‘Like Leatherface wearing the face of his victims’: Netflix fans condemn ‘sick’ irony of Blockbuster series

Another viewer compared new series to ‘Macbeth making a wacky sitcom about King Duncan’

Netflix viewers have criticised the “sick” irony behind the premise of its latest comedy series Blockbuster.

The eight-episode sitcom stars Randall Park and Melissa Fumero as employees of the last Blockbuster Video store.

While the now-defunct chain of video and DVD rental shops was once criticised for driving small independent competitors out of business, Blockbuster has since become an object of fond nostalgia for many people in the age of streaming.

However, as many viewers have pointed out, there’s a strange irony in Netflix developing a series celebrating the charm of Blockbuster, when the streaming service had a large hand in the DVD rental chain’s decline.

The advent of streaming, spearheaded by Netflix, is seen by many as the factor that killed off the DVD rental market.

Fans were quick to point out the irony on social media.

“The fact that Netflix made a comedy series about working at the last Blockbuster feels like p***ing-on-the-corpse-of-those-you-vanquished territory,” one fan wrote.

“I’m screaming at how Netflix really created a show around the demise of Blockbuster when Netflix are the exact cause of it #Blockbuster,” wrote another.

“Not Netflix making a series on the last surviving blockbuster Hdjdjdjd why y’all so petty? You literally killed their business,” someone else wrote.

“Netflix is sick doing this when they’re the reason blockbuster went under,” commented a fourth.

Others managed to see the funny side of it.

Randall Park in ‘Blockbuster' (Netflix)

“Netflix making a series about Blockbuster is mad. It’d be like Macbeth making a wacky sitcom about King Duncan,” quipped one person.

“Wait... Netflix... NETFLIX, is making a Blockbuster TV show? That feels like the murderer returning to the scene of the crime to dance on the grave doesn’t it?” wrote another.

“Netflix is sick for that Blockbuster series. It feels like Leatherface wearing the face of his victims,” someone else joked.

Blockbuster can be streamed now on Netflix.