The Trope of the Lovable And Eccentric Workplace

A common trope, especially in sitcoms, is the workplace that starts out full of oddballs and ends up...

Full of beloved oddballs.

WKRP in Cincinnati is a great example. Travis is a good enough manager to work anywhere. He could have walked away the first time Mama Carlson put up a fuss or the employees discussed a union. But he grows to love the place, including Les Nessman, and doesn't want to leave his "home." As Venus reminds him, "You gave up an opportunity to be boy wonder of American radio to be the head guard at the nut farm."

A Good Place is an extreme example of this--although Eleanor and company are mostly trying to get to The Good Place (simply to save themselves), what they really want is to stay together.

Barney Miller is one of the few to face this issue head-on. There's no guarantee that the detectives will stay at the 12th precinct. Barney knows this but still feels bereft and a little betrayed that any one of them would want to leave.

Frasier, with a great deal of maturity, also faces the issue head-on. Sometimes we go "home" to stay, sometimes to repair ourselves. And sometimes, it is time to move on.

Whether or not people stay (or move on), the trope tackles a reality, which is that the social aspects of a workplace--or institution--can have as much impact on decision-making as money and location. Kyle finds two father figures at Outdoorsman on Last Man Standing. Loyalty to his new family overwhelms any desire for advancement or change.

On the other hand, Coach discovers that staying with the same oddballs on their rise to the heights of the Superbowl is not what he truly wants. He reached the pinnacle of his professional desires when he gained a pro-football team. Now his wife and son and their life together matters more to him (the psychological journey in Coach's 9 seasons is entirely believable).