Some comedies make you laugh; the best comedy series to binge make you feel like part of the family. This list is built for long weekends and slow evenings: six shows where the jokes land because you know the characters, where the workplace feels like a second home, and where rewatching an episode feels like catching up with old friends. From a paper company in Scranton to a school in Philadelphia, these are the comedies we return to again and again. Start with The Office, the show that rewrote the rules of the workplace sitcom.
The Mockumentary Hall of Fame: The Office, Parks and Recreation, Abbott Elementary
The Office (2005) turned Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch into the most famous workplace in television. Created by Greg Daniels from the British original, it ran for nine seasons and 186 episodes on NBC, and its genius was patience: it let Michael Scott be cringe-worthy and lovable at the same time, let Jim and Pam’s romance breathe across years, and turned talking-head interviews into a comedy language of their own. It is the rare sitcom that gets funnier on rewatch, because you start noticing the background jokes.
Parks and Recreation (2009) took the same mockumentary format and filled it with warmth. Michael Schur and Greg Daniels’ NBC series follows Leslie Knope, played by Amy Poehler, and the parks department of the fictional town of Pawnee across seven seasons and 122 episodes. Ron Swanson, played by Nick Offerman, April Ludgate, played by Aubrey Plaza, and Andy Dwyer, played by Chris Pratt, all grew from sketches into fully rounded people, and the show’s belief that government can be a force for good feels more radical every year.
Abbott Elementary (2021) proves the format is still alive. Quinta Brunson’s ABC mockumentary, set in an underfunded public school in Philadelphia, stars Brunson herself as the relentlessly optimistic Janine Teagues alongside Tyler James Williams. Six seasons in, it is the sharpest new workplace comedy of the decade: funny about bureaucracy, tender about teachers, and streaming on Hulu and Disney+ in the US.
The Hangout Classics: Friends and Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Friends (1994) is the original binge show, even if it predates the word. Marta Kauffman and David Crane’s NBC hit ran for ten seasons and 228 episodes, following Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross — played by Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer — through apartments, coffee shops and a decade of growing up. Its jokes are quoted everywhere because its characters were written to be lived with.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013) brought the hangout formula to a police precinct without losing its sweetness. Created by Daniel J. Goor and Michael Schur, it ran for eight seasons and 152 episodes, surviving a cancellation by FOX to be saved by NBC. Andy Samberg’s Jake Peralta, Melissa Fumero’s Amy Santiago, Andre Braugher’s Captain Raymond Holt, Stephanie Beatriz’s Rosa Diaz and Terry Crews’ Terry Jeffords made the 99th precinct feel like a family, and its annual Halloween Heist episodes remain some of the best-plotted comedy on television.
The Feel-Good Closer: Ted Lasso
Ted Lasso (2020) is the show to end your binge on. Created by Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Joe Kelly and Brendan Hunt, the Apple TV series stars Sudeikis as an American football coach hired to manage the fictional English soccer club AFC Richmond. Across four seasons and 44 episodes, it argues — stubbornly, sweetly — that kindness is a strategy, not a weakness. It is the rare comedy that can make you cry in the same scene that makes you laugh.
Your Binge Order
Start with The Office if you want the definitive workplace comedy, then move to Parks and Recreation for its warmer, more optimistic cousin. Abbott Elementary is the perfect modern follow-up, while Friends and Brooklyn Nine-Nine are ideal for background comfort viewing. Save Ted Lasso for last: after all that chaos, you will want its belief that people can get better. Whichever order you choose, these six shows share one secret — they are not really about offices, precincts or schools. They are about the families we choose.
For cast details, season breakdowns and where to stream it, see our full The Office guide.
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