People have been on about office-related humor since the beginning of time. Hell, that’s the reason you’re here right now on this site, enjoying the hefty stockpile of water-cooler jokes that we here at Monday Thru Friday pride ourselves on.
But then along came the movie Office Space, and suddenly office humor started appearing on the silver screen. Eventually it made it’s way on to television, spawning a number of TV shows to varying degrees of success. Here are some of the best…
6. Andy Richter Controls the Universe (2003)
Created by Conan O’Brien funnyman Andy Richter back in 2002, this show, although hilarious, lasted all of nineteen episodes, limping its way through two seasons of little to no viewership. Andy Richter went on to make an ill-advised sitcom before reprising his role as Conan’s second banana, never to venture into network comedies again.
5. Better Off Ted (2009)
While Andy Richter may have been scared off of network workplace comedy, the showrunners of Controls the Universe were not. Set in the R&D department of the faceless corporation “Veridian Dynamics,” Better Off Ted made it all of 26 episodes before it too succumbed to the cancellation bug that seems to afflict most clever comedies.
4. Dead Like Me (2003)
This one falls under the guise of a much darker workplace comedy, tackling the business of death. In this reality, Grim Reapers are bound to corporate obligations as much as the living, and answer only to Mandy Patinkin. From the mind of Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies, the upcoming Munsters reboot), Dead Like Me managed to put together 29 episodes and a movie before it hit the chopping block.
And that concludes round one. If I’ve left any out that aren’t the British or American versions of the Office, mention them in the comments. –New Guy Nick
I seriously hope they won’t place the (American) Office at #1. Most overhyped show ever.
the only thing more stupid and dull than the american office….. the brittish office.
PEOPLE ACTING AWKWARD IS NOT A COMEDY
What is Friends? What is any comedy show? PEOPLE ACTING AWKWARD.
Futurama is so often overlooked as a workplace comedy… but it totally is. And one of the best. Sadly only 4 (good) seasons.
Good news everyone, There making new episodes.
They’ve been making new episodes, where have you all been?
dead like me was hilarious, especially how the girl died. decapitation via airplaine toilet seat xD
Space station, actually. (don’t think they actually specificy decapitation though)
if flew into her head
flew into her head != decapitation.
Dead Like Me wasn’t funny anyways.
Yay! I love seeing Better Off Ted and Dead Like Me get some attention. Both brilliant shows… hence why they were cancelled.
I love Better Off Ted. Of course I didn’t catch it till after it was cancelled, which happens to me with all the great shows.
Same here. I really enjoyed that show, and Pushing Up Daisies when it was on (mentioned after Dead Like Me). The rushed ending was pathetic though and it hurt to watch….
In a way, that’s better – at least when you get to the end, you know it’s finished, and you’re not left hanging on wondering whether there’ll be another series.
Other good workplace sitcoms: the IT Crowd, 30 Rock
Yep. Dead Like Me was one of my favourites.
“F$#% you Fingerman!!”
I loved Dead Like Me! Got both seasons on DVD.
I got to see them making the movie in Montreal. I am glad I didn’t get into the movie business. They spent the whole afternoon filming a shot of her looking over the city. It lasted about 3 seconds. They filmed it hundreds of times. And had to keep moving the set as the sun moved across the sky. For 3 seconds of movie!
The IT Crowd from BBC!!! That has to be one of if not the best office based shows ever.
It’s a Channel 4 show, not BBC.
I agree – it is an awesome show!
NewsRadio was more an office comedy than anything else, and a superb one at that.
This. If I could only have two office comedies to watch for the rest of my life, it would be NewsRadio and Futurama. Even that ridiculous Titanic episode of NR.
IT Crowd of course!
The IT Crowd and Archer (kind of an office comedy, itsn’t it?)
How about Car Poolers?
It might be a stretch, but Arrested Development was about a family business. Sorta. And it’s even getting another season, from what I’ve read.
It’s sad how every comedy above the caveman level of intellect gets cancelled
I’ve let so many people borrow my ‘Dead Like Me’ DVD sets, and each time, we get one more person that’s sad that it didn’t last longer then it did.
1, 2 and 3: NewsRadio, The Drew Carey Show, Futurama.
Dilbert began life as a comic strip (and still is), but had a two season run as an animated show back in the nineties…
Let us agree to never speak of the Dead Like Me movie ever again. It should never have happened.
The LOOP! Hilarious comedy about a wunderkind slacker who gets an executive job at an Airline based off of a term paper! two short seasons before it got axed.
it didn’t last very long, but Outsourced was a brilliant little show. Set in an Indian call centre hawked tacky Americana merchandise to folks who didn’t want to spend more than $3 including shipping, but were pissed that the people answering the phones on that budget had accents. They even had a cafeteria seat rivalry with the “cool” clique who did the call work for IBM.
Life. that show was awesome. Loved the guy cop.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0874936/