Blockbuster, a series about the last Blockbuster Video store in America, debuts on Netflix November 3. Randall Park and Melissa Fumero are in the cast.

Park plays Timmy Yoon, who owns the last Blockbuster standing, and fights to stay relevant. Fumero plays Eliza, a girl he’s had a long-time crush on, who works at his video shop.

“The only way to succeed is to remind their community that they provide something big corporations can’t: human connection,” according to Netflix.

There are 10 episodes.

Vanessa Ramos is co-creator, showrunner and  executive producer. Also exec producing are Jackie Clarke, David Caspe and John David & John Fox for Davis Entertainment.

Additional 'Blockbuster' Cast Members

Olga Merediz, Tyler Alvarez and J.B. Smoove are also in the cast. Smoove plays Percy, who owns the local strip mall and party store, is friends with Timmy, and whose daughter works at the Blockbuster. 

Park was in Fresh Off the Boat and WandaVision and Fumero was in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Reviews for the series have been lukewarm. “If there is any nostalgic charm left in the physical film rental experience, Blockbuster on Netflix doesn’t have the energy to celebrate it in full,” said The Guardian.

The Last Blockbuster, IRL

A 2020 documentary, The Last Blockbuster, detailed the last surviving store in the chain. That shop is located in Bend, Oregon, and remains in business. Taylor Morden directed the documentary. 

Blockbuster Corporate filed for bankruptcy in 2010. It had over 9,000 shops in 2004 to 1,700 at the time of its filing. 

Dish Network acquired Blockbuster out of bankruptcy in 2011 for $320 million. In 2013, it shuttered the remaining 300 shops. ■

Public-interest lawyers used Netflix’s rise in the video distribution business to argue that the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are particularly bad at predicting the future of digital markets.

Both agencies are seeking input on whether they need to readjust merger guidelines to reflect the rise of Big Tech giants they suggest have bought up to monopoly -- such as Facebook and Google -- by gobbling up potential competitors, including startups, before they were big enough to register on the antitrust radar.

The DOJ and the FTC divide up merger reviews.

Also: Democrats Look to Block, Unwind Big Tech Mergers

In its comments to the FTC, the Washington Legal Foundation, representing public-interest lawyers, did not hide its disdain for both agencies in suggesting they should leave antitrust merger guidelines alone.

“The FTC and DOJ think that they can predict the evolution of digital markets,” WLF told the FTC to its regulatory face, as it were. “This is pure hubris that conflicts with reality and misunderstands how digital markets work. History also shows that the FTC and DOJ have no clue how digital markets will change. What once looked like a monopolist who should be barred from merging with any competitor may file for bankruptcy only five years later.”

To make its point, WLF pointed out that the FTC in 2005 sued Blockbuster to block its purchase of Hollywood Entertainment because it would have given the video-store chain too much market power. Enter Netflix’s announcement two years later that it would stream movies so folks no longer had to trek to the video store or worry about all the copies being snatched up before they got there.

Five years later, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy. “It’s impossible to predict what will happen in the digital market,” WLF said in the filing. “If it were possible to envision Netflix’s emergence, the FTC would not have sought to decrease competition by ensuring Blockbuster’s demise. But that is what happened because the FTC is lousy at predicting future market share.” ￭

Long-time Dish Network executive Michael Kelly has announced that he will retire from the company on May 31.

Kelly, a 15-year veteran of Dish, joined the company in 2000 after it acquired his Kelly Broadcasting Systems and most recently served as president of its Blockbuster unit. While at Dish, Kelly led the development of its international programming business and was responsible for launching more than 50 international networks on Dish Network.

Kelly has also served as an executive vice president at the company, leading several operations during his tenure, including direct sales and advertising sales. While heading up Dish’s customer care division, the company received top rankings from the American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power and Associates.

Kelly founded Kelly Broadcasting Systems in 1991, which operated satellite transmission facilities around the globe. KBS primarily distributed international content from countries like Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, Holland, Italy, India, Jordan, Pakistan, Portugal, Russia and the UAE. While at KBS, he was named the Ernst and Young 1998 Entrepreneur of the Year.

Kelly expects to remain active in the technology sector through various private equity investments and other entrepreneurial activities.