Only A Couch Potato Can Match 20/25 Of The Workplaces To Their Shows
- by Ben Sherlock
- – on
- in Movies and TV
By the very nature of how television production works, it makes sense that most TV shows are set in a workplace. It offers the chance for a diverse group of people to be in the same place at the same time, so you can have an ensemble cast that hits all four quadrants (males under 25, females under 25, males over 25, females over 25) and represents all races, sexual orientations, and religions. And it's a place where those characters would have to go to for eight hours a day, so that limits the number of sets that have to be designed for the production. You build an office or a police station or a hospital ward and you can shoot every episode there for ten years. It just makes a lot of sense. That's why we have so many police procedurals and medical procedurals and workplace sitcoms and mockumentaries about the everyday lives of the staff of a workplace. Pretty much every TV show features a workplace in some form or another – characters are people, and people need jobs – so there's a ton of them out there. Are you able to match all of these workplaces to the TV series they're from? Take the quiz to find out!
Springfield Nuclear Power Plant
This nuclear power plant, owned by an evil local billionaire named C. Montgomery Burns, is the workplace of easily the greatest character to ever grace television screens. He started out as an angry and accurate representation of the average blue collar working joe and has since evolved into the first word in fictional idiots. It's astounding how idiotic this guy is, and also astounding that he's managed to continue working at a nuclear plant for this long. What show is it from?
Dunder Mifflin Paper Company
For nine years, millions of American television viewers watched the exploits of the employees of the Scranton branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, and if it hadn't ended, they'd still be watching those exploits to this day. To get to keep watching Jim pranking Dwight and Michael declaring bankruptcy and insulting Toby and Stanley laughing at other people's misfortune and Ryan forming doomed tech startups and Kevin dropping his chilli on the floor would be a dream come true. What show is it?
Sterling Cooper and Partners
This ad agency has gone through various different name changes over the years: Sterling Cooper, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, and finally, Sterling Cooper and Partners. It seems like a great place to work. You go in, kick some ideas around, drink some bourbon, smoke some cigarettes, have some sex with someone you're not married to, and then call it a day early. That was the '60s for you, I guess. So, what TV show is Sterling Cooper and Partners from?
Pawtucket Brewery
Even the mere thought of this TV workplace is sad these days, because the manager of the company, Angela, was always voiced by the late, great Carrie Fisher, and now she can't do the voice anymore, ever since she tragically died last year. The head of a working class family in a beloved animated series started out working at a toy factory before moving on to work in the brewery where his favorite beer is made. What show is it?
Paddy's Pub
Paddy's Pub is an Irish bar in Pennsylvania that is run by literally the worst people in the world. Their adventures often take them out of the bar and into the city, where they lead priests into homelessness, fake their own deaths to avoid their convict parents, crash each other's cars into trees, boil denim, eat raw crow meat, and hang out with weirdos under the bridge – you know, the usual stuff. So, what TV comedy is Paddy's Pub taken from?
CTU
CTU stands for Counter Terrorist Unit, and it's not a real government agency, but if the creators of this action packed drama series about terrorism, usually by very stereotypical Muslim extremists, and an agent who doesn't play by the rules and uses reckless methods of interrogation and espionage to get information had used a real government agency, they would've gotten into a lot of trouble. The agency is notable for its distinctive ringtone. So, what TV show is it from?
Pritchett's Closets and Blinds
In this popular family sitcom, the patriarch of the central family in the show was the founder and owner and CEO of Pritchett's Closets and Blinds for many years before hanging it up and retiring to focus on his own family, as he had a new baby with his second wife and a stepson to look after. So, he handed over the reins to his own daughter, who will hand over the reins to one of her daughters or her niece when she retires. What show is this?
Strickland Propane
The fictional character who works at this company embodies the world of propane sales, since the phrase "propane and propane accessories" became a kind of catchphrase of his throughout the run of his animated TV series. He wears a pager on his belt that it strictly for "propane emergencies only," and if his son uses it for anything else, he scolds him. What TV show, created by the great Mike Judge of Silicon Valley fame, is the company Strickland Propane from?
Bada Bing
The real life Bada Bing that was used as a shooting location was shut down recently, which was sad for a lot of fans of the show that it's from. The show had made the real place popular and it saw a spike in business while the show was on, but that faded when it went off the air. It's a drama series on HBO about a bunch of gangsters, and the Bada Bing is a New Jersey strip club where they do a lot of their shadiest business. What show is it?
Central Perk
When it comes to fictional coffee shops, this is the first one that ever comes to mind. This is the Rolls Royce of fictional coffee shops. It's from an ensemble sitcom on NBC – possibly the biggest and most popular television series of all time, even to this day – where the lead character got a job there at the beginning of the show after she left her fiancée at the altar. Later, one of the other characters worked there. What show is it from?
Cloud 9
This show is a relatively new show starring America Ferrara, also known as Ugly Betty, and it's a way of NBC cashing in on the trend of workplace comedies that it began itself a few years ago with a certain US remake of a certain iconic British sitcom starring Ricky Gervais. Cloud 9 is a gargantuan supermarket in the vein of most of the stores in the capitalist hole that is the United States of America. What show is it?
NBC
This series helped to make TV comedy more meta. The show was created by Tina Fey, the former head writer of Saturday Night Live, a sketch comedy show on NBC, and it tells the story of Liz Lemon, played by Fey, who is the head writer of TGS with Tracy Jordan, a sketch comedy show on NBC. Tracy Morgan plays Tracy Jordan. It's basically real life NBC, but it's on NBC. At a certain point, it becomes trippy. What show is it?
Pendant Publishing
The reason that a character in this show plays an employee at a publishing company is that this character's father is Alton Benes, a fictional legendary author. The reason that her father is a legendary author is that the show's co-creator and writer, Larry David, used to date Monica Yates, the daughter of legendary author Richard Yates (the guy who wrote Revolutionary Road, the literary precursor to Mad Men), and the character is based on her. What show is it?
The White House
The star of this political comedy show about the inner workings of the White House through the eyes of the Vice President of the United States' staff has sadly been diagnosed with breast cancer recently and she's being treated for it at the moment. She is keeping a strong spirit through the treatments and not letting it get her down, but it has delayed production on the next season of the show. But which of these four shows is it?
Sacred Heart Hospital
Hospitals have been the setting of dozens of TV shows over the years. Medical procedurals are as common as police procedurals, and together with law procedurals, they're some of the oldest television genres in existence. TV has shows set in hospitals in spades. But there's only one of them that's set in Sacred Heart Hospital, and it's a brilliant comedy series that started on NBC with its first season and ended on ABC with its ninth. What show is it?
Kwik-E-Mart
The Kwik-E-Mart is a convenience store in the middle of town that is often robbed of its products by the local teenage bullies and robbed of the cash in its cash register by a local criminal named Snake Jailbird who is in there with his gun and his dollar sign bag every other day to clean the poor Indian immigrant owner out. Everyone in town does their shopping at the Kwik-E-Mart, and most of them pay. What show is it from?
CatCo
This media empire is featured in one of The CW's Arrowverse TV series based on DC Comics characters. Its CEO is Cat Grant, who was initially featured in another CW series on The CW, Smallville, before being played by Calista Flockhart in this, more recent series. The character Cat Grant in the comics worked as a gossip columnist for the Daily Planet before starting her own media conglomerate, CatCo. Which of these CW shows in the Arrowverse is this company from?
KACL
This Seattle radio station has a bunch of different popular shows on it. There's a psychiatrist from Boston (who was previously a supporting player on a different NBC sitcom) who does a show where his producer puts through callers and he helps them with their psychological and emotional problems. There's also a sports show hosted by a short, stocky, bald jerk and a food show hosted by a snooty, posh British restaurant critic. What popular NBC show is it from?
99th Precinct of the NYPD
There are tons of TV shows about cops. Literally dozens and dozens of them. Pretty much every other pilot that makes it into development is about cops. Police procedurals are almost as old as television itself. The one that is set in the fictional 99th Precinct of the NYPD is a relatively recent show about cops. It's about detectives Jake Peralta, Charles Boyle, Terry Jeffords, Rosa Diaz, Amy Santiago, and their awesome captain Ray Holt, among others. What show is it?
Sunshine Cab Company
This fictional cab company was the setting of a show about a bunch of taxi drivers and their boss. Most television viewers these days know Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds from the FX (well, now FXX) comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. But it wasn't his first major recurring television role. He first played a part in this primetime network sitcom. It starred some other greats, like Judd Hirsch, Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd, and Andy Kaufman. Which show is it?
Davis and Main
There are plenty of shows out there about lawyers, but none of them are quite like this one. This show combines drama with elements of black comedy and it's fiercely effective. Bob Odenkirk, a god of alternative comedy thanks to his sketch show Mr. Show with Bob and David, plays the lead character, who takes a dump without flushing and wears outlandish colors in order to get out of a contract with Davis and Main. What show is this from?
JLB Credit
JLB Credit is a loan management firm that was shut down during the recession, even though it turned over more profit than the head office back in Germany. This was sad, because it was a huge part of Mark Corrigan's life. It was where he met Sophie, the future mother of his child, and his arch nemesis Jeff. It was also where he met Dobby, the love of his life (he thinks). Which classic British sitcom is JLB Credit from?
ISIS
When this twisted animated comedy series began airing on FX, the name ISIS was not a taboo. It was simply the name that series creator Adam Reed applied to the spy agency where all of his characters work to bring down international espionage plots. But then a certain terrorist group started to rise throughout Syria and the Middle East and began carrying out terrorist attacks in the western world, so ISIS in this show was dissolved and the characters moved to the CIA. What show was it?
Reynholm Industries
Reynholm Industries was originally run by Denholm Reynholm before the taxman caught onto what he was doing with the pension plan and he jumped out the window and killed himself. Then his drastically more reckless son Douglas Reynholm took over his father's responsibilities and ran the company into the ground. Roy, Moss, and Jen work for the company in its basement. It is never explained at any point throughout the series what Reynholm Industries actually does. What show is it from?
Planet Express
Planet Express is an interplanetary delivery company in the 31st century, featured in a brilliant animated series that combines satirical comedy with mind-bending science fiction. The series was created by Matt Groening, the guy who gave us The Simpsons, but the series struggled to gain as much traction and ratings as that story of America's funniest family. The employees of Planet Express include former pizza delivery boy Philip J. Fry, robot Bender, one-eyed Leela, and Dr. Zoidberg. What show is it from?