Television series

The Office

A mockumentary about a mid-sized paper company in Scranton, run by a boss who thinks he's a mentor, a friend, and a comedy legend, and is actually none of those things — though everyone loves him anyway, eventually. It starts as excruciating cringe comedy and quietly becomes one of the warmest things TV has ever made. For anyone who's ever loved a coworker despite themselves.

TVMaze rating8.5

If you liked this

Parks and Recreation2009

Same creative DNA, same mockumentary bones, but swapped for a heroine who's actually good at her job. It trades Michael Scott's delusion for Leslie Knope's sincerity and somehow gets even funnier and kinder doing it.

But The first season is rough and the tone takes a while to find its warmth — give it until season two.

Parks and Recreation poster

Brooklyn Nine-Nine2013

Swap the paper company for a police precinct and you get the same formula — oddball ensemble, workplace as chosen family — with a faster joke rate and a genuinely lovable cast.

But Broader and sillier throughout, with less interest in the slow-burn realism that made The Office sting.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine poster

Community2009

A different institution, a stranger ensemble, but the same love of misfits finding each other in a place they didn't choose. It gets weirder and more ambitious than The Office ever dared.

But Self-aware and meta in a way that some viewers find exhausting rather than delightful.

Community poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Fawlty Towers1975

Basil Fawlty is Michael Scott's direct ancestor: a man convinced he's beloved and competent, filmed by a camera that knows better. This is where that particular strain of British cringe comedy was invented.

Twelve perfect episodes about a hotel manager whose towering self-regard is matched only by his total incompetence — the blueprint for every delusional boss who followed, Michael Scott included.

But Farce-paced and frantic, with none of The Office's slow-build sincerity or romantic subplots.

Fawlty Towers poster
More like this (7)

30 Rock2006

Tina Fey's workplace comedy fires jokes at a rate The Office never attempted, and Alec Baldwin's Jack Donaghy is a management philosophy every bit as unhinged as Michael Scott's.

But Almost no sincerity or slow-burn romance — it's jokes-per-minute rather than heart.

30 Rock poster

Superstore2015

A big-box retail store standing in for Dunder Mifflin, with the same low-stakes workplace absurdity and genuine affection for people stuck doing unglamorous jobs together.

But Less polished, and the ensemble takes longer to click than The Office's did.

Superstore poster

Abbott Elementary2021

A modern mockumentary that clearly studied The Office's homework — underfunded school, exhausted staff, and a documentary crew catching every eye-roll.

But Gentler and more openly sentimental than The Office was in its cringiest early seasons.

Abbott Elementary poster

Scrubs2001

Not mockumentary, but same recipe: a workplace ensemble that starts as jokes and ends up quietly devastating, with a similarly huge emotional range across its run.

But The fantasy sequences and surreal tone are a different comic language entirely.

Scrubs poster

What We Do in the Shadows2019

Same mockumentary format, same bickering roommates-as-family energy, just with vampires instead of salesmen. Proof the format still has enormous range left in it.

But Horror-comedy and higher-concept silliness might not be what you're after if you want The Office's grounded realism.

What We Do in the Shadows poster

American Movie1999

This is the actual, unscripted Michael Scott: a man of enormous self-belief and minimal ability, filmed with total sincerity by people who clearly love him anyway. The mockumentary format didn't invent that man — it borrowed him from documentaries like this one.

A real documentary about a Wisconsin filmmaker trying, against all evidence of talent or resources, to finish his horror movie. It's funnier than fiction and somehow more touching too.

But No jokes are written — this is real desperation and real financial ruin, played entirely straight.

American Movie poster

Aggretsuko2018no page yet

Same cubicle drudgery, same office tyrants and passive-aggressive lunch politics, just filtered through anime surrealism instead of talking-head interviews. Proof the workplace-as-battleground premise translates to absolutely any medium.

A Japanese anime about an office drone red panda who screams death metal karaoke to survive her soul-crushing accounting job and insufferable coworkers. Fifteen-minute episodes, entirely cathartic.

But Anime, subtitled or dubbed, and a completely different visual language — cute character design hiding some genuinely dark office politics.

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Recommended by

Veep, Friends, How I Met Your Mother, Seinfeld, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Klovn, Parks and Recreation, M*A*S*H, Scrubs, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Abbott Elementary, This Is Spinal Tap, Severance, 30 Rock, Community, Silicon Valley, Superstore, The Good Place, Waiting for Guffman, The Larry Sanders Show, Peep Show, Extras, The Thick of It, Chuck, Barney Miller, King of the Hill, Twenty Twelve, Detectorists, Fawlty Towers, Dad's Army, Hancock's Half Hour, Modern Family, Documentary Now!, Ghosts, What We Do in the Shadows, Office Space, Salesman, This Country, Spin City, Reno 911!, Rev., WKRP in Cincinnati, I'm Alan Partridge, My Name Is Earl, The Real World, Utopia, Private's Progress, Summer Heights High, Frontline, The Rehearsal