Shows Like The Office: 20 Picks by What You Loved

What's the Closest Thing to an Actual Office Sequel?

Most "shows like The Office" lists skip this one entirely, because it is new enough that a lot of them were written before it existed. The Paper premiered on Peacock in September 2025 from Greg Daniels, The Office's original creator, alongside Michael Koman. It is not a spinoff in the loose, brand-adjacent sense. It is the same documentary crew, years later, having moved on from Dunder Mifflin to film the staff of the Toledo Truth Teller, a struggling Midwestern newspaper. Oscar Nunez reprises his role as Oscar Martinez in a supporting part, now working as an accountant at the paper's parent company, which is the clearest thread connecting the two shows. A second season is confirmed for September 9, 2026.

If what you actually wanted was more Office, not just something Office-shaped, this is the honest answer before anything else on this list.

What Shows Use the Same Mockumentary Format?

This is the format itself: a documentary crew the characters occasionally glance at, talking-head confessionals that reveal what someone actually thinks, and the specific comedy of a person explaining themselves badly to a camera. Not every show on this page uses it. These four genuinely do.

• Parks and Recreation (NBC, 2009 to 2015): Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, two of The Office's own producers, and it shows. Same mockumentary style, a government office instead of a paper company, and a warmer, more optimistic core cast.
• Abbott Elementary (ABC, 2021 to present): Creator Quinta Brunson built an underfunded Philadelphia public school with the exact same rules: a real crew the teachers are aware of, confessionals, and a cast that is trying its best in a system that does not make that easy.
• What We Do in the Shadows (FX, 2019 to 2024): Jemaine Clement expanded his and Taika Waititi's 2014 mockumentary film into a series about vampire roommates on Staten Island, and the format holds up just as well for centuries-old bloodsuckers arguing about chores.
• St. Denis Medical (NBC, 2024 to present): Created by Eric Ledgin and Justin Spitzer, the latter of whom also made Superstore, this one moves the format into a chronically understaffed hospital. It is explicitly built as a mockumentary, not just workplace-comedy-adjacent, and it is the newest true match on this entire list.

What Shows Capture the Same Secondhand Cringe?

Michael Scott's whole engine was watching someone say the wrong thing with total confidence. None of these four are technically mockumentaries, and it matters to say so honestly, but they are built around that exact same discomfort.

• Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO, 2000 to 2024): Larry David's series is not a mockumentary. It is shot in an improvised, cinéma vérité style with no acknowledged camera crew, only the 1999 pilot special used that framing. What it shares with The Office is the same social-rule-breaking cringe, stretched across an entire episode instead of one scene.
• Peep Show (Channel 4, 2003 to 2015): British, and structurally the closest thing to cringe as a camera trick that exists. Instead of a documentary crew, you see literally through Mark and Jeremy's eyes, with both characters' inner monologues running the whole time. Different mechanism, same purpose: you always know exactly how badly this is about to go.
• I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (Netflix, 2019 to 2023): Worth flagging clearly, this is a sketch show, not a narrative sitcom with ongoing characters. If what you loved about The Office was specifically watching someone escalate an awkward moment instead of just apologizing, this is the most concentrated version of that feeling available anywhere.
• Fleabag (BBC, 2016 to 2019): Phoebe Waller-Bridge's series is not a mockumentary either, it is a fourth-wall-breaking dramedy where the main character talks directly to the audience the way Jim used to glance at the camera. The cringe here cuts deeper and gets more serious than The Office ever did, so go in knowing that.

What Shows Have That Same Workplace-Family Feeling?

The actual reason people rewatch The Office is rarely the pranks. It is watching a group of people who did not choose each other slowly become the people they would choose. These four build that same found family in different rooms.

• Superstore (NBC, 2015 to 2021): Created by Justin Spitzer, set at Cloud 9, a big-box retail store in St. Louis. Same chaotic, underpaid, surprisingly loyal workplace family, plus its own slow-burn romance between Jonah and Amy running through most of the series.
• Cheers (NBC, 1982 to 1993): The original version of this idea, and worth including precisely because so few "shows like The Office" lists reach back this far. A Boston bar as a real third place, a home away from home for a cast that keeps returning to each other.
• Ted Lasso (Apple TV+, 2020 to present, fourth season premiered August 2026): An English football club standing in for the office. Ted and Rebecca's bond is close and central to the show but stays genuinely platonic rather than romantic, which fans and critics both point to as part of what gives the show its warmth.
• Community (NBC, 2009 to 2015): Not a workplace in the literal sense, a community college study group instead, but the same idea in a classroom: strangers who get stuck together and end up genuinely loving each other, created by Dan Harmon.

What Shows Have a Slow-Burn Romance Like Jim and Pam?

Nobody actually asks for "a workplace sitcom." What most people mean is "I want to feel the way I felt watching Jim and Pam get together, slowly, over several years." These three deliver that specifically.

• New Girl (Fox, 2011 to 2018): Created by Elizabeth Meriwether. Nick and Jess's will-they-won't-they is the longest, most drawn-out version of this on the list, spread across most of the show's seven seasons before it finally resolves.
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox, then NBC, 2013 to 2021): Created by Dan Goor and Michael Schur, another Office alum. Jake and Amy's arc moves faster than Jim and Pam's, kissing by the season two finale and marrying by season five, but the slow build to that first kiss hits the same notes.
• The Good Place (NBC, 2016 to 2020): Created by Michael Schur. Eleanor and Chidi's relationship unfolds inside a much stranger, more philosophical show than The Office, but the central will-they-won't-they is just as deliberately paced.

What's Best for a Comfort Rewatch on a Low-Energy Night?

Some nights the goal is not a new favorite show. It is background company that asks nothing of you. (If a film fits the night better, our list of underrated movies sorted by mood has a comfort tier too.) These four have earned their place as some of the most rewatched sitcoms of the last three decades.

• Schitt's Creek (CBC and Pop TV, 2015 to 2020): Created by Dan Levy and Eugene Levy, about a wealthy family relocated to a town they once bought as a joke. It won 9 Emmy Awards in 2020, including Outstanding Comedy Series, the first Canadian series ever to take that category.
• Seinfeld (NBC, 1989 to 1998): Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld's "show about nothing" set the template for low-stakes, endlessly rewatchable sitcom television, four New York friends and no plot obligations to keep up with.
• Friends (NBC, 1994 to 2004): Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, still one of the most rewatched sitcoms ever made. If you have not read our full guide to finding a movie buddy, the same logic that makes a rewatch easy applies to finding someone to actually watch new things with.
• Bob's Burgers (Fox, 2011 to present): The animated pick, created by Loren Bouchard, about a family running a burger restaurant that barely stays afloat. Same workplace-family warmth as the live-action options above, minus the confessional interviews.

Which Show Should You Actually Start With?

Twenty shows is a lot to sort through when you already know what you actually miss. Match the specific thing you loved to a single starting point instead.

Why Do We Rewatch The Office So Much?

There is a real mechanism behind this, not just a vague sense of nostalgia. Media psychologists call it mood management theory, a framework media researchers Zillmann and Bryant (1985) laid out: people reach for familiar content specifically because it reliably regulates mood, and already knowing exactly what happens next removes the uncertainty a brand-new show always carries. A stressful day does not need a plot twist. It needs Michael Scott to say something painfully wrong for the ninth time, in a scene you can predict beat for beat.

That is a genuinely useful function. It is also, if it becomes the only thing filling that hour, worth being honest about what it is actually standing in for.

Is It Weird to Rewatch Alone Instead of Watching Something New?

No, and it is far more common than the framing of "I've seen this eleven times" usually admits. What is worth naming honestly is why. A rewatch does not judge you for zoning out, does not need a plan, and the characters are always glad to see you, which is a low bar that real relationships also have to clear but somehow don't always. That is not a character flaw. It is a real need being filled by the closest available substitute. Pew Research found in 2023 that 61% of U.S. adults rank close friendships as extremely or very important to a fulfilling life, well ahead of marriage at 23% and having children at 26%. A rewatch is comfortable. It is not that.

The honest fix is not a better show. It is someone to actually watch a new one with, which is a different problem than picking episode 47 of a show you can already quote. Our movie buddy guide covers finding that person for film specifically, and the same shortage applies to television. Movies and TV is one of the most-selected interests Introvrs members pick at onboarding, 1,019 members as of August 2026, per internal platform data. Introvrs matches you with one compatible person at a time based on shared interests, not a feed or a group chat, so instead of rewatching the same nine seasons a twelfth time, you start already knowing someone else wants to watch the next one with you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is The Office so comforting to rewatch?

Media psychologists call it mood management theory, a concept Dolf Zillmann and Jennings Bryant described back in 1985: people return to familiar content because it reliably regulates mood, and already knowing what happens next removes the uncertainty a new show carries. That is also why so many shows like The Office searches are not really asking for something better, they are asking for something that can sit in the same spot on a hard night.

What show is most similar to The Office?

Parks and Recreation is the closest match on format: the same mockumentary structure, the same optimistic tone, and The Office's own Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. If you want an actual continuation instead of a lookalike, The Paper is a 2025 Peacock series set in the same documentary-crew universe, with Oscar Nunez reprising his Office role.

Is The Paper actually connected to The Office?

Yes. The Paper premiered on Peacock in September 2025 from Greg Daniels, The Office's creator, and Michael Koman, following the same in-universe documentary crew as they move on to film a struggling Toledo, Ohio newspaper. Oscar Nunez reprises his character Oscar Martinez in a supporting role, which is the clearest through-line between the two shows. A second season premieres September 9, 2026.

What if Parks and Recreation feels too close to just be a copy?

That is fair, and other picks on this list move further away on purpose. Peep Show swaps the documentary format for first-person point-of-view cameras but keeps the same secondhand cringe. Superstore keeps the workplace-family warmth without any confessional interviews at all. Pick based on what you actually loved, format or feeling, since they are not always the same show.

Is it weird to keep rewatching the same comfort show instead of trying something new?

No, and it is extremely common. Familiar sitcoms are consistently among the most-rewatched titles on major streaming platforms. It is only worth a second look if the rewatch has quietly become a stand-in for company you would rather actually have, since a familiar show cannot respond back the way a person can.

I have already seen every show on this list. What now?

Go by format instead of familiarity. What We Do in the Shadows and Abbott Elementary are the newest true mockumentaries still worth catching up on, and Ted Lasso's fourth season premiered in August 2026 if you fell behind. If sitcoms specifically are not scratching the itch anymore, our anime recommendations guide and movie buddy guide cover adjacent comfort-watching territory.

Where can I find people who also love shows like The Office?

Online fan communities exist, but they are mostly built for discussion, not friendship, so it is easy to talk about Dunder Mifflin for months without anyone actually remembering your name. Introvrs matches you one-on-one with people who share your interest tags, including Movies and TV, so you start already knowing you have this in common. It is a platonic friendship app, not a dating app.