Happy Labor Day, everyone! To commemorate the occasion, I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite workplace films and television series.
- The Office
A mockumentary about the day-to-day life of the employees at Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. No other series has captured the mundanities and absurdities of modern office work quite like The Office.
My favorite episode: “Stress Relief” (Season 5, episodes 14/15)
Between the fire drill cold open and the first aid training session that goes horrifyingly – and hilariously – wrong, Rainn Wilson’s Dwight takes his workplace antics to a whole new level. I truly don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard.
Fun fact: Time magazine ranked “Stress Relief” as the single best television episode of 2009.
- 9 to 5 (1980)
The underpaid, overworked, and sexually harassed women of Consolidated Companies get the ultimate revenge on their boss, Franklin Hart Jr. (Dabney Coleman).
My favorite scene: the fantasy sequence in which Violet (Lily Tomlin), Judy (Jane Fonda) and Doralee (Dolly Parton, in her film debut) imagine how they would each exact revenge on their pig of a boss. Violet, dressed as Snow White, puts rat poison in Hart’s coffee; Judy hunts Hart down and shoots him; Doralee ties Hart up with a lasso. No quality clip of this scene exists on YouTube, so here’s the Oscar-nominated theme song instead.
Fun fact: Dolly Parton earned two Grammys for the title song, which was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song (it lost to “Fame”).
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977)
The most Emmy-winning workplace series – comedy OR drama – in history, The Mary Tyler Moore Show is the yardstick by which all workplace sitcoms are measured. A masterclass in comedy acting, writing, and directing.
My favorite episode: “Chuckles Bites the Dust” (Season 6, Episode 7)
Fun fact: In 2009, TV Guide ranked “Chuckles Bites the Dust” #1 on its list of “100 Greatest Episodes Of All Time”.
- Office Space (1999)
A Gen-X cult classic, Office Space proved that Beavis and Butt-Head creator Mike Judge could also do live action. The film’s name has since been used as shorthand for what every office worker has fantasized about – killing the constantly broken-down printer (as in, “I’m going to go ‘Office Space” on this thing”).
My favorite scene (tie): “Joanna’s flair” and “Printer death”
Fun fact: Swingline wasn’t manufacturing a red stapler when Office Space was made, so one was created for the film using red spray paint. After repeated requests from the film’s fans, Swingline put a red stapler into production in 2002.
- Cheers (1982-1993)
A beloved favorite, Cheers was not an immediate hit (in fact, it placed 74th out of 77 shows in its first season and was nearly canceled). But in 1982, series were still given the opportunity to find an audience; Cheers ended up in the Nielsen top ten for eight of its eleven seasons. Co-creators James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles all worked for MTM Enterprises, Mary Tyler Moore’s production company, so their workplace sitcom credentials were top-notch. And that cast? Absolute perfection.
My favorite episode: “Thanksgiving Orphans” (Season 5, Episode 9)
Fun fact: “Thanksgiving Orphans” featured the long-awaited debut of Norm’s oft-referenced but previously unseen wife Vera, though her face was obscured by a pumpkin pie.
- Clerks (1994)
For better or worse, this indie buddy comedy (shot for $27,575 at the video and convenience stores where Kevin Smith worked) introduced the world to Jay and Silent Bob and created the View Askewniverse. Anyone who has worked in retail (yours truly included) will sympathize with Dante’s recurring refrain: “I’m not even supposed to be here today!”
My favorite scene: “I don’t watch movies”
Fun fact: Clerks was initially rated NC-17 for its explicit dialogue. Miramax hired Alan Dershowitz to help them appeal the decision, which would have limited the film’s commercial prospects. The MPAA ultimately relented and an unaltered Clerks was released with an R rating.
- Empire Records (1995)
A Peanut Butter & Julie favorite (https://peanut-butter-and-julie.com/2021/04/08/happy-rex-manning-day/), Empire Records holds a special place in my heart due to my brief but memorable stint working in retail record stores. This day-in-the-life flick features an absurdly likable cast and a killer soundtrack.
My favorite scene: “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)”
Fun fact: Empire Records‘ soundtrack is one of my favorites, but the soundtrack album is only the beginning. Among the other 35 tunes featured in the film are “Snakeface” by Throwing Muses, “How” by The Cranberries, and “This Is the Day” by The The. You can listen to the complete soundtrack here:
- Designing Women (1986-1991)
Designing Women was one of the rare (especially for the 1980s) sitcoms to have a female showrunner (Linda Bloodworth-Thomason). This lent the show a feminist edge, and the series tackled all sorts of social issues; at least once an episode, Julia Sugarbaker (Dixie Carter) used her withering stare and acerbic tongue to put a lesser person in their place.
My favorite episode: “Killing All the Right People” (Season 2, Episode 4)
Not-so-fun fact: Linda Bloodworth-Thomason was inspired to write “Killing All the Right People” after her mother contracted HIV from a blood transfusion and died of AIDS-related complications. The title of the episode comes from a conversation amongst hospital staffers that Bloodworth-Thomason overheard while caring for her dying mother.
- Erin Brockovich (2000)
Armed only with street smarts, a push-up bra, and ferocious determination, Erin Brockovich helps bring justice to the citizens of Hinkley, CA, devastated by the effects of hexavalent chromium in their water. The villain? Pacific Gas & Electric, who poisoned Hinkley’s water supply and spent decades covering up the truth. In an Oscar-winning performance, Julia Roberts shines, assisted by a spectacular supporting cast (especially Albert Finney, also Oscar-nominated) and crackerjack direction by Steven Soderbergh (not to mention some awesome Sheryl Crow tunes).
My favorite scene: “A Lame-Ass Offer”
Fun fact: The real Erin Brockovich has a small role in the film, as a waitress at the restaurant where Erin takes her kids to “celebrate”.
- Monsters, Inc. (2001)
For their fourth animated feature, the geniuses at Pixar tapped into a key childhood fear – monsters in the closet. Monsters, Inc. takes place primarily at Monsters, Incorporated, a factory where children’s screams are captured to provide energy for the city of Monstropolis. James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (John Goodman) is the company’s top scarer, but his world will soon turn upside down when a child named Boo follows him through her closet back to the factory.
My favorite scene: “Sneaking Boo back into the factory”
Fun fact: Monsters, Inc.‘s title was inspired by Murder, Inc., a 1960 gangster film starring Peter Falk.
- M*A*S*H (1972-1983)
Adapted from the 1970 Robert Altman movie of the same name (which was based on a novel by Richard Hooker), M*A*S*H chronicles the highs and lows of life at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. M*A*S*H was brilliantly written, directed, and acted (it received more than a hundred Emmy nominations over its eleven-season run) and expertly captured both the pathos and the ludicrousness of war.
Favorite episode: “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” (series finale), which was watched by more than 120 million people and remains the highest-rated broadcast television episode of all time.
Fun fact: M*A*S*H‘s run lasted almost four times as long as the conflict in Korea that the series depicts.
- The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
The Devil Wears Prada stars Anne Hathaway as idealistic Andrea “Andy” Sachs, an aspiring journalist forced to take a job as assistant to Miranda Priestly, the much-feared editor-in-chief of the fictional Runway magazine. The ultimate horrible boss, Miranda is played to wicked perfection by Meryl Streep in an Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe-winning performance. The film’s most lovely revelation is Emily Blunt in her American debut; audiences – and future husband John Krasinski – fell utterly in love with Blunt.
My favorite scene (tie): “Miranda Priestly’s Entrance” and “Andy’s Makeover”
Fun fact: Costume designer Patricia Field asked for a budget of $1 million for the film’s wardrobe but the studio would only give her $100,000. Field, already a two-time Emmy winner for Sex and the City, reached out to her fashion designer friends, who loaned their pieces to the production. Field earned her only Academy Award nomination for The Devil Wears Prada.
- Network (1976)
This pitch-black satire, set at the fictional television station Union Broadcasting System (UBS), demonstrates the lengths to which a show’s producers will go to achieve high ratings. One of the most highly-acclaimed films of 1976 (or any other year), Network received ten Oscar nominations and took home four Academy Awards: Best Actor (Peter Finch), Best Actress (Faye Dunaway), Best Supporting Actress (Beatrice Straight), and Best Original Screenplay (with his win, Paddy Chayefsky became the only person to win three screenplay Oscars).
My favorite scene: “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”
Fun fact #1: At five minutes, two seconds, Beatrice Straight’s Network performance is the shortest one to ever receive an acting Oscar (William Holden, also Oscar-nominated, is fantastic in this scene as well).
Fun fact #2: Bryan Cranston received an Olivier Award and a Tony for his performance as Howard Beale in a 2017 stage adaptation.
- The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Based on the memoir by Jordan Belfort, this black comedy was the recipient of five Oscar nominations and truckloads of criticism (the use of animals on set, the moral ambiguity, and the explicit language, just to name a few). The Wolf of Wall Street is deliriously over the top and blisteringly funny, anchored by a Golden Globe-winning performance from Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s one of my favorite movies of the 2010s.
My favorite scene: “Quaaludes”
Fun fact: The Wolf of Wall Street holds the Guinness World Record for the most profanities in a motion picture.
- The West Wing (1999-2006)
The West Wing reunited writer Aaron Sorkin and Martin Sheen, who had previously worked together on the 1995 PBandJulie favorite The American President (an unused plot element from that film actually inspired the series). The West Wing featured a powerhouse cast, including Emmy winners Allison Janney, Alan Alda, Stockard Channing, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, and Bradley Whitford. During a time when the US was moving farther to the right politically (George W. Bush was elected for the first time a little more than a year after The West Wing‘s debut), The West Wing offered us an idealized version of democracy, a liberal Xanadu where a presidential administration is filled with public servants doing right (or trying their darndest) by their constituents.
Favorite episode: “In Excelsis Deo” (Season one, Episode ten), which won Emmys for writing and for Richard Schiff’s moving performance as Toby Ziegler.
Fun fact #1: The West Wing made a star of Allison Janney, and deservedly so. Her Claudia Jean “C.J.” Cregg, White House Press Secretary (and later Chief of Staff), was inspired by Dee Dee Myers, who was Press Secretary for the first two years of the Clinton administration.
Fun fact #2: Martin Sheen once described President Bartlet as a combination of John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. Sheen actually portrayed JFK in the 1983 mini-series Kennedy.
Note: this piece was originally published in 2021. It has been edited for both content and clarity.
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