrett McNeil: A sarcastic and indifferent Cloud 9 associate who is a wheelchair user. He is also the in-store announcer, in which capacity he often offers his acerbic commentary and dry humor. He and Dina are dating by the end of season 6, following an on-again, off-again relationship throughout the series.
 * Nichole Sakura as Cheyenne Thompson (or Taylor ) née Lee: A Cloud 9 associate later promoted to floor supervisor in the sixth season. She is a pregnant high school student at the start of the series. She gave birth to her daughter, Harmonica, in the store in the first-season finale, and married her boyfriend, Bilbo "Bo" Thompson, during the second season. Sakura was originally credited with her stage name of Nichole Bloom before returning to using her birth name in the final season.
 * Mark McKinney as Glenn Sturgis: Cloud 9's incessantly positive store manager until late in season 4, when he steps down and becomes an associate–and later floor supervisor–to spend more time with his family. After Amy leaves in season 6, he becomes manager again. Glenn is a devout Christian and was previously a foster father to many children. He has a biological daughter of his own in season 4.
 * Kaliko Kauahi as Sandra Kaluiokalani (season 5–6; recurring season 1–4): A meek Native Hawaiian Cloud 9 employee who has trouble standing up for herself. Throughout the series, she slowly starts to stand up for herself. In season 5, she marries Jerry, and the pair later adopt Glenn's 17-year-old former foster son, Tony.

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 by NBC on May 7, 2015. 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. 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, 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 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, Mark McKinney and Nico Santos. The website reported that Dunn would be playing Garrett, the often-sarcastic peanut gallery and coworker, McKinney was cast to be Glenn, the religiously well meaning 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 was announced to have joined the show as Cheyenne, a pregnant teenage employee.

Deadline announced on March 13, 2015, that Ben Feldman had landed the male lead on Superstore, as Jonah, a new employee at the superstore Cloud 9. Three days later, TVLine announced on March 16, 2015, that America Ferrera had been given 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 had 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, 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's The Mindy Project, NBC's Good Girls, I Feel Bad and Kenan.

Cloud 9 Superstore
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 in addition to a photo studio. The mascot for Cloud 9 was Daniel Hertzler (as Kyle the Cloud 9 Cloud), until he was arrested and charged with cannibalism.

The corporation, which is based in Chicago, Illinois, does not offer paid maternity leave, health insurance, 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 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, on Ozark Highlands Road. The store fell under Jeff Sutton, who was district manager from 2006 to 2018, and then again from late 2020 (formerly Laurie Neustadt in 2018 and Maya from 2019 to 2020). The store was destroyed by a tornado during the season 2 finale and reopened during the season 3 premiere. Other Cloud 9 locations include Kirkwood, Fenton, Easton, and Bel-Ridge. Additionally, there are locations mentioned in Austin, Texas, and Detroit, Michigan. Cloud 9 has locations in multiple countries, with stores in Beijing, Mumbai, Paris, Vancouver, Taipei, and Mexico City.

The pilot was shot at a redressed Kmart in Burbank, California (with Kmart signage visible throughout the episode), but the rest of the series was shot on sets constructed on two soundstages.

Ratings
The series debuted as a "preview" on November 30, 2015, following an episode of The Voice with seven million viewers, making it the second highest new comedy behind Life in Pieces. The series then moved to its regular Monday at 8:00 pm timeslot on January 4, 2016, with more than six million viewers making the highest rated NBC comedy that did not have The Voice as a lead-in since The Michael J. Fox Show back in September 2013.

Critical reception
On Metacritic, 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, the first season has a 66% rating, based on reviews from 35 critics, with an average rating of 5.00/10. 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 called it one of TV's best new comedies." Pilot Viruet of The A.V. Club 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 [the] ensemble".

The second season was lauded by critics and has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on reviews from seven 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 nine reviews. The sixth season has received positive reviews with a score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 13 reviews.

Cancelled spin-off
In December 2020, it was reported that a spin-off, titled Bo & Cheyenne and starring Johnny Pemberton and Nichole Sakura, 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, was in development. Filming took place from July to November 2021. On November 1, 2021, the main cast was announced. The series premiered on May 30, 2022. The first season consists of 48 episodes.