Shows Like
Shows Like The Office to Watch After The Paper
By Jordan A. · · 4 min read
The Paper brings the mockumentary camera back into an office, and season two lands on Peacock on September 9, 2026. Greg Daniels and Michael Koman built it as an Office spinoff, dropping a documentary crew inside a struggling Midwestern newspaper instead of a paper company. Domhnall Gleeson leads it as Ned Sampson, and Oscar Nunez returns as Oscar, the one Dunder Mifflin face carried over. It is the closest thing we have had to new Office in years.
If it leaves you wanting more of that specific comedy, the deadpan glance at the camera, the small stakes played huge, here is where to go next. These shows all descend from the same family tree, and each one does something The Office did well.
Parks and Recreation for the heart
Parks and Recreation came out of the same brain trust, with Greg Daniels co-creating it alongside Michael Schur, and it shares The Office's mockumentary format. Amy Poehler plays Leslie Knope, a small-town parks department deputy whose relentless optimism powers the whole thing. Where The Office could turn bleak, Parks leans warm, and its ensemble of oddballs is one of the most beloved in sitcom history. If you loved the Jim and Pam sweetness more than the cringe, start here.
Abbott Elementary for the modern take
Abbott Elementary is the show that proved the mockumentary format still had life in it. Quinta Brunson created it and stars as Janine Teagues, an earnest teacher at an underfunded Philadelphia public school. The talking-head interviews, the workplace family, the documentary conceit that nobody ever quite explains, it is all here, updated for a new decade and a real institution people care about. It is warm, fast, and genuinely funny, and it picked up a wall of awards for a reason. You will find it near the top of our best Hulu shows of 2026 list, and it earns the spot.
What We Do in the Shadows for the weird
If your favorite Office episodes were the strangest ones, this is your show. What We Do in the Shadows, spun off from the Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi film, uses the same documentary-crew setup to follow a house of ancient vampires bickering on Staten Island. The format is identical to The Office, right down to the confessional interviews, but the subject is undead roommates arguing over chores and centuries-old grudges. It is one of the sharpest comedies of its era and completely its own thing.
Superstore for the workplace grind
The Office understood that a bad job can still be a home, and Superstore gets that too. Set inside a big-box store called Cloud 9, it follows the staff, led by America Ferrera, through the daily indignities of retail. It is less precious than most sitcoms about work, and it slips real commentary about wages and management into the jokes without slowing down for it. If the day-to-day texture of The Office is what you miss, Superstore recreates it on a shop floor.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine for the ensemble energy
Not a mockumentary, but pure workplace comedy, Brooklyn Nine-Nine runs on the same fuel: a group of coworkers who slowly become a family. Andy Samberg leads a police precinct full of distinct, quotable characters, and the show never forgets that the best office comedies are really about the people you get stuck with all day. It is the easiest binge on this list, built for one-more-episode nights.
Picking your next binge
Go by what you want more of. If it is warmth, Parks and Recreation. If it is the freshest version of the format, Abbott Elementary. If it is the weird streak, What We Do in the Shadows. Every one of them earns a place on any serious list of the best comedy shows of 2026, and any one of them will fill the hole The Paper leaves when you run out of episodes. For a change of pace that keeps the laughs but adds a little heart, our rundown of shows like Shrinking is worth a look too.
The mockumentary is one of TV's most durable comedy formats, and The Paper is proof it still works when the writing is sharp. These five keep that streak going.
Why the format refuses to die
There is a reason the mockumentary keeps coming back, and it is not just nostalgia for The Office. The style does something no other comedy setup can. The camera turns the audience into a silent coworker, someone the characters glance at when a meeting goes off the rails, and that little look pulls you into the room. It also lets a show swing between big jokes and real feeling without whiplash, because the documentary frame makes the quiet moments feel observed rather than staged. The Paper understands this, which is why it works where a lot of Office knockoffs failed. It is not copying the jokes, it is using the same lens. When you line up Parks and Recreation, Abbott Elementary, and What We Do in the Shadows, you can see how flexible that lens really is, carrying a parks department, a public school, and a house of vampires with the exact same toolkit. That range is why the format has outlived almost every trend that came after it, and why the next great version is always just around the corner.
Want the pick tailored to your exact taste in office comedy? BingeNext learns whether you lean sweet, weird, or cynical and points you at the sitcom that fits. Get show recommendations and keep the laugh track going.
Topics covered: the office, the paper, parks and recreation, abbott elementary, workplace comedy
About the author
Jordan A., Founder, BingeNext
Jordan A. is the founder of BingeNext and writes every guide on this site. He built the recommendation engine after one too many nights lost to the streaming menu, and he still tests every pick the hard way: by watching it.