oh you know, it’s just a soap opera secretly filmed in an IKEA

February 9, 2022 8:53 AM

IKEA Heights is a 7 episode soap opera secretly filmed inside a Burbank, California IKEA. The show… traces the bizarre lives of a detective hunting a murderer (who smothers his victims with pillows from the bedding section) and two brothers, one recovering from amnesia, the other married to a cheating wife (who also spends a lot of time among the bedroom furniture). It was created by Dave Seger, Paul Bartunek, Delbert Shoopman, Spencer Strauss, and Tom Kauffman for Channel 101 and features Randall Park, who went on to play Louis Huang in Fresh Off the Boat, Danny Chung in Veep, Dr. Stephen Shin in the Aquaman movies, and Marcus in Always Be My Maybe. Previously on MeFi in 2009.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl (18 comments total)

Randall Park? I’m in.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:00 AM on February 9, 2022 [6 favorites]

I used to love me some Yacht Rock but missed this somehow. Thanks!
posted by knilstad at 9:36 AM on February 9, 2022

Clicked into the middle and what seemed to be a laid back actual employee stopped them to ask if they had permission to shoot. Said "we have a lot of shoots, but you need perm", so what, really, "a lot"? Maybe weddings.
posted by sammyo at 9:38 AM on February 9, 2022

I have heard about this but never seen it before. I like very much that at about the ninety-second mark in Episode 001, an IKEA staffer with a clipboard in hand pauses to look through a doorway at a couple arguing about domestic finances in a CHELEMBY ensemble kitchen mock-up (including GILDIN cupboards and ROSBY cutting board) before moving on.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:42 AM on February 9, 2022

I know if I saw a couple having a domestic argument about finances at work, I would certainly keep moving.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:47 AM on February 9, 2022 [4 favorites]

I'd be up for just watching Randall Park shop at an Ikea, so this sounds even better.
posted by The Monster at the End of this Thread at 9:54 AM on February 9, 2022 [3 favorites]

I think I've rewatched this show four or five times now. The ridiculous soap plot(s) plus passersby walking into (or behind) a scene and (poor) IKEA staffers being forced by management to shut this down makes for a fun 30 minutes or so. (I always skipped episode 7, episode 6 is a much better ending to the show.)

My recommendation is to watch it on vimeo where the quality is better than the uploads on YouTube: https://vimeo.com/channels/ikeaheights

(Not great either, but better.)
posted by bigendian at 10:04 AM on February 9, 2022 [3 favorites]

Abehammerb: But if they were being filmed while doing so?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:44 AM on February 9, 2022

Abehammerb: But if they were being filmed while doing so?

The horror. The horror.

They do not pay IKEA staff enough for any of that nonsense. Or store management probably. Kick that up to the suits.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:52 AM on February 9, 2022

I keep a list of great names I happen upon, and Delbert Shoopman has just been added to it.
posted by Well I never at 11:12 AM on February 9, 2022 [3 favorites]

For Randall Park fans: "You're in love with Dr. Miracles!" "No, I'm in love with saving lives!"
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 11:15 AM on February 9, 2022 [3 favorites]

They do not pay IKEA staff enough for any of that nonsense.

That's the part that sticks in the craw; they're not really taking advantage of Ikea in doing this, clever as it seems. They're just taking advantage of its front-line staff.
posted by mhoye at 11:30 AM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

There was an Evan Ratliff article a long time ago about him spending a week at an Ikea like it was his office. Went in with a suit and set up his laptop, reading emails and stuff. It was in Wired or Readymade, IIRC, but I can't find it in searches.
posted by rhizome at 11:52 AM on February 9, 2022

God I loved this so much - especially the ending with them trying to find the treasure!
posted by adrianhon at 1:38 PM on February 9, 2022

The question is: was this fun enough to make such that Randal Park and all of Marvel would risk 'Detective Woo' money in order to stealth make a sequel 13 years later? Because - yeah... guerilla theatre!
posted by Nanukthedog at 1:42 PM on February 9, 2022

Let's not forget Asian Jim, please.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:57 PM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Channel 101 is STILL going to this day, and even has a new website: Channel101.org. Its archive currently only goes back to January 2021 but there are plans to add everything not specifically removed from the old site. Speaking of which, you can still watch the videos on Channel101.com depsite Flash being dead by using View Source and variously Ctrl+F-ing .mp4 and .m4v.

Twitch channel, where the monthly screenings now happen
Discord
Instagram
The audio version, Frequency 101
posted by BiggerJ at 4:31 PM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

IKEA Heights was how I learned of Randall Park's amazingness, as I recall. Loving the blast from the past.
posted by brainwane at 5:35 AM on February 10, 2022