“The Paper” is a pleasant workplace sitcom that manages to be just likable enough, but is ultimately a shallow exploration of news media and isn’t funny enough to make up for it.
Unfortunately, the main problem with this show lies in the writing. This is Greg Daniels’ fourth time showrunning a workplace sitcom, and aside from Netflix’s short lived “Space Force” series, this easily feels like the least refined.
While the first seasons of both “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation” weren’t the critical hits both shows would eventually become, this feels more like an overused excuse for “The Paper.” If this show was run solely by up-and-coming comedy writers with less experience, it would be more understandable, but this is a seasoned creative team that should be far sharper at this point.
The series is a spin-off of “The Office” (US) and follows the same fictional documentary crew from that series as they film a new project: a dying Ohio based newspaper called the Toledo Truth-Teller (TTT), when a new editor-in-chief is hired to try and revitalize it.
In a climate where authoritarian governments are vilifying, silencing, and killing journalists, a television show highlighting the important role the press has in maintaining a functional democracy feels needed more than ever.
While Ned Sampson, the protagonist and idealistic editor-in-chief of the TTT, certainly expresses a passion for journalism and often speaks of its importance, the show, unfortunately, has no real interest in exploring any of these ideas in challenging ways.
The TTT is in really rough shape when Sampson first comes on board, forced to share an office space with a toilet paper company. The staff is forced to take whatever stories they can find, resulting in coverage that feels inconsequential most of the time. They aren’t interviewing politicians or uncovering corruption at a large scale, which is fine as long as the show manages to present well realized characters and funny scenarios for them. Dunder Mifflin, Scranton wasn’t known for having the most compelling corporate intrigue after all.
The characters in “The Paper” share more in common with the characters from the later seasons of “The Office,” when they started to feel less like real people and more like caricatures of themselves. The characters in “The Paper” are presented as inept reporters who don’t show very much substantial improvement, yet are rewarded continually throughout the show.
This isn’t to say none of the characters ever feel like real people, but if they do, it’s only because of the generally solid performances by the cast. Domnhall Gleeson is a standout as Sampson, feeling believable as a dorky journalist while playing a surprisingly strong “straight man” to the rest of the off-kilter staff.
Chelsea Frei plays Sampson’s number one reporter and she seems to channel a bit of John Krasinski’s Jim Halpert, even reacting to the camera in a similar way he would. Her character is a veteran, but this trait is not really explored any deeper. She has decent chemistry with Gleeson, though the romance that develops between them feels slightly forced and derivative of other romances seen in “The Office” or “Parks and Recreation,” both of which are from the same creator, Greg Daniels. The show is also mainly interested in how she feels about Sampson, with the documentary crew asking her question after question about him, leaving her feeling without enough agency.
This isn’t the only budding romance in the TTT. Ramona Young and Melvin Gregg play Nicole and Detrick, two millennial-aged reporters who have a slightly subversive “will they or won’t they” dynamic. Nicole wants a much more casual, non-monogamous relationship than Detrick. This addition to the show would be interesting if it was at all believable that these two actually liked each other. The two just have very little chemistry and don’t get enough screen time together.
Oscar Nunez returns as his character from “The Office,” Oscar Martinez, and is the only regular cast member returning. He’s probably the most fitting character to bring into a newsroom having had his own experiences with a certain politician in later seasons. His character has a fairly entertaining arc to follow as he is still an accountant, but becomes drawn to help the struggling newspaper after seeing Sampson actually care about running it properly.
The two most exaggerated characters are the main antagonists in the show, managing editor Esmeralda Grand and Ken Davies, a corporate strategist for Enervate, the paper supplier that owns the TTT. Sabrina Impacciatore and Tim Key, respectively, are clearly having fun with the roles and add a lot of life to them. Unfortunately, these characters are nearly impossible to empathize with as they only exist to present obstacles for the newspaper and are rarely given moments of genuine pathos.
All of these elements are very important to creating an excellent sitcom, but the most important one is whether or not the show is funny. This show proves it can be funny, but it never tries to be particularly clever or biting. The cringe-inducing comedy of “The Office” worked so well because characters were thrust into believably uncomfortable scenarios that felt tangible based on common shared experiences. There’s no edge whatsoever to “The Paper”. A show about journalism shouldn’t feel so safe and toothless. It shouldn’t settle for the same tired tropes we’ve seen already from the same creative team like more “will they or won’t they” storylines, for two separate pairs of characters again.
While far from an awful show, season one of “The Paper” feels like wasted potential. The talented cast can only elevate subpar storytelling so much. There is still room for improvement, but as it stands, “The Paper” is too crumpled.
