Corporate

It’s a cliché in TV criticism to say that the real protagonist is the setting, but Corporate flips that idea on its ear: Here, the setting is the antagonist, and every day you can stay alive within it is another day when you might lose yourself completely. I realize that maybe doesn’t sound very funny, but trust me, at a certain point, you laugh because your numbing corporate job has sapped you of the ability to cry.

Darkly funny and clever in its skewering of the modern workplace, Corporate offers a welcome release valve for any corporate drones who tune in.

At times, seemingly in order to undercut how serious the show’s criticisms really are, it feels as if sketches and bits are pushed far past their natural punchline to reduce everyone, not just the oligarchs, into stilted and ridiculous parody. It’s unclear based on the four episodes sent to critics if that’s just a midseason reprieve or evidence of things to come. But with so few out there to compare it to, even a broad parody of the workplace is a satisfying one.

Corporate isn't exactly escapist and with real world headlines of workplace harassment and assault, it's a lot of talk and only a little substance. Still, there's plenty of potential to build on here.

Ingebretson and Weisman, who are new to conventional television but are familiar enough types that you feel you've seen them before, get good support from their more experienced castmates. ... I found it consistently clever (if sometimes obviously so), though I rarely laughed. Laughter may not be the appropriate response, in any case.