Although The Office’s official spinoff recently arrived, CBS’s upcoming sitcom DMV could be the iconic workplace comedy’s true successor. The Office became a legendary series despite some inauspicious beginnings. The Office’s UK predecessor was a uniquely British series, so it was hard to imagine its dry, deadpan humor translating well.
Considering how short-lived comparable sitcom remakes like The IT Crowd and The Inbetweeners were, a US take on The Office seemed like a recipe for disaster. Of course, The Office instead became a massive success. The Office’s mockumentary format soon became a go-to style for US network sitcoms, spawning hits like Parks and Recreation and Modern Family.
Like The Office, DMV Is Set In An Odd Workplace Setting
DMV Has The Potential To Make Its Much Maligned Setting Hilarious
Despite all its success, or perhaps because of its outsized influence on sitcoms that followed, The Office never found a worthy follow-up. Viewers who enjoyed the show should check out The Office’s spiritual successor Superstore, but that series had a broader sense of humor and no mockumentary format.
Meanwhile, although Abbott Elementary owes a debt to The Office creatively, the workplace mockumentary takes place in a busy, urban school rather than a quiet, boring office. With this taken into consideration, it seems likely that the upcoming workplace sitcom DMV will be the first real successor to The Office.
DMV follows Tim Meadows’ DMV veteran Gregg as he navigates a thankless job in the Department of Motor Vehicles. This much-maligned institution is the setting for the series, which also stars The Conners scene stealer Tony Cavalero, Saturday Night Live’s Molly Kearney, and American Auto’s Harriet Dyer.
How DMV Can Either Rival Or Be Better Than The Office
The Office and DMV Share One Pivotal Point of Comparison
While DMV isn’t a mockumentary like Abbott Elementary, like Dunder-Mifflin, the setting of DMV is undeniably an unexpected backdrop for a sitcom. Not only that, but the show also won’t be hampered by comparisons to The Office, unlike the show’s official Peacock spinoff, The Paper.
Perhaps most importantly, DMV has the same unlikely selling point that made The Office a success. Namely, the show has a really boring setting. The Office’s Dunder-Mifflin was a painfully dull workplace, so the interactions between the characters drove the series.
Similarly, the DMV is a famously boring place to while away an hour. Thus, showing viewers how the department’s workers make their jobs fun has the potential to be a quirky setup for an unpredictable sitcom. If The Office made viewers fall in love with the failing branch of an office supply company, DMV can do the same for its setting.
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The Office
8/10
- Release Date
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2005 – 2013-00-00
- Showrunner
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Greg Daniels
