8 TV Shows & Films To Watch If You’re Missing Office Life
For those of us now fluent in working from home, you’re probably a little bit OVER IT. At first, it was a novelty that came disguised as midday showers and pyjama-bottomed Zoom calls, but after four long months of it, we’re more than ready to play footsie with our colleagues again.
Remember that little table setting? The one full of all manner of miscellaneous objects including but not limited to nail varnish, parched highlighters, a stress ball shaped as an arse and a little dying love fern? It was called the office.
For those of us now fluent in working from home, you’re probably a little bit OVER IT. At first it was a novelty that came disguised as midday showers and pyjama-bottomed Zoom calls, but after four long months of it, we’re more than ready to play footsie with our colleagues again. We miss awkwardly stumbling upon their feet with our feet and loling about it because what else is there to do when your feet just slow-danced together?
We miss coming up with something deeply profound for whoever’s birthday it is that month: ‘HBD, have a good one’.
We miss plotting to get our favourite pen back from our co-worker after letting them borrow it 2 years ago.
We miss collectively standing up to gather at the window to stare at a pigeon or reprimanding the hands of time for passing too quickly. How is it 3pm already? waves of shock disperse from desk to desk. One colleague falls off her chair for dramatic effect
We even miss the smell of hot fish on the turn in the microwave. Take us back to the days when tepid tuna was as turbulent as life got!
If you’re missing office culture as much as us, we’ve pulled together a few tv shows and films to see you through until that sweet workplace reunion comes around in August.
Ugly Betty
Fresh out of college, a bespectacled poncho-wearing Betty Suarez – who really isn’t ugly at all – lands the role of assistant at Mode magazine. Thrust into the superficial world of models, bitchery and office backstabbing, she faces many highs and lows along the way but ultimately, this is a series about the triumph of the underdog.
Parks & Recreation
A character-driven mockumentary, starring the legendary Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, the enthusiastic workaholic and deputy director of the Parks & Recreation Department in Pawnee, Indiana. The show follows a weird and wonderful bunch of bureaucrats as they attempt to change their small-town community for the better. Highlights include Ron Swanson and his pyramid of greatness and gay penguin weddings.
The Office
Whether you watch the American version or the original British version, this motley crew and their hilarious 9-5 misadventures will be sure to fill your computer chair void.
The IT Crowd
The IT Crowd would rather spend their days actively avoiding all work. Guitar hero, prank calls, jousting with mops – we like their idea of team building activities tbh. If you don’t miss the office after watching this, try turning it off and on again.
After Life
The series largely centres around grief and learning to navigate life after loss but there’s some gloriously relatable sketches of office life throughout, including miserable birthdays, unfathomable weirdness and brilliantly executed small talk. Ricky Gervais at his v best.
Silicon Valley
A revolutionary data compression algorithm… it hardly sounds like a hoot does it? But you’ve got to hand it to these socially awks IT-nerds, they’d make your Mondays better AND they’d know exactly what to do when the Wi-Fi has a breakdown.
The Intern
A seventy-year-old retired, bereaved and benevolent Ben Whittaker, played by Robert DeNiro, applies to a senior citizen intern program at a fast-growing fashion start-up. He tidies his boss’ desk, he cries into his fluffy white robe and he always carries a handkerchief in his pocket at all times in case YOU need it. It’s heart-warming stuff. Petition for every company to have an in-house masseuse, thank you please.
The Devil Wears Prada
Anne Hathaway’s the dowdy, wide-eyed assistant, Meryl Streep’s the ruthless Cruella de Vogue Editor – together they make an unlikely but powerful team, in the end. It’s a cult-classic.
