Watching The Bear is guaranteed to make you ravenous—especially if you’re into close-up shots of extremely Chicago-coded meats and breads—but once I’d caught up on the show’s third season this weekend, I found myself hungry for something inedible: namely, more shows about camaraderie forged in the fire of a tumultuous workplace. They didn’t even need to be set in a restaurant; they just had to include plenty of professional chaos (and a little gentleness, too).
Below, find seven shows about intense-to-the-point-of-meltdown-inducing workplaces to watch now. (Leave it to them to make you feel endlessly better about any drama going down at your own job.)
Sweetbitter
For those who need another dining-out show to keep them going, this one’s for you. While the FX series adapted from author Stephanie Danler’s smash-hit book wasn’t a huge hit at the time that it aired, its focus on food and the intricacies of restaurant politics (not to mention the hookup culture that runs rampant in so many kitchens) is worth checking out. Plus, it stars Ella Purnell, a.k.a. Jackie from Yellowjackets!
Party Down
This show is set on the fringes of the restaurant industry (i.e. a catering company), but its three seasons contain enough special appearances from exciting guest stars—Kristen Bell! Ken Jeong! James Marsden! Kevin Hart! Jennifer freaking Coolidge!—to make it at least somewhat The Bear-eque. Also, it’s easily one of the funniest shows of the last 50 years, so jot that one down.
Industry
This series, about a group of horny young people vying for a permanent gig at a high-octane, ever-stressful investment bank in London, is an excellent cure for the Monday blues: “Things may be intense at the office, but at least I don’t work at Pierpoint Co.” should be a new corporate motto, as far as I’m concerned. (The madness continues in Season 3.)
Superstore
This NBC sitcom, which follows a group of employees working at a fictional big-box chain store that is most definitely not Walmart, does a great job of satirizing all that’s ridiculous and often unfair about low-wage, hourly work without getting into grim-documentary territory—and it offers more than its share of laughs to boot.
The Bold Type
Okay, this one hits close to home for someone who’s worked in women’s media for over five years. Still, watching journalist Jane and her besties Kat and Sutton try to make it in New York while eking out fashion and media careers at the fictitious, Cosmo-inspired Scarlet magazine strikes a nice balance between being mildly stressful and utterly soothing.
Abbott Elementary
As anyone who’s ever taught kids, been a kid, or sent a kid to school can probably attest, a classroom can be the setting for some truly ridiculous (and hilarious) human behavior. Watching Quinta Brunson’s character Janine Teagues do her best to perk up the decidedly non-perky Philadelphia school where she teaches second grade is occasionally heartrending, but always entertaining.
The Office
I mean…duh.
