Peacock Review: ‘The Paper’ Isn’t ‘The Office’ and That’s Okay

There are so many series that are clearly inspired by other works that have come before them but don’t directly acknowledge any connections. Calling something a reboot and even bringing back recognizable characters guarantees comparisons will be made, and they tend not to be particularly favorable. The Office has become one of the most quotable series of the last few decades, and it’s fair to say that anticipations are high for its spinoff The Paper, which does deliver laughs and entertainment but is far from a carbon copy of the original series.

Ned (Domhnall Gleeson) arrives to begin his job as the new editor-in-chief of the Toledo Truth-Teller, a struggling newspaper that mostly runs articles from larger publications. Esmeralda (Sabrina Impacciatore) isn’t happy to be upstaged by her new boss, while Mare (Chelsea Frei) is the only one doing actual reporting as her colleague Barry (Duane Shepard Sr.) barely seems to know what decade it is. Ned’s grand vision for the paper, which clashes with the business plan that has kept Ken (Tim Key) comfortable until now, involves the active participation of even those who aren’t even writers, including one familiar face, accountant Oscar (Oscar Nuñez).

It’s been twelve years since The Office went off the air, and it might not be entirely possible to recognize this as a show set in the same world without the familiar opening and Oscar being part of it. It’s actually best enjoyed by ignoring the opening minutes of the pilot, which explicitly reference the same camera crew and attempt to prepare audiences for something similar. But Michael Scott was fun to watch because he was such a terrible boss who didn’t like working, and Ned is the opposite. He’s overenthusiastic but not explicitly inappropriate, also incapable of reading the room but to a far less cringe-worthy extent.

Like in The Office, there are a lot of personalities on this show, and future seasons might present the opportunity for more of them to be explored, especially in the case of Adam (Alex Edelman), who doesn’t get all that much backstory and not many plot points. It’s surprising given that he just won an Emmy for his stand-up special and is also a writer on this series, but there are plenty of characters to go around. This first season invests heavily in Esmeralda, played by The White Lotus star and Emmy nominee Impacciatore, and Mare, two people who couldn’t be more different but each help to anchor and define Ned’s experience.

The supporting cast does boast a fun part for Key, who delivered one of the year’s most hilarious performances in The Ballad of Wallis Island and is more subdued here, while Melvin Gregg and Ramona Young also get their chance to shine as they put in varying levels of effort into the work they don’t necessarily want to be doing. Gleeson is a nice surprise in this role given that his two most significant American TV projects, Run and The Patient, feature him in undesirable and creepy capacities, and here he almost manages to be charming when he takes a second to relax and not take himself so seriously. At worst, he’s endearing and definitely means well.

The Paper is its own show, and that’s probably for the best. Oscar is essentially the least-featured cast member, seen mostly trying to avoid the cameras, and him being on it will likely attract a larger audience than might otherwise show up for an entirely original workplace comedy. But the world could probably use more of the latter than a callback to a show that’s a (quite funny) relic of the past. By the end of this show’s first season, which will now be available to audiences all at once on launch day rather than spread out over the course of a month, it should be clear that this show is pretty good and has the potential to get even better as it is allowed to become its own entity.

Series Rating: 7/10