5 Best Workplace Sitcoms Of All Time, Ranked

Is there any better setting for a sitcom than a shared workplace? If you think about it, it's really ideal. Not only does a workplace sitcom not require a ton of convoluted backstory about how everyone met and became friends, but it's a perfect setting for conflict. (Honestly, how many times has someone in your shared office driven you absolutely insane?) Whether someone is monopolizing the microwave or your deskmate has horrible B.O., there are so many great plotlines that can be pulled from workplace issues ... and it also is the perfect environment to keep introducing new characters and writing others off as the narrative progresses.

You get the point! A lot of great sitcoms in TV history have been set in workplaces because they're ideal narrative breeding grounds and present nearly endless possibilities for the writers. So which ones are the best ever? Obviously, sitcoms like "Cheers," "Friends," and "How I Met Your Mother" are ineligible for this list because they're shows about buddies who hang out at either bars or coffee shops, and great picks like "Scrubs" and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" just barely missed the cut. "The Good Place" is a perfect and wholly innovative sitcom, but there's no "workplace," really. (Unfortunately, we could only choose five picks, and had to kill a few darlings as a tragic result.) From a series set in a big-box chain store with some of the weirdest running gags around to a series that ended up spawning a whole holiday to the defining workplace sitcom of the 2000s, here are the five best workplace sitcoms of all time, ranked.

If you haven't watched "Superstore," you're really missing out. Created by Justin Spitzer (who went on to make the also excellent "St. Denis Medical"), "Superstore," true to its name, is about a fictional big-box store called Cloud 9 — and, more specifically, about its location in St. Louis, Missouri. At the start of the show, new employee Jonah Simms (Ben Feldman), a business school dropout who has a bad attitude about working in customer service, immediately irritates associate supervisor Amelia "Amy" Dubanowski (America Ferrera) on his first day of work. Eventually, though, Jonah settles into a good rhythm alongside fellow employees Mateo Fernando Aquino Liwanag (Nico Santos), Dina Fox (Lauren Ash), Garrett McNeill (Colton Dunn), Cheyenne Taylor Lee (Nichole Sakura), Sandra Kaluiokalani (Kaliko Kauahi), and manager Glenn Sturgis ("Kids in the Hall" veteran Mark McKinney).

"Superstore" isn't just a really funny, weirdly sweet, and compulsively watchable workplace sitcom — though it definitely checks all of those boxes. It's also one of the strangest shows to air on any network (NBC, in this case) in semi-recent memory. The interstitials include everything from people biting candles to parents accidentally abandoning children, there are running bits about raccoon infestations and severed limbs in the store, and Amy's entire gambit is that she tries to throw customers off her scent by wearing a different name tag during every single shift. (That one's not strange; it's just funny.) "Superstore" is a truly magnificent workplace sitcom, and it's definitely one of the five best.

No list of amazing workplace sitcoms would be complete without "The Office," but let's take a moment here and examine how improbable the success of this show was at first. Created by Greg Daniels, "The Office" premiered in 2005 as a humble mid-season replacement and served as a remake of the British series of the same name created by Ricky Gervais, which was already revered in comedy circles and a huge hit to boot. The first season of "The Office" has ... some stumbles. After that, Season 2 premiered in the fall of 2005 and gained an enormous following, becoming a modern classic and, without competition, one of the most beloved workplace sitcoms in history.

In the American version, the "action" (so to speak) is set at a mildly successful paper company branch located in the Northeastern Pennsylvania city of Scranton, and the office in question is led by the well-meaning but absolutely buffoonish Michael Scott (Steve Carell, delivering the performance of a lifetime as a crass weirdo who does try his best). Elsewhere in the titular office, there's a "will they, won't they" storyline between receptionist Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) and salesman Jim Halpert (John Krasinski), a semi-serious bitter rivalry between Jim and his oddball, beet-obsessed deskmate Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), and a whole host of colorful characters like the uptight accountant Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey), human resources representative Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein), customer service representative Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling), and quality assurance representative and man of mystery Creed Bratton (... Creed Bratton). Not every episode or season of "The Office" is perfect, but when this show is great, it truly earns its place in the TV hall of fame.

Sorry to all of the "Office" superfans out there — "Parks and Recreation" is better. Created by Michael Schur (who extensively worked on "The Office" as a writer and producer and also made occasional on-screen appearances as Dwight Schrute's insane cousin Mose), "Parks and Recreation" was, at first glance, just sort of an "Office" knock-off with a woman in charge instead; in this iteration, it was Amy Poehler's blonde Leslie Knope, an employee at the parks and recreation department in Pawnee, Illinois. Before long, though, "Parks and Recreation" made a discovery that changed the show for the better: what if Leslie's fatal flaw isn't that she's well-meaning and inept like Michael Scott, but so aggressively good at and dedicated to her job that she drives everyone around her nuts in the process? That's when "Parks and Recreation" truly became great.

Flanked by Nick Offerman's surly anti-government Ron Swanson, Aziz Ansari's overly ambitious aspiring entrepreneur Tom Haverford, Aubrey Plaza's sardonic but soft-hearted April Ludgate, Chris Pratt's dumb but lovable Andy Dwyer, Retta's superbly confident and cool Donna Meagle, Rashida Jones's nurse (and best friend to Leslie) Ann Perkins, and Jim O'Heir's put-upon Garry "Jerry" Gergich, Leslie tries to solve Pawnee's problems, even when the town is begging her to stop. Normally, new character's don't make a show wildly better, but when Adam Scott and Rob Lowe's government officials Ben Wyatt and Chris Traeger joined the series in Season 2, it truly became perfect. Yeah, there are a lot of great workplace sitcoms, but have any of the others spawned a holiday? "Parks and Recreation" is responsible for Galentine's Day, so there you have it. Add in unforgettable performances, a tiny horse named Lil Sebastian, and a town full of freaks that you'll never want to leave, and you've got a near-perfect show.

Yes, "Abbott Elementary" is the proverbial new kid on the block in this list — it premiered in 2021 and, as of this writing in 2026, is still going strong — but it's also one of the sweetest, funniest, and most charming workplace sitcoms ever made, and that's a testament to the power of its creator: Quinta Brunson. Philly native Brunson (go Birds), whose mother's work in the perpetually underfunded Philadelphia public school system inspired her to create a series set there, also plays the series' protagonist Janine Teagues, an enthusiastic but ultimately downtrodden teacher at Willard R. Abbott Elementary. Every day at work, Janine faces a new issue, whether one of her students is having a behavioral problem or there's some sort of bureaucratic problem preventing her from doing her job. Thankfully, Janine has an amazing support system: her fellow teachers include instantly iconic characters like South Philly broad Melissa Schemmenti (Lisa Ann Walter), long-standing educator Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph), the obsessive but sweet Gregory Eddie (Tyler James Williams), the well-meaning but goofy Jacob Hill (Chris Perfetti), and the school's principal Ava Coleman (Janelle James), whose bombastic attitude covers up how capable she really is at her job.

"Abbott Elementary" has racked up Emmy wins over the course of its ongoing run, and all of them were thoroughly well-deserved ... and it seems destined to become a modern classic when all is said and done. If you want a little sugar with your jokes, "Abbott Elementary" is an ideal workplace sitcom for you ... and don't miss its bizarre and wonderful crossover with "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

"30 Rock" is the best workplace sitcom ever made, and it's not close. Pound for pound, this series, created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, is probably the funniest TV show ever made, and it centers around Fey's television producer Liz Lemon, who's trying to "have it all" living and working in New York (though in Liz's case, "having it all" is less about romance and more about snack foods and her Slanket, a clear knock-off of the Snuggie). Unfortunately for Liz, nobody at her wonderfully dysfunctional workplace makes that easy. You've got diva and sketch show star Jenna Maroney, played brilliantly by Jane Krakowski (who once screams, "My niece drew a picture of me, and I look so fat!" while refusing to leave her dressing room), as well as her erratic co-star Tracy Jordan, portrayed by Tracy Morgan (who, at one point, admonishes a pigeon for eating a french fry off the ground, asking, "Don't you know you can fly?"). Kenneth Parcell, the potentially ageless NBC page played by Jack McBrayer ("It's hard for me to watch 'American Idol,' because there's a waterbug on my channel changer"), tries to help but often makes a bigger mess of things, and then there's Jack Donaghy, Liz's "work husband" and General Electrics boss played by Alec Baldwin. (When Liz happens upon him wearing a tuxedo for no reason, Jack quips, "It's after 6 [p.m.], Lemon. What am I, a farmer?)

If you've ever seen "30 Rock," we don't really need to convince you here ... and if you haven't, get on that. With a roster of guest stars that includes everyone from Julianne Moore to Matt Damon to Elaine Stritch and some of the most fast-paced jokes ever put on TV, you won't regret binge-watching this perfect workplace sitcom.