Superstore (TV series)

• America Ferrera as Amelia "Amy" Sosa, a Honduran American Cloud 9 employee and single mother, who worked as an associate, floor supervisor, and assistant manager before being promoted to her current role as store manager. Amy always wears a different name tag because, says show creator Spitzer, she does not like strangers using her real name, and this lets her "keep customers at a distance because they don’t really know her. It’s also a small way she can protest the system."[8]
• Ben Feldman as Jonah Simms, a Cloud 9 sales associate. A college graduate who has struggled with having a blue collar job, he and Mateo were both hired in the series' pilot episode.
• 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 very forthright demeanor.
• Colton Dunn as Garrett McNeil, a sarcastic and indifferent Cloud 9 associate who is a wheelchair user. He is also the store's announcer, in which capacity he often offers his acerbic commentary and dry humor.
• Nico Santos as Mateo Fernando Aquino Liwanag, a gay Filipino Cloud 9 associate. He tries to keep secret that he is an undocumented immigrant, but he is arrested by ICE at the end of season four.
• Nichole Bloom as Cheyenne Thompson (née Lee), a Cloud 9 associate. 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 Bo Derek during the second season.
• Mark McKinney as Glenn Sturgis, Cloud 9's constantly positive store manager until late in season 4, when he steps down and becomes an associate (and later floor supervisor) because his 16+ hour shifts as manager were preventing him from seeing his newborn child. Glenn is a devout Christian and was previously a foster-father to many children.
• Kaliko Kauahi as Sandra Kaluiokalani (season 5; recurring season 1–4),[9] a meek Hawaiian Cloud 9 employee who has trouble standing up for herself. She will often attempt to make her voice heard only to shoot herself down shortly after. Sandra is a pathological liar, often making up elaborate stories to try to get the attention of her coworkers.

• Johnny Pemberton as Derek "Bo" Thompson (season 1–2; guest season 3–5), Cheyenne's immature, wannabe-rapper husband and father of Harmonica. Worked briefly at Cloud 9.
• Sean Whalen as Sal (season 1), a Cloud 9 employee known for being creepily obsessed with both women and children like a pervert. His deceased body is found in the walls of the store early in season 3.
• Josh Lawson as Tate Staskiewicz (season 1–2; guest season 3), a Cloud 9 pharmacist who is often rude, panicky, sarcastic, and full of himself.
• Irene White as Carol (season 2–5; guest season 1), a man-hungry Cloud 9 employee who has a rivalry with Sandra, whom she accuses of stealing her boyfriend, Jerry. She hits on Amy's husband moments after hearing the two were separated. Sometime thereafter she turns to the practice of Buddhism, spending time in meditation.
• Linda Porter as Myrtle Vartanian (season 1–4; guest season 5), Cloud 9's longest-serving employee (30 years). Her tenure has made her the highest paid sales associate, despite her constant confusion and forgetfulness. She was fired but later returned (in holograph form) as Cloud 9's mascot in a ploy by Jeff to be forgiven by Cloud 9's employees, especially Mateo, after betraying them at the end of season 3. After Amy becomes the store manager, she rehires Myrtle as her assistant. Porter died from cancer on September 25, 2019. Her final television appearance was on the season 5 episode "Curbside Pickup".
• Isabella Day as Emma Dubanowski (season 2; guest season 1, 3–5), Amy's daughter with her ex-husband Adam. Amy constantly tries to win her affection, giving her and her friends lots of space to hang out, even becomes upset over her spending time with her father.
• Ryan Gaul as Adam Dubanowski (season 2; guest season 1, 3 & 4), Amy's estranged husband and Emma's father. Adam and Amy were high school sweethearts, got married at 19 upon learning that Amy was pregnant, and had Emma thereafter. He is an entrepreneur who has had several unsuccessful ventures, and even works at the store as a seasonal employee in season 2. Amy and Adam soon divorce, and Adam moves on. Later on, Amy and Adam meet again, sleep together and Amy ends up pregnant with her second child.
• Jon Barinholtz as Marcus White, a dim-witted, often fired/rehired Cloud 9 employee. Following a mishap with a meat slicer in the Cloud 9 deli, he was promoted (without a pay increase) to warehouse supervisor on the condition that he would not sue the store.
• Michael Bunin as Jeff Sutton (season 2–4; guest season 5), Originally the district manager who oversaw the St. Louis Cloud 9, among others. He is revealed to be gay and has had a romantic relationship with Mateo. After the secret relationship became public, Jeff resigned to continue dating Mateo. Late in season 3, however, Jeff is rehired to manage the Chicago district after he betrayed the Cloud 9 employees. It was revealed he had been dumped by Mateo again in season 4.
• Kelly Schumann as Justine Sikowicz (season 2–5), a Cloud 9 employee. At times she pretends to be an alcoholic or promiscuous in order to seem more interesting. According to Glenn she is 40 years old and lives alone in a studio apartment.
• Chris Grace as Jerry (season 3–5; guest season 2), Sandra's boyfriend and then husband who briefly dated Carol. He was in a coma after the tornado that destroyed Cloud 9 at the end of season 2, but eventually recovered.
• Kelly Stables as Kelly Watson (season 3–4; guest season 5), a divorcee who begins working at Cloud 9 in season 3, where she eventually starts a relationship with Jonah. After Jonah's love for Amy becomes known, Kelly transfers to the Fenton Cloud 9 store.
• Kerri Kenney-Silver as Jerusha Sturgis (season 3–5), Glenn's wife. She is mentioned in the first two seasons but does not appear until season 3.
• Jennifer Irwin as Laurie (season 3; guest season 4), the new district manager who takes over after Jeff resigns in season 3.
• Amir M. Korangy as Sayid (season 4-5), a Cloud 9 employee who is a Syrian refugee.

• Howie Mandel 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 as Ron Sosa, Amy's father. (In Ferrera's previous series, Ugly Betty, Plana also played her character's father.)
• Marlene Forte as Connie Sosa, Amy's mother.
• Brenda Song as Kristen Sturgis, Glenn's daughter and former love interest of Jonah.
• Felipe Esparza as Cody, a stoner stockroom associate.
• Brian Howe as Neil Penderson, Cloud 9 CEO.
• Fred Melamed as Richard Simms, Jonah's father.
• Meagen Fay as Marilyn Simms, Jonah's mother.
• Eden Sher 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 as Robin Green, union leader.[10]
• Jason Ritter as Josh Simms, Jonah's brother.
• Sean Gunn as Card Shopper

The series' title card.

The series was one of three pilots picked up by NBC on January 14, 2015, along with the sitcom Crowded; both were green lighted to series status on May 7, 2015.[11] 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.[12] Superstore was officially picked up as a series on May 7, 2015, by NBC.[13] The first season consisted of eleven episodes, after the episode order was reduced from thirteen on October 19, 2015.[14] It was announced on November 2, 2015, that the series would air the premiere on January 4, 2016, but would be airing two back-to-back episodes on November 30, 2015, following The Voice.[15]

On February 23, 2016, the series was renewed for a second season by NBC.[16] 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,[17] with a 22-episode order that was announced on September 23, 2016. The season concluded on May 4, 2017.[18] A special Olympics-themed episode aired on August 19, 2016 during the network's coverage of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.[19][20] On February 21, 2018, NBC renewed the series for a 22-episode fourth season, which premiered on October 4, 2018.[21][22] On March 4, 2019, NBC renewed the series for a fifth season,[5] which premiered on September 26, 2019.[6] On February 11, 2020, the series was renewed for a sixth season.[7] In March 2020, production on the show was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which will result in the fifth season having 21 episodes instead of the originally-planned 22.[23]

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.[24] 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 Garret, 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.[25] On March 12, 2015, Nichole Bloom was announced to have joined the show as Cheyenne, a very pregnant teenage employee.[26][27]

Deadline announced on March 13, 2015, that Ben Feldman had landed the male lead in Superstore, as Jonah, a new employee in the superstore Cloud 9.[28] 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.[29]

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.[9]

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.[30]

Production of the fifth season was cut short by one episode due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ferrera noted her departure from the show may be delayed into season 6 in order to give her character's arc a proper closure.[31][32]

Different stores in the Cloud 9 cluster (i.e. not the same store as portrayed in this show) have appeared in other series produced by NBCUniversal Television, including Hulu's The Mindy Project,[33] NBC's Good Girls[34] and I Feel Bad.[35]

The Cloud 9 Superstore is a fictional hypermarket discount store. In addition to typical American hypermarket products, Cloud 9 also sells guns[36] and liquor,[37] and has a pharmacy.[36] Additionally Cloud 9 has its own credit union for its employees.[36] It also previously had a photo studio.[38] The former spokesman for Cloud 9 was Daniel Hertzler (as Kyle the Cloud 9 Cloud), until he was arrested and charged with cannibalism.[39][40]

The corporation, based in Chicago, does not offer paid maternity leave,[41] health insurance or paid overtime to its employees.[42] Under Cloud 9 policy employees may take one bathroom break per shift, and are allotted 15 minutes for lunch.[43]

In an effort to control what is happening in the individual stores, all locks and lights,[37] as well as temperature control and music,[44] are controlled from the corporate office. In 2017, Cloud 9 changed its store brand from Halo to Super Cloud.[45]

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.[42] The store falls under district manager Maya[46] (formerly Laurie Neudstat and Jeff Suttin).[42] The store was destroyed by a tornado during the season 2 finale,[47] and reopened during the season 3 premiere.[48] Other area locations include Kirkwood,[42] Fenton, Easton,[49] and Bel-Ridge.[50] Additionally there are locations mentioned in Austin, Texas,[51][52] and in Detroit, Michigan.[53] Cloud 9 has locations in multiple countries, with stores in Beijing, Mumbai, Paris, Vancouver and Mexico City.[54]

The pilot was shot at a redressed Kmart in Burbank, California,[55][56] though the rest of the series has been shot on sets constructed on two soundstages.[57]

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.[58] 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 comedy that did not have The Voice as a lead-in since The Michael J. Fox Show back in September 2013.[2][59]

Early reviews for the series were mixed. According to Metacritic, the first season of Superstore holds a score of 58 out of 100, indicating "mixed to average reviews" based on 21 critics.[73] On another review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds a 64% with a "Fresh" rating, based on 33 critics, with an average rating of 5.01/10. The general consensus is: "Superstore's talented cast and obvious potential are slightly overshadowed by a tonally jumbled presentation and thin, formulaic writing."[74] As the first season went along, however, reviews started to become more positive. Following the finale "Labor", the Los Angeles Times called it one of TV's best new comedies."[75] 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."[76] 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".[77] The second season was lauded by critics and the season has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[78] The fourth season received critical acclaim with critics saying “Superstore remains a furtively fearless riot in its comedic approach to heavy and issues of the time” with a score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.[79]