For all the critically acclaimed films and thought-provoking series available on streaming, at the end of a long day, the best thing to throw on the television is an episode of your favorite sitcom. The act of watching and re-watching The Office has become a tradition of sorts, like diving into the Netflix equivalent of comfort food. But even comfort food begins to taste bland after a while. If you want to experience the same joy that the frequently silly antics of The Office can inspire in viewers, these workplace comedies streaming on Netflix and Hulu are the perfect companion to your all-time favorite show.
What makes a series a "workplace comedy" is a simple enough requirement to meet — it has to take place mostly at a place of work. But the very best workplace comedies all share a few other traits as well. Setting a comedy at a business informs the relationships between characters — often distant, only putting up with each other out of necessity — and allows for a variety of colorful characters to come through as customers or fellow employees. But maybe what makes them so soothing is that workplace comedies are endlessly relatable. Everyone's had to work at some point, or share space with people who they normally wouldn't choose to share space with. And watching people deal with those struggles with wit and humor never gets old, because that's basically life.
If you're ready to give The Office a rest for a while, try one of these other workplace sitcoms — all streaming now — a try. Or a re-try.
1
'Parks & Recreation'
Parks & Recreation, about the local government of the fictional Pawnee, Indiana, serves as something of a companion piece to The Office. Both use the same mockumentary style, with talking heads narrating the events of the show, and covers many of the same coworker idiosyncrasies. (Creator Michael Schur was a writer and producer on The Office.) Plus, it has Lil' Sebastian, and that little guy alone is worth making a visit to Pawnee.
Streaming on: Netflix & Hulu
2
'Brooklyn Nine-Nine'
Next to Parks & Rec, there is probably no show that better captures the energy of The Office than Brooklyn Nine-Nine. (Also a Schur project.) Though it takes place in a police precinct and sometimes deals with some pretty terrifying criminals, the antics of Holt, Peralta, and company wouldn't seem out of place at Dunder Mifflin.
Streaming on: Hulu
3
'Superstore'
The employees of Cloud 9, the big-box store that serves as the home base for Superstore, are all trying to make the best of an un-ideal situation. Though Dwight probably wouldn't approve of their distraction, very few other Dunder Mifflin employees were passionate about paper sales.
Streaming on: Hulu
4
'30 Rock'
The 30 Rock home office is massive, stretching from the writer's room of a little-watched sketch comedy show to the top floor office of the head of NBC. However, while 30 Rock covers everything from the ludicrousness required to make comedic television to microwave-doughnut innovation, it all comes back to looking at the way people learn to work with each other — centered around one unexpectedly poignant mentor/mentee relationship.
Streaming on: Hulu
5
'It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia'
If you've ever thought that you would like The Office a lot more if none of the characters had morals and all treated each other really badly, then you'll probably feel at home with the employees of the down-and-out South Philadelphia bar Paddy's Pub. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia stretches the limits of taste and basic humanity in often uproarious ways.
Streaming on: Hulu
6
'Scrubs'
There's no workplace sitcom with higher stakes than Scrubs, which confronts life-or-death situations while diving into Zach Braff's Dr. John Dorian's head for the occasional fantasy sequence. While the show isn't afraid to get serious from time to time, it's also regularly silly. And by the end of the show's eighth season (and according to Season 9-averse fans, the true final season) you'll know the names of the medical staff at Sacred Heart hospital by heart.
Streaming on: Hulu
7
'Great News'
Great News approaches cable news the way that 30 Rock approaches sketch comedy. (30 Rock's Tina Fey and Robert Carlock co-executive produce Great News, which was created by 30 Rock writer Tracey Wigfield.) Great News is far more fast-paced and joke-filled than The Office, but booth balance the disarray behind-the-scenes with the often disastrous onscreen results.
Streaming on: Hulu
8
'The Good Place'
Michael is just doing his job in the afterlife, so The Good Place officially counts as a workplace comedy. By the end of the show's first season, it's clear that a lot of work goes into upkeep of the place — and that there's much more bureaucracy at play than there initially seemed.
Streaming on: Netflix & Hulu
9
'The Thick Of It'
If you prefer your sitcoms to have an accent and be a lot more profane, than The Thick Of It is the show for you. With some incredibly inventive insults and creative swearing, The Thick Of It is scathing look at corruption and spin within the British government, featuring a pre-Doctor Who Peter Capaldi. Creator Armando Iannucci later went on to create one of the other great political comedies of the 21st century, HBO's Veep.
Streaming on: Hulu
10
'The IT Crowd'
Working in IT can be a thankless job, being summoned only to solve problems that your coworkers can't solve themselves. The IT Crowd leans into that, putting the IT department, consisting of two computer geeks and a boss who lied to get the job, in the literal basement of communications company Reynholm Industries. This British sitcom is only about 24 episodes long in total, but it makes the most of its brief run.
Streaming on: Netflix & Hulu
11
'Fawlty Towers'
The uproarious Fawlty Towers is a classic for a reason. The 12-episode series features Monty Python alum John Cleese as hotel owner Basil Fawlty, who must maintain his hotel business in increasingly farcical circumstances.
Streaming on: Netflix & Hulu
12
'Taxi'
One of the classic American TV workplaces, the Sunshine Cab Company of Taxi is peopled by a host of familiar faces including It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia's Danny DeVito, Back To The Future's Christopher Lloyd, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's Carol Kane, Tony Danza, Andy Kaufman, Marilu Henner, Judd Hirsch, and more. This iconic comedy was one of the best of its generation, and a major influence on so many shows that came after.
Streaming on: Hulu
13
'WKRP In Cincinnati'
In this late '70s sitcom, the Cincinnati radio station WKRP tries to make the transition from easy listening to rock n' roll. The old business-minded types are forced to co-exist with the new wave of music, often to hilarious results. If you only watch one episode, the classic "Turkeys Away" episode has become traditional Thanksgiving viewing for fans of classic sitcom.
Streaming on: Hulu
Workplace comedies are their own genre of sitcom, and no matter what new innovations there are in TV, they will probably always be relevant and beloved. So use your streaming capabilities to dig into their history — if you love The Office, these are probably right up your alley.
Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified Tina Fey and Robert Carlock's roles with regard to Great News; they are the show's co-executive producers.
