Workplace Comedies Are Having a Major Emmy Moment

There are few genres that remain as evergreen and accessible as workplace comedies, especially since the average adult living in the U.S. will reportedly spend one-third of their lives at work.

“You are thrust into this very intimate setting where you have to work with people to accomplish something, but they’re not people you get to choose,” says Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat showrunner Anthony King. “When you’re actually having to work with clients or on some kind of project with someone, but then also eat lunch with them, that switch leads to so many interesting dynamics that we can all relate to.” Related Stories TV Eugene Levy on Becoming a Slightly Less 'Reluctant Traveler' in the Third Season of His Emmy-Nominated Show TV 'Love Story' Producers Didn't Expect Carolyn Bessette's TikTok Fan Army to Come for Them

The Comeback co-creator Michael Patrick King notes that workplace comedies were initially conceived as a cost-effective way to make TV. “It’s very economically sound to have six funny characters in the same set week after week [with] no CGI dragons, no cars in New York saying it’s 1950,” he says, adding that he has always been drawn to the idea of examining “family that isn’t family” in a tense environment. “The best version of a workplace comedy is an evolution where you fall in love with people that maybe you don’t even like, but they’re good at their job and you have to deal with them.”

When Quinta Brunson first wrote the pilot for Abbott Elementary — which has become the genre’s defining hit of the decade — she was particularly interested in probing that thin line between the personal and professional to reveal the hearts of her eccentric ensemble. “Part of the fun is remembering that they’re people first,” Brunson says, noting that pulling her characters out of school or showing them outside of work hours allows viewers to uncover new layers that would have remained masked on the clock. “We keep that in mind to not pigeonhole them [and] instead show the full humanity of these people and how it connects to their job.”

The added complication for half of this year’s Emmy comedy writing nominees — Abbott , The Comeback and Company Retreat — was that the mockumentary format relies on characters who are acutely aware that they are being watched at all times, forcing writers to script a complex performance within a performance.

On Abbott , for instance, Brunson says that guest actors often struggle with “looking at the camera and talking and treating the camera as if it’s in the room.” Initially, Janelle James’ delightfully self-absorbed principal, Ava, was far more comfortable with the crew than the teachers.