‘The Paper’ Season 1 Review – Pleasant Debut Season Narrowly Overcomes Lofty Expectations

Few, if any, television series have achieved a complete and utter grip on wider entertainment culture like The Office did and continues to do. Even given two arguably subpar final seasons, Greg Daniels’ slice-of-life sitcom shattered viewership records on multiple platforms and took total control of the space for a long while.

Even now, no new entry into the arena can be mentioned or discussed without being compared to this genre giant. This is especially true with Peacock’s The Paper – a direct, in-universe Office spinoff that shamelessly looks to replicate that series’ phenomenal success with a similar tone, sense of humor, and creative direction. Greg Daniels even returns at the helm.

And, surprisingly, The Paper stacks up. After Daniels tried and failed to do something similar to his hit with the Steve Carell-led Space Force for Netflix, a worrying bubble formed around his newest effort as soon as it was announced. A lot of fans simply wondered “why?” Why try and replicate something that, given a one-of-one cast and stringently perfect cultural timing, has continued to satisfy ardent watchers on repeat for the last two decades?  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it; or add to it, or change any part of it… right?

Well, at least thus far, Daniels seems to have soundly, and rather succinctly, re-entered his own universe in the form of a series that refreshingly knows exactly what it wants to be. Following a dying paper company in Toledo, Ohio, and filmed by the same camera crew that documented Dunder Mifflin all those years ago, The Paper feels like a more structural and earnest counterpart to The Office’s biting wit and breezy emotional beats.

Will the former ever hit the comedic heights of the latter? That’s unlikely, but what makes The Paper work in comparison to, say, Space Force, is that it isn’t exactly trying to. It’s still a funny series – sometimes incredibly so – but the humor feels more casual and in service of the characters and their environment.

Domhnall Gleeson is perfectly suited to this tone in the lead as Ned Sampson, a longtime fan of the newspaper industry who climbed his way up the sales tower to become the Toledo Truth Teller’s editor-in-chief. He’s painfully passionate about the company, working to squeeze a similar enthusiasm from the cast of misfit, longtime employees who have long bided their time in a restful regime that he’s looking to overthrow.

He’s not Michael Scott; he could never be, and again, it works because the writers understand that. The worst parts of The Paper are the stretches spent trying to reference the show that came before it, whether through familiar characters on the side or outright, blatant name-drops that feel out of place and irrelevant. The sooner this new series leans into its own strengths that are inspired by The Office and stops trying to, in part, be The Office, the better.

Even so, the series tilts more towards that preferred destination and succeeds as a result. Gleeson’s supporting cast is mostly fun and well-suited to their roles, with Chelsea Frei and Melvin Gregg standing out as obvious highlights, as Mare and Detrick, respectively.

The series pretty quickly jumps into things, too; very little time is spent dwelling on what the audience doesn’t know. You’ll figure it out alongside the rest of these people who most often haven’t a clue as to what’s going on. It’s consistently jumpy, mildly manic, and yet, for the most part, remains well-paced and trackable. If something isn’t working, it’s moved on from quick, and when it is? Somehow, the series seems to know that too. The best stuff lingers properly and works to bury the subpar sufferings in between.

Daniels has never been known for excellent pilot seasons during his long-tenured work in television, and to an extent, that remains true for The Paper. It won’t blow you away, but as long as you don’t expect it to, there’s a lot of fun to be had with this (almost) entirely new cast and crew. A lot is left on the table for the possibility of future development, and with a sophomore season confirmed on the docket, we might be in for the long haul with this one.

If you haven’t already, give this a chance. Office fan or not, The Paper is an above-average sitcom that more than deserves a place in a relatively overstuffed genre. For the love of journalism, folks, part ways with your loose change and pick up a copy of the Toledo Truth Teller.

The Paper is currently available to stream exclusively on Peacock.