5 Shows To Watch If ‘The Paper’ Still Didn’t Fill The Office-Shaped Hole in Your Heart

The long-awaited The Office spin-off finally dropped on Peacock, and while some feel the same charm from The Paper as they felt from its predecessor, others are expectedly disappointed. Despite sharing a creative team and original actor Oscar Nuñez, alongside a star-studded cast of Domhnall Gleeson, Sabrina Impacciatore, and Tim Key, The Paper just can’t fill The Office-shaped hole in your heart.

Domhnall’s Ned Sampson and Sabrina’s Esmerelda are no match for Steve Carrell’s Michael Scott, and Ned’s will-they-won’t-they with Mare Pritti (Chelsea Frei) doesn’t hold a candle to Jim and Pam’s burning chemistry. Although there are laughable quips and quirky character moments, The Paper just doesn’t share the same nostalgia, sympathy, and risk-taking humor that fills The Office. Luckily, there are still plenty of shows that can at least attempt to fill the dark hole left behind by The Office.

Parks and Recreation (2009–2015)

Sharing some creative team members, most notably Michael Schur and Greg Daniels, who created an oft-compared sitcom to The Office, Parks and Recreation is a more optimistic, less awkward answer to The Office. Starring Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, she is in the same generation of comedians as Steve Carrell and perfectly helms the Parks Department as a lovable, yet sometimes misguided leader. While slightly less awkward and more capable, Leslie ties the show together.

The show also launched the careers of Nick Offerman, Aziz Ansari, Aubrey Plaza, Adam Scott, and Chris Pratt, while bringing in big names like Rob Lowe, Paul Rudd, and Megan Mulally alongside familiar faces from the Michael Schur universe. Because of this, it shares the same familiarity and nostalgia as The Office. And of course, with workplace antics, budding romances and love triangles, and eccentric characters, it shares the same DNA that glues our eyes and hearts to the television.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013–2021)

Another workplace sitcom in the Michael Schur universe, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has nearly perfected his formula. Centered on Andy Samberg’s NYPD Detective Jake Peralta, Brooklyn Nine-Nine makes the setting of the show equally as important as the characters’ idiosyncrasies. In this way, the plot is nearly addictive, setting up unsolvable cases, undercover storylines, and series-long nemeses that add to the characters’ everyday lives. 

Brooklyn Nine-Nine makes an NYPD precinct funny, relatable, and admirable as we watch the characters fall in love, mature from precinct goofsters into lovable dads, and connect with their emotions. While its humor is less dry than that of The Office, the character moments and humor in the face of a dark line of work mixed with impeccable timing make it well worth a watch.

Party Down (2009–2010, 2023)

Although Party Down wasn’t created by Michael Schur and Greg Daniels, a departure from our other recommendations, it shares some casting DNA that transcends to its writing style. In just three seasons, Party Down follows a catering company run by out-of-work actors, featuring Ken Marino, Adam Scott, Jane Lynch, Lizzy Caplan, and more of Hollywood’s favorite comedic faces. Another workplace comedy full of dry wit, Party Down is an underrated gem that can easily be compared to The Office. 

It similarly shares a will-they-won’t-they romance, awkward moments between characters, and some necessary chaotic problem-solving. It gained such a large cult following in the decade after its second season that Starz renewed a third follow-up season that was well worth the wait, providing the comfort that our favorite shows can come back for more.

A.P. Bio (2018–2021)

Created by SNL alum Mike O’Brien, A.P. Bio follows Glenn Howerton’s Jack Griffin, a disgraced philosophy professor forced to teach an A.P. biology class after he moves back to his childhood home in Toledo, Ohio. Like The Office, A.P. Bio is a workplace sitcom, but because it’s in a high school, it also features high school-aged students. Between complicated power dynamics of administration, teachers, students, and parents, the show is a darkly funny, yet optimistic, perspective of putting a cynical philosophy professor at his rock bottom. 

But when his rock bottom actually teaches him to care, he and those around him grow into even more complex and exciting characters who grapple with how to turn life’s lemons into lemonade. There are goofy misguided characters in a bumbling principal (Patton Oswalt) and his secretary (Paula Pell), a love interest in Lynette (Elizabeth Alderfer), sassy teacher friends, and most uniquely, a group of high school nerds who are more multifaceted than they seem to be, giving A.P. Bio the proper markings of any The Office rival.

Community (2009–2015)

Made in the same era as The Office and Parks and Rec, Community was a less-popular, underrated television sitcom with much of the same charm. Joel McHale plays ex-lawyer Jeff Winger, who is forced to go to community college after his law firm discovers he never finished his Bachelor’s degree. He begrudgingly befriends his study group, consisting of misguided activist, Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs), socially awkward film fanatic Abed (Danny Pudi), former straight-A student who fell into pill addiction Annie (Alison Brie), former star athlete who underwent a career-ending injury Troy (Donald Glover), doting and judgmental mother Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), and wealthy conservative Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase).

Between its star-studded cast and eccentric characters, the humor writes itself. But creator Dan Harmon was expert in creating running gags and inside jokes, while giving the characters relatable and sympathetic arcs. They may not learn much in school, but the characters, who all agree that Greendale Community College was not their first choice, learn how to love, feel, stand up for themselves, and most of all, become members of a community. Between the dry humor, cringey moments, running gags, and engaging character arcs, any fan of The Office should give Community the old college try (pun intended).