What Your Favorite TV Shows Reveal About the Workplace

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Temple Northup: I think if we look at a show like The Office, um, you know, which is on the one hand. An extraordinarily dysfunctional group of people, um, who are all extraordinarily unique. And yet at the end of the day, despite all the insanity that tends to happen, they come together and actually will work together.

Anne Sparaco: TV can make us laugh. Even cringe and sometimes rethink what normal looks like at work, especially if they take place in a workplace setting. But how much do these fictional workplaces shape our expectations of real life jobs, our bosses and workplace culture? Well, today we're going to unpack how television both reflects and even reimagines, what it means to be part of a team, deal with conflict in the office, and find meaning in our careers.

To do that, we're having fun with it by diving into some of our favorite workplace shows, like The Office Parks of Rec, my personal favorite severance, and so much more. We'll explore how these series of art are imitating life, or how life imitates art. So joining us today is Temple Northup Director and Professor of School of Journalism and Media Studies at San Diego State University.

Welcome to All Things Work Temple.

Temple Northup: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Anne Sparaco: Very excited to have you. Uh, I got us started off. Which show is your favorite? That really, you know. Dives into the workplace a lot.

Temple Northup: Oh. I mean, that's, that's like asking someone to choose their favorite kid. But I would, I would say, uh, I mean the office is just one of the great all time shows.

Mm-hmm. So that, that one's the first one, uh, that comes to mind. Uh, Ted Lasso was another one that I drift. Absolutely. Oh yeah. But sever, you know, if we're going a darker direction, uh, severance is, is a great option as well.

Anne Sparaco: Yeah. I gotta say the lighthearted for me, Ted [00:02:00] Lasso, I'm getting into. Um, the spinoff of the office and I love severance.

It's just so amazing. But we'll dive into that without any spoilers for anybody wanting to try out these shows. Um, so let's kick things off with, you know, how do you see television's, portrayal, workplaces really influencing viewers expectations of what is normal in professional environments.

Temple Northup: Yeah. So for those of us who study the media, there's an interesting thing that we know, which is the media influences our perceptions and understanding of the real world, um, including things like the workplace and in particular, it influences our understanding of places we don't know.

So if I were gonna watch, uh, a show about, uh, university. I would be very easy, uh, to pick it apart and say what, what's real, what's not, you know, what are the flaws? But if I were gonna watch a show set in a hospital, a police station, a lawyer's office, things like that, I'm, you know, [00:03:00] that's not an area that I'm super familiar with.

And so my understanding of how. Hospitals and emergency rooms work is largely influenced by the representations I see in the media. And so it, you know, the media representations can have a really powerful impact on perceptions of workplace and perceptions of, you know, how do people, uh. Interact and what's appropriate or even professional behavior within those workplaces.

Anne Sparaco: So do you have specific examples where depictions on TV really set that unrealistic expectation or, you know, just differences than what people would expect in, um, like workplace behavior, culture, or even conflict resolution?

Temple Northup: Yeah, I mean, I think to some extent every TV show sets an unrealistic expectation for sure, in terms of appropriate behavior about how an office, uh, might function.

I think, you know, when we think about these shows, what what makes [00:04:00] them successful, uh, in my view is workplaces are one of those fundamental aspects of life. We all, we all work somewhere, or almost everyone works somewhere. Uh, we almost all have coworkers, whether they're in person or even, or virtual now, increasingly.

And so, you know, we have these. We have these relationships that exist in our life. And so I think seeing them, uh, represented in the media, so whether it's, uh, you know, in a hospital or on a space station or, or somewhere, you know, beyond, uh, we can relate, we can relate to those stories because we can, we can see ourselves very much in a lot of those spaces.

We, we've been. We've been in those meetings, we've been in boring meetings, uh, where we can, we can really relate to those.

Anne Sparaco: We mentioned earlier that, you know, there's kind of this spectrum, a a range of workplace representation. Television, like you said, severance. Uh, if people don't know it, it's a little darker.

Uh, it's almost dystopian take on work-life boundaries and [00:05:00] organizational control. Also you have those more lighthearted, comedic portrayals of everyday office life. You know, the office, the spinoff, the, the paper parks and rec, you know it. And those focus on interpersonal relationships, personal growth as like Ted Lasso does, and the challenges of teamwork.

Within those organizational settings. So what you talked about, the psychology of it a little bit, how people are just influenced by the media so easily in everyday life. What psychological or even cultural factors make these extremes both familiar and compelling?

Temple Northup: Yeah, I mean, so going back to this sort of universal aspect of the workplace, I think there are psychological tensions that exist within all of us that can be seen in those shows.

So shows as different as severance and parks and Rec have, uh, I, I think these tensions that exist. So a specific example that I can think of [00:06:00] is, I think we all have this idea of, um, creating a separate. Personal, uh, and professional life. We like to have a, a work life balance, so we can look on the one hand we have severance where it is the most distinct work life because you, you know, not to give giant spoilers away, but you literally don't know what you do at your job.

And when you're at your job, you don't know who you are professionally. Uh, and so that's an interesting thing to explore in terms of the ultimate, uh, connection. And at the same time. While we wanna have that, I think we wanna have that separation. We also want to have like a group of people that we get along with.

Um, and so when we see shows like Parks and Recs and the Office, right? They create their own little community within themselves. You know, there are a lot of relationships. They seem to see a hangout a lot after work, their parties, you know, that they all do. Uh, and so I think there's, I think we all have this tension of.

Wanting [00:07:00] to disconnect and have work and our professional lives, our private lives be separate, um, but then also actually wanting to have that, that connection, uh, with people with whom you work.

Anne Sparaco: For this next segment, I'd love to highlight a few key workplace themes, and I'll invite you to share some examples of shows that you know, from your perspective represent each theme really, really well.

Do you wanna dive into that?

Temple Northup: Let's do it.

Anne Sparaco: Alright. The first theme is effective team dynamics. Which show would you think best represents that?

Temple Northup: Well, um, there are a couple that come to mind, I think. I think if we look at a show like The Office, uh, you know, which is on the one hand. An extraordinarily dysfunctional group of people, um, who are all extraordinarily unique.

And yet at the end of the day, despite all the insanity that tends to happen, they come together and actually will work together. And so I [00:08:00] think when we think about like what's the ideal for group dynamics, it's that we all actually at the end can push something forward. Uh, regardless of how, you know, different and unique, we all ultimately are,

Anne Sparaco: yeah.

Uh, the next theme is conflict resolution. I thought of a couple for this, but I wasn't sure.

Temple Northup: Yeah, well, so the, so what comes to mind with conflict resolution is actually going back to Ted Lasso. Yeah. Uh, you know, he has a great speech, I think in the first season about being curious rather than judgmental.

And, and so approaching everything with curiosity rather than judgment. And I think that's, that's kind of his leadership style. Yeah. And so we see incredible, uh, conflicts on the show, uh, played out many times, but I think he invites people in and is curious about why is, you know, what's at the heart? Of why someone is upset.

And so rather than just discussing the behavior, like understanding why the behavior exists, I think is something that he does really well and it, and you see it, you [00:09:00] know, almost always pan out with, with effective results.

Anne Sparaco: Yeah, I think empathy is a good theme throughout that show. And I think that I love that.

And I know this could also be a, a Ted lasso one, um, but I'm curious what other shows you might think about this next theme, which is positive leadership.

Temple Northup: Yeah, I mean there, there, we've gotta go to Leslie Knope from Parks and Rec. Yeah. You know, just. Like boundless enthusiasm and just optimism. Uh, you know, when you think about who do you wanna work for, you wanna work for somebody who is just sincere, who's caring, like, can still make decisions and can make difficult decisions even, but just, you know, has this energy about, or that, you know, how, how would you not wanna work with her?

You know, in such, in a, in a, in what you know, certainly portrayed and probably accurately not the most glamorous. You know, at area of government, you know, you're working for the parks department. Um, and yet she, she takes it seriously, uh, [00:10:00] and you know, with enthusiasm. So I think, you know, she's a great, a great role model for that positive energy.

Anne Sparaco: Amy Poer does it well. Okay, finally, authentic demonstrations of psychological safety. Maybe not severance.

Temple Northup: Definitely not severance. Um, also definitely not succession. If you've seen that show where everybody takes advantage of any weakness that they see, they're gonna take advantage of that. Um, I go back to Ted Lasso again of just, you know, he's open from the second he gets there that, you know, he somehow ended up in a job coaching a sport that he knows nothing about.

He has a breakdown at one point, and, you know, he doesn't hide behind it and pretends, oh, I, you know, I'm, you know, a flawless leader, but is very open about his flaws. Um, he looks for people who know more than he does to help him when he is trying to learn how to coach a game that he doesn't know. Uh, and so, you know, when you, when you create that sort of openness, [00:11:00] it, it permeates your organization.

So everyone feels that that type of openness.

Anne Sparaco: Yeah, and we, we even had Jason Sudeikis at SHRM 25 in San Diego, where you are, and, uh, he, he, he came on stage to talk about the lessons from Ted Lasso. So I was so happy to see him there. And, and it was just a, a real good lesson for the workplace, uh, to lead with empathy and to, and to be vulnerable in leadership.

The temple. We're gonna switch gears here with a little. More fun segment. This, this is like whole episodes fun, but we're gonna have even more fun with this segment. Okay. Called Workplace Would You Rather, so I'll re, I'll present you with two workplace scenarios inspired by those popular TV shows we've been talking about.

I'd love for you to choose one and walk us through your reasoning. There was one question here. I'm like, I don't even know which I would choose, so I'm so curious as what you have to say.

Temple Northup: I'm terrified of this section, so let's do it.

Anne Sparaco: That's awesome. Here motivates us. Okay. Would you rather be part of the parks department in Pty from Parks and Rec [00:12:00] or the writing staff at TES from 30 Rock with Tina Fey?

Temple Northup: Oh, I mean that, that's a challenging question. Um, you know. On the one hand. Professionally being part of a of 30 Rock, you know, the, the, the show there, you know, it, the fictitious, you know, would be pretty amazing to work on something as a high profile as that, but at the same time, not the healthiest work environment.

Um, and so you might have great professional success, uh, but I've always tend to prioritize my sort of personal satisfaction with what I do. Uh, so I think, you know, parks and Rec as a team, uh, seems like a lot more, uh, entertaining, uh, a lot more fun to be around. Um, so I think I would, I would go over there, uh, rather than 30 rock.

Anne Sparaco: Awesome. So when it comes to having someone as a boss is like one, would you [00:13:00] rather have Dr. Cox from Scrubs in the healthcare setting or Selena Meyer from Veep in the White House as your boss?

Temple Northup: Well, I would definitely not want Selena Meyer as a boss. Me, but not she, you know, uh, again, when we're, we're contrasting different styles, um.

You know, I think they play a lot of stereotypes there in terms of who, who politicians are, but obviously very self-interested, self-motivated, uh, looking out for herself. So, you know, that's not, that's not, and again, when we think about healthy work environments, that's, that's not who I would think of. And so I think I would much rather be in a hospital setting.

It was much more, uh, collaboration. There was a lot more support being, uh, going on there. So I think that. Again, for my personal wellbeing, I think I would rather be there.

Anne Sparaco: So this is the one that I was stumped on because I think this is the toughest one. Would you rather work in an environment where everyone's work life memories are [00:14:00] separated from their real life, like in severance?

Uh, and for our audience may not know severance. Second, they enter the building. They're just a whole different part of their brain. They don't know their outside life once they're in the building and working. Or would you rather be in a workplace where personal and professional boundaries are constantly blurred like succession with the whole family dynamics?

Temple Northup: That's, that's a tough one. It's tough. That's a tough one. Um, 'cause neither of those work scenarios, um. Because I, you know, when I, as you were talking through that, I, I was like, okay, well severance, you know, alright, well you could work at a good place. You know, you know, that's compounded by the fact that there's a lot of weird things going on.

But then I was like, well, wouldn't that be depressing if you had an amazing job and then you didn't, you weren't even aware of it when you left the building and, you know, you could have this, you know, great, great experience and you don't know it. Or do you work for a truly dysfunctional family? Um, [00:15:00] that, uh, yeah, everything is blended.

Um, I think I would still, I would probably go with succession. Um, you know, I don't think I would want to have completely dissociated, uh, experiences where my work and life is quite literally different. Uh, so I think. As terrible as that family is. I mean, hopefully you can find a better work environment.

Maybe it doesn't have to be a family that all wants to tear each other down. Um, but you know, that family there, it felt very real. I think we see examples of, of individuals and families like that, but I think I would rather work in that environment. Uh, where things are blended, uh, just is just a. At least have a, a knowledge of what I'm doing the other half of my day.

Anne Sparaco: Yeah. And I think that I, I agree with you. I think I, I think when I was looking it through, I was like, ah, if I had to succession. Um, but it really just shows us how we have to try to strike that balance [00:16:00] of. Compartmentalization. Okay, so we got a couple more. Um, would you rather have your biggest workplace mistake aired as a cold open on the office or become the subject of a viral meme created by your students at Al Abbott Elementary?

Ooh, because you're a professor too, so this might hit home for you.

Temple Northup: Yeah. You know, and we've uh, we have had, uh, things go viral. Um, that involved me actually. Um, but I think,

you know, maybe, maybe, uh, some embarrassing moment in the office. Um, you know, 'cause there. There at least it was Usually, it's always lighthearted. It's always funny where, you know, the internet can be a, a, a mean place when you go viral. Yeah. Um, so I'm a little, I'm always a little wary of, of students posting and where, where things might end up.

Um, [00:17:00] so I think, you know, the little lighthearted, um, mistakes that, that might ha happen in the office, I, I would probably go with that.

Anne Sparaco: Alright, finally, uh, so imagine. You are the employer of these three iconic TV characters. This is funny. Would you choose to, hi. Who would you choose to hire? Who would you choose gets fired and who would you wanna go to Happy Hour with?

We have Leslie Note from Parks and Rec, Dwight Stret from the Office, and Liz Lemon from 30 Rock. Who would you hire, fire, go to Happy Hour with?

Temple Northup: Um, I would definitely hire, uh, Leslie, no. Um, 'cause I feel like, again, that's the kind of energy that how could you be, how could you be upset? Yeah. Love that. You know, there's somebody who's just coming at life, uh, with a positive attitude.

So that's somebody I'd, I definitely wanna work with.

Anne Sparaco: Mm-hmm.

Temple Northup: Um, I would probably, I would probably fire [00:18:00] Dwight, you know, there. Yeah. Sorry, Dwight. I mean, there's, honestly, there are, uh, you know, HR, uh. Does not serve the office well. There are a lot of HR violations going on. So I feel keeping Dwight around after some of the things that he does is probably setting yourself up for a lawsuit.

So I think you gotta, you gotta, you gotta set him and then Liz, I mean, I, the stories I think she could share, uh, you know, I think that would make for, that would make for a fun, happy hour. So I'll, I'll take care of the happy hour. Any day

Anne Sparaco: We've done this kind of segment before on all things work. Uh, but this one is a little more fun because it has to do with our favorite TV shows.

Um, the segment's called Who Said It? TV Boss or Real Boss. So I'll provide a quote about leadership or work. Um, some will be from those iconic tv. Bosses and some are from real life leaders. Your job is to guess [00:19:00] which one Bonus points if you guess who said it. So we'll start with the first one. This person says, you don't learn to walk by following rules.

You learn by doing and by falling over.

Temple Northup: Wow, this is tough.

Anne Sparaco: Yeah. This,

Temple Northup: I know. I'm already, um, I'm gonna say TV boss. My initial thought was Michael Scott, but then it almost makes too much sense. I feel like it's not, it's not ridiculous enough

Anne Sparaco: for

Temple Northup: Michael Scott. Um, but I'll, I'll say a tv TV boss.

Anne Sparaco: The real answer is real

Temple Northup: actually.

Wow. This is

Anne Sparaco: Richard Branson, entrepreneur and founder of Virgin Group. Okay, so the next one is. Normally if given the chance between doing something and nothing, I choose to do nothing, but I will do something if it helps someone else to do nothing. I'd work all night if it meant nothing got done.

Temple Northup: I'm gonna hope that's a TV box.[00:20:00]

Anne Sparaco: Yeah, he just, which one though? I, I'm curious.

Temple Northup: Um, oh wow. Um. I am not sure

Anne Sparaco: the Chief boss, uh, Ron Swanson, they call himself, uh, in Parks and Rec. So the next one is, if you don't like what's being said, change the conversation.

Temple Northup: That feels like a real, I feel like that's a real boss. It's fake. Oh man. I was like, I feel like I've seen that somewhere.

Anne Sparaco: This is Don. It is pretty executive sounding, I will say. I know

Temple Northup: that sounds,

Anne Sparaco: yeah, it is Don Draper, advertising executive from Mad Men. Okay. I've never seen the admin, but um, my producer. Yeah. It's a great show's, a great show. Okay. I gotta get into it. Uh, okay. So the next one. I like people with their own opinions and I like people who argue with me.

It's very exhausting to be in a, in a room full of people who just nod and smile. [00:21:00]

Temple Northup: Alright, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna go real again.

Anne Sparaco: Be finally did. Yeah. Good. Real. Shonda Rhimes, CEO of Global Media, Shondaland and the creator of. Hit shows like Grey's Anatomy, scandal, and Bridgeton. So she's in the TV world, but that was a real quote.

So we got one more. Finally, if your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, then you are an excellent leader.

Temple Northup: I'm gonna guess real.

Anne Sparaco: Yes. But, uh, can you guess which celebrity? Maybe it's a little wide not to cast, but, um.

Temple Northup: I dunno.

Anne Sparaco: That's okay. Uh, Dolly Parton, I never would've with Dolly Parton.

Yes. Country music artist we all know and love. She owns the Dolly with Theme Park and the Dolly Parton Foundation. So she is a business leader through and through Temple. It was so wonderful having [00:22:00] you today. Thank you so much for having fun with us. Like this is, it's really great. Sometimes workplace topics can be serious, but I'm so glad we got to have a blast today with this.

Temple Northup: Absolutely. I love joining you.

Anne Sparaco: All right, that's it for this episode. We'll get you next time.

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