Finding comedy in a place no one ever wants to visit

Work! It's the thing most of us have to do, some of us like to do and many of us would rather not do, and it's no surprise that it's the subject of so much TV.

- ROBERT LLOYD

COLETTE (Harriet Dyer) gives new employee Noa (Alex Tarrant) a driving test in the CBS sitcom “DMV.”

Workplace comedy has been responsible for some of television's greatest series -"Taxi," "Barney Miller," "NewsRadio," "Parks and Recreation," "30 Rock," "The Office," obviously, "Abbott Elementary," just off the top of my head-and some of its shortest lived. Anywhere a job gets done can theoretically support one - pick a workplace (sushi bar, travel agency, magic shop, museum, whatever), write a pitch, get an agent and, presto, you're a TV writer. You can put the characters in later.

OK-it's not quite that easy. But there is a common Mad Libs structure to such series, whether filmed before a live audience or single camera, placing a variety pack of individuals into a shared space.

Some characters might be related; there may be romantic attraction between a couple. Not much actual work will get done, and what gets done may make no real-world sense, but the office is the box that holds them and colors their lives. “The Paper,” “Animal Control,” “St. Denis Medical,” “Going Dutch” and “Shifting Gears” are among those currently airing and streaming and, minor stylistic variation notwithstanding, they have more in common than not.