Posted in: Peacock, Review, TV | Tagged: The Paper

The Paper Season 1 Review: "The Office" Spinoff Hits The Right Notes

Peacock's Domhnall Gleeson-starring The Paper does right by "The Office" without imitating, delivering charm and charismatic characters.

If there was any concern about creator Greg Daniels might have lost a step having been away from The Office universe for 12 years, those concerns can be rested for now. While he's not reinventing the wheel, the awkward blue comedy spirit of the NBC series is alive and well in the spinoff, The Paper is a breath of fresh air. It also helps that he has co-creator Michael Koman along for the ride. You could also see the writing on the wall when Daniels revived King of the Hill on Hulu, that he's more than capable of keeping up with cultural relevancy at a time when print media is struggling creatively and financially.

The Paper Has the Making for a Brilliant Underdog Story

The Paper stars Domhnall Gleeson as Ned Sampson, the new editor-in-chief for the Toledo, Ohio-based The Truth Teller, a struggling local newspaper that once thrived in its earlier years, but fell on the wayside with its parent company's changing priorities. He finds the publication, heavily reliant on wire services, and a less-than-barebones approach to local journalism, and at the head of the operation, Esmerelda Grande (Sabrina Impacciatore), a self-absorbed diva who's in charge of the paper's digital presence in TTT Online. Aside from handling her recent demotion, Esmerelda attempts to undermine Ned's authority and the changes he has in store to reinvigorate The Truth Teller, which includes dealing with an all-volunteer staff who mostly work in other departments.

Before we continue on, let's put this to rest: Gleeson is the straight man in this series and is by no means going to be the leader that Steve Carell's Michael Scott was for The Office. Aside from dealing with a bitter Esmerlda, who remains as managing editor, though we don't really see her do much of any "managing" throughout the season, we have Mare Pritti, played by Chelsei Frei, The Truth Teller's most ambitious staffer trying to get by but surviving by doing the most mundane things at the paper, pasting wire stories to the newspaper layout app, under Esmerelda before Ned sets her to work on local stories.

Aside from Ned having Mare working under his wing, you also have Barry (Duane R. Shepard Sr.), the most senior reporter, working high school sports, and staffers in dual roles as reporters like Detrick Moore (Melvin Gregg) from ad sales, Nicole Lee (Ramona Young) from circulation, Adelola Olofin (Gbemisola Ikumelo) and Adam Cooper (Alex Edelman) from accounting. Oscar Nuñez is the lone holdover from The Office, reprising his role as Oscar Martinez, who is not only the head accountant at The Truth Teller but also runs the leisure beat. Rounding out the staff NOT in a dual role is Ken Davies (Tim Key), who keeps a watchful eye on Ned and his radical ideas with his new emphasis on hyper-localization while reining in any unnecessary spending since The Truth Teller is not exactly a high priority given the parent paper company's other products.

As with any ensemble project, the challenge is always giving an adequate amount of time to each character to let their separate voices be heard. The biggest nod to the original series, and as a reminder that you DON'T need to see the original The Office to understand The Paper, is the interaction between Oscar and the documentary film crew. The length of Oscar's protest with the camera crew was shown in the trailer, and it falls back into place. There isn't any reliance on nostalgia and no secret cameo, which is appropriate since this does need to stand alone or else it will never escape the shadow of its mothership series.

Gleeson doesn't need to show range, but he is a natural idealist leader, an everyman who struggles to achieve his vision while keeping his humility along the way. The two characters he spends most time with, as Ned, are Impacciatore's Esmerelda, which provides some memorable moments. She's not really a villain of the series, per se, but obviously, she's far more ego-driven. Impacciatore carries such weight on her shoulders as a natural comedic talent; she shines most when Esmerelda is at her most humble and most human, like in episode 105, "Scam Alert!"

On the other end of the spectrum is Frei's Mare, who gives so much Emma Stone vibes as a character so grounded in empathy. While Gleeson delivers a similar Michael Scott-type of awkwardness to Frei's Mare, it works wholeheartedly. Frei's a classic case where the material just organically works and everything falls into place. As far as the rest of the cast goes, Shepard Jr, who doesn't get nearly the attention as the rest of the cast he deserves, has some of the best one-liners of the series this season, which amounts to being culturally out of touch, playing up the more ignorant trope of older characters.

Everyone has their quirks, and the stories they're on are on par with the humor of the series, like in one episode, high schoolers prank a couple of reporters about acting like dogs for an alleged social media challenge. You see the reporters act out to confirm with the students how the act is supposed to look. It's the kind of absurd type of humor that works, and the series always remembers to have fun. I'm looking forward to seeing what we'll see come next season. Season one of The Paper, which also stars Eric Rahill, is available on Peacock.

The Paper Season 1

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Review by Tom Chang

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8/10

The Paper retains much of the charm of its mothership series The Office, so it's hard not to fall in love with this new ensemble (led by Domhnall Gleeson) in this wonderfully written underdog story. With creators Greg Daniels and Michael Koman recruiting a talented writing team to match its charismatic cast, The Paper works because nobody really ever has to "act funny" or even tell jokes to be funny. It organically comes out through its personalities navigating through these slice-of-life adventures.

Credits

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Creators

Greg Daniels and Michael Koman

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