{"id":31312,"date":"2021-02-17T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=31312"},"modified":"2021-02-22T13:05:26","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T18:05:26","slug":"five-shows-to-watch-instead-of-the-office-on-streaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/entertainment\/2021\/02\/17\/five-shows-to-watch-instead-of-the-office-on-streaming\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Shows to Watch Instead of &#8216;The Office&#8217; on Streaming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">I would like to preface by saying that although I\u2019m suggesting you watch something other than the Ricky Gervais created, Americanized version of the show, that \u201cThe Office\u201d is, without doubt, the show I have clocked the most hours watching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHow could you not love \u2018The Office,\u2019\u201d say most fans of the show, who find so much to love about a show that speaks to the normalcy of everyday life but also the underlying humor of our embarrassing moments, including that of our overbearing boss who just wants to be our friend? I say that being the kind of boss who sincerely tries to be a friend to the people I work with. I\u2019m sorry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/entertainment\/2021\/01\/27\/a-look-at-the-latest-streaming-service-peacock\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">With Peacock, NBC\u2019s new streaming service<\/a>, buying back one of their biggest, most popular shows over the past two decades for their streaming service, it begs the question, \u201cFor those of us who haven\u2019t jumped on the Peacock train yet, what is there to watch now?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Without further adieu, here are five shows that, although not \u201cThe Office,\u201d they are still almost as comforting in their cringe humor and warm domesticity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Community:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uGaeh7d9I0A?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;start=156&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption>(Source: YouTube\/Community)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dan Harmon (creator of \u201cRick and Morty\u201d and \u201cHarmonquest\u201d) created show originally aired alongside \u201cThe Office\u201d back in the mid-aughts before it was unceremoniously canceled only to find a second life online. In many ways, \u201cCommunity\u201d is a different kind of sit-com altogether, with its sometimes surreal plots and recurring references to popular culture.\u00a0 It still has as much heart at the center of all of that, if not more than what \u201cThe Office\u201d serves up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A show about community college students that, much like its name, is very much a show about togetherness, as disparate people find ways to come together and find, well, a community in each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Good Place:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/29iKAAeRvI4?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption>(Source: YouTube\/IGN)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Good Place\u201d is the latest in a series of shows that were birthed from the mind of former \u201cThe Office\u201d writer and eventual co-creator Michael Schur. Shur created \u201cParks and Recreation\u201d alongside Greg Daniels (the creator of the American \u201cThe Office\u201d) and also played Dwight\u2019s cousin Mose on \u201cThe Office.\u201d Schur also created \u201cBrooklyn Nine-Nine\u201d starring Andy Samberg and Terry Crews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Good Place\u201d is a little higher concept than Schur\u2019s previous efforts, such as \u201cThe Office.&#8221; However, it certainly still bears all of the heart that makes \u201cThe Office\u201d so beloved by its fans. It tells the story of Eleanor Shellstrop, a deceased pharmaceutical saleswoman who definitely doesn\u2019t belong in \u201cthe good place,\u201d a place in the afterlife reserved for good, philanthropic, decent people, all of which Eleanor (played by Kristen Bell) is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A big plus for the show, much like Schur\u2019s \u201cParks and Rec.\u201d and to a lesser extent \u201cBrooklyn Nine-Nine\u201d is how it breaks down social philosophy into easy to metabolize chunks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qCDAmicNe9E?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption>(Source: YouTube\/The Arch)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Going again with a fellow Thursday-night NBC comedy alum, as Tina Fey\u2019s \u201c30 Rock\u201d (which is also great and will satiate your &#8220;The Office&#8221; habit, too) aired alongside \u201cThe Office\u201d in the middle-aughts, too.\u00a0 Though a totally different monster and more in tune with Fey\u2019s particular brand of sandwich-centric (\u201c30 Rock\u201d fans will get that joke hopefully) comedy, it carries a lot of the same DNA as the American version of \u201cThe Office.\u201d Namely, that much like the other shows on this list, it finds humor in the mundane and community in the absurd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The premise of the show revolves around Kimmy Schmidt (played by Office-alum Ellie Kemper) who has spent most of her life in an underground bunker, being kidnapped by a religious zealot played by Jon Hamm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though Kemper is brilliant in the titular role, it can\u2019t be understated how brilliant both Tituss Burgess and Carol Kane are as Kimmy\u2019s roommate and landlord respectively, the former, Burgess, stealing nearly every scene he is in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Broad City:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ABUuFJU71PY?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption>(Source: YouTube\/Vox)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the defining characteristics of \u201cThe Office&#8221; is the warmness of friendship displayed in Dwight and Michael, Pam and Jim, and on rare occasions, between Dwight and Jim. With that in mind, I\u2019d like to introduce you to \u201cBroad City\u201d a show about the show\u2019s creators (kinda) Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, who play heightened versions of themselves, again kinda, just trying to make a living in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps you\u2019re already a fan, but if you aren\u2019t, you should be forewarned that the show is considerably crasser than \u201cThe Office\u201d at times. However, it is without a doubt on par with the humor. At times, \u201cBroad City\u201d reaches considerably greater heights of humor. I mean, any show that features a joke revolving around Tinder dates using a picture of Denzel Washington and an old man using a picture of himself at 26, because Abbi didn\u2019t know you could swipe left, is definitely well worth its comedic mettle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Superstore:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NgZXnTZbF3g?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption>(Source: YouTube\/TV Promos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps \u201cSuperstore\u2019s\u201d Achilles\u2019 heel is that it is, at times, too much like \u201cThe Office.\u201d It, like \u201cThe Office\u201d is a workplace comedy set in a small town with normal, everyday people, living normal everyday lives in a job that they hate but also never seem to actually do any real work in. Man, TV work seems so much better than real work, am I right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though despite the show\u2019s failings (it\u2019s set to show its final episodes in the upcoming months), it is without a doubt a tightly written, genuine, and at times brilliant show filled with likable characters. From \u201cKids in the Hall\u201d and \u201cSNL\u201d alum Mark McKinney\u2019s too nice for his own good boss, to America Ferrara\u2019s determined and hardworking floor supervisor, to Ben Feldman\u2019s college dropout, the show is filled with characters who feel like heightened versions of real people living normal lives, something that \u201cThe Office\u201d was pretty great at doing. And after all, wasn\u2019t that the whole point of \u201cThe Office?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Part of what made \u201cThe Office\u201d so appealing to me, as well as its numerous fans, was what it gave us that so many other shows weren\u2019t: a welcoming place with genuine earnestness and all of the humor of everyday life. When I first saw that snow-covered hill in the show\u2019s opening, with the piano lines, slowly building, it felt not too far from a sort of nostalgia that harkened back to a Norwell Rockwellian idealized version of my own small town. It felt, in short, warm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, obviously, the show has been off the air for years, as well as most of the shows on this list, and you can just as easily sign up for Peacock&#8211;there\u2019s plenty to like about it and it\u2019s still relatively cheap&#8211;but if you\u2019re craving that sort of earnest comedy, these are a few shows I would personally recommend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As author David Foster Wallace, author of \u201cInfinite Jest\u201d once wrote, \u201cWhat passes for hip cynical transcendence of sentiment is really some kind of fear of being really human, since to be really human [&#8230;] is probably to be unavoidably sentimental and na\u00efve and goo-prone and generally pathetic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Office\u201d was full of flawed, arguably at times pathetic characters who were just trying to find community in each other. I think the other shows on this list do that, to some degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Richard Foltz<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Associate Editor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I would like to preface by saying that although I\u2019m suggesting you watch something other than the Ricky Gervais created, Americanized version of the show, that \u201cThe Office\u201d is, without doubt, the show I have clocked the most hours watching. \u201cHow could you not love \u2018The Office,\u2019\u201d say most fans of the show, who find [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10416,"featured_media":31087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2104,2616,2109,3398,2111],"tags":[4825,217,4820,850,4751,2877,1581,4828,4821,1770,4824],"class_list":["post-31312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-featured","category-opinion","category-review","category-shows","tag-broad-city","tag-community","tag-dan-harmon","tag-nbc","tag-peacock","tag-richard-foltz","tag-streaming-service","tag-superstore","tag-the-good-place","tag-the-office","tag-the-unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/The-Office-YouTube.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-892","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10416"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31312"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31339,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31312\/revisions\/31339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}