‘Workaholics’ — An Oddly Consistent Show

It’s strange how so many shows feel the need to constantly evolve. It makes a lot of sense, though. A story and characters can get stale after multiple seasons. Something needs to change up the status quo to keep the audience engaged. So it takes a special kind of show to remain fresh without any change at all. This is extremely hard to pull off, but for some reason, the comedy Workaholics starring Adam DeVine manages to succeed.

The show involves a very simple premise: three friends living together shortly after college. They party nonstop and work as telemarketers. The program sees them getting into ridiculous hijinks because of their stupidity. Although the characters have backstories and origins, they don’t necessarily have arcs. They don’t grow, change, or evolve over time. And the series, as it is purely comedy-driven, understands this. It’s not meant to be high drama. It’s meant to be character and situational comedy, and in this regard, it works well.

The episodes are primarily premise-driven, meaning that they are based on a single idea, unfolding it without any lasting consequences to the status quo. Because of this, the seasons are essentially meaningless. Any episode can be plucked from its season and placed into another one without any loss of continuity. There are some episodes that may change the status quo within the context of that single episode, but it always reverts back to the way things were — like when the characters leave their jobs or have their boss quit. Eventually, the status quo is restored so that the solid premise of the show is never in danger. It’s amazing to see a program that’s so consistent in its style, tone, and humor across so many seasons. Some shows try to change things up out of fear of becoming stale. Workaholics did the opposite. It leaned hard into its premise and should be commended for it.

Workaholics is now streaming on Hulu.