The Paper is coming to Peacock, and comedy lovers should be excited. Fans of The Office are an extremely devoted group. Any mention of a remake or reboot is typically met with a swift and forceful reaction of cynicism, which is ironic considering the Steve Carell-led series was, itself, a remake. A season nine episode of The Office was meant to serve as a backdoor pilot for a proposed spinoff titled The Farm, which would have centered on fan-favorite character Dwight and his unconventional family working on his beet farm. That spinoff was scrapped, and the endlessly rewatchable series has sat dormant until now.
The Office reboot fans needed is here, and it’s The Paper
The Paper acts as a loose spinoff, following the same documentary crew that filmed Dunder Mifflin and its employees for all those years, as they now document a small, dying newspaper in Toledo, Ohio. With the exception of Oscar Nunez reprising his role as Oscar Martinez and the occasional reference to characters and places, The Paper acts as an entirely new story connected to The Office only through its stylistic choices and comedic deliveries; however, those connections are strong enough to make the new series feel like an undeniable continuation of its predecessor.
Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Peter Rabbit) steps into the leading role as the newly appointed editor-in-chief of the Toledo Truth-Teller. He’s no Michael Scott, though, and he’s not intended to be. He’s an intelligent and competent leader lacking in experience and self-confidence. One major strength of The Paper is the way it never attempts to recreate characters from The Office. Characters like Dwight and Kevin are cemented in popular culture, so closely linked to their performers (Rainn Wilson and Brian Baumgartner, respectively) that any attempt to recreate their unique quirks in a new character would fail.
Instead, The Paper is comprised of a well-rounded ensemble of wholly unique, but equally entertaining, characters. Sabrina Impacciatore (Turning Red, The Passion of the Christ) as Esmeralda Grand, a feisty Italian determined to take over as editor-in-chief, is the standout performance, bringing a level of over-the-top vanity to the character with hilarious effect. Tim Key (Mickey 17, Wicked Little Letters) as Ken Davies is the closest thing we get to a Michael Scott figure, but even he feels more closely associated with David Brent (Ricky Gervais, Extras) from the original UK version of The Office.
Is The Paper better than The Office?
While The Paper might not be as great as The Office was in its prime (for me, that’s seasons two through four), it’s superior to many of The Office‘s weaker seasons. As the American remake continued, it lost much of what made it such a success. The jokes became more and more absurd and predictable, and the characters devolved into two-dimensional caricatures. It lost its realism and began to feel more and more like a generic sitcom. The Paper finds and comfortably settles into the sweet spot of silly humor in an intelligently written story.
With only ten episodes (The Office premiered with only six in its first season), The Paper is immediately engaging, and within the first two episodes, I felt fully invested in not only the series but in the success of the fictional newspaper and the well-being of its employees. The relationship between Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson) and Mare Pritti (Chelsea Frei, The Moodys) will undoubtedly draw comparisons to Jim and Pam. Mare is an existing employee of the company, and Ned is her boss. There’s a clear attraction between the two, but their positions as employee and employer, along with their own occasional awkwardness, stand between them.
There’s no denying that The Paper is an extension of The Office, and it’s a welcome return to that world. If fans give the new series a shot, I think they’ll find themselves falling in love with the way I did. When I learned that the series would be premiering its entire season all at once, I questioned whether that was a smart decision, and I ultimately think it is. This, like The Office, is a bingeable comedy that benefits from going from one episode directly into the next. I watched the season over two days, but I could have easily watched it in one sitting had time permitted.
9/10
The Paper premieres on September 4th on Peacock.
Learn more about the show at the official site for the title.
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