This article was originally published on the DIASPORA Newsletter on September 3, 2025. Read and subscribe here!
The Paper is a fun, acceptable comedy… it would have been a better comedy if it were released in 2006, when print journalism was dying its slow death. But you know what show was out in 2006? The Office. And The Paper is a spin-off of The Office.
I don’t need this spin-off, but the algorithm will find someone who will.
In The Paper, we travel from the offices of Dunder Mifflin in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to the local newspaper, the Toledo Truth Teller in Toledo, Ohio.
We learn (from a familiar face) a Toledo-based paper company, Enervate, has acquired Dunder Mifflin. Enervate produces all sorts of paper products, office supplies, toilet paper, and newsprint on which the Toledo Truth Teller is printed.
The Toledo Truth Teller tower is the home base for Enervate, and we are immediately introduced to business strategist Ken Davies (played with pitch-perfect buffoonery by Tim Key), who brings us to where the majority of the series takes place: the 9th floor home of Softees toilet paper… and they share office space with the Toledo Truth Teller.
Dunder Mifflin survivor Oscar (Oscar Nunez) serves as our blatantly apathetic sherpa into this new of Office multiverse which includes the overenthusiastic journalism nerd and new editor-in-chief Ned (Domhnall Gleeson) as well as his foil and messy disaster of a managing editor Esmerelda (White Lotus breakout Sabrina Impacciatore), who can be described as a mix of Edina and Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous but Italian.
As Ned tries to give the Toledo Truth Teller a much-needed journalistic makeover, he assembles a ragtag team of journalists… with a really lowercase “j”. The people who work at the Toledo Truth Teller barely have journalism experience, save Mare (Chelsea Frei), whose primary job before Ned signed on was pulling stories from newswires. So this new direction is good news for her.
The remainder of the newsroom is filled with other quirky workplace characters including the deadpan Adelola (the BAFTA Award-winning Gbemisola Ikumelo), who has a secret, fascinating life that includes a past with Martin Lawrence as well as the wildly clueless Adam (Alex Edelman) who has a heart of gold, but is really an idiot. There’s also Travis (Eric Rahill), who works for Softees, who is quite resourceful. However, just when you think he is a really smart guy, he does something that puts him at the same level as Adam. Then there’s Barry (Duane R. Shepard), who is the resident Stanley in The Paper — and that’s the glaring problem with The Paper. It feels like it’s desperately trying to be The Office and pay homage to it all at the same time. In fact, The Paper characters are wildly similar to workplace comedies of that era. Adelola is similar to Kelly from The Office or even Donna from Parks and Recreation. Adam and Travis live in the same world as characters like Kevin or Creed from The Office or Andy Dwyer from Parks and Recreation. Everyone is checking a box.
The Blackening’s Melvin Gregg and Never Have I Ever’s Ramona Young also add to the motley crew of budding journalists. Gregg plays Detrick, while Young plays Nicole, both are young professionals that are template office workers, which proves to be a problematic approach considering Gregg and Young are two very talented actors. They are regulated to a very predictable storylines that echo from The Office (It’s giving Angela and Dwight) when their characters live far more interesting lives than what we see on the screen.
The characters are different enough, but they still make you say, “Oh, that reminds me of…” That said, if you take The Office component out of the show and move a couple of things around, this could be a stronger comedy because you wouldn’t be constantly comparing it to its predecessor. If you have Peacock, what is stopping the viewer from just stopping The Paper and switching to The Office ? You might as well, because it is practically scratching the same itch.
Coming from the co-creator/co-showrunner team of The Office godfather Greg Daniels and Nathan For You’s Michael KomanThe Paper isn’t terrible. I enjoyed watching most of it. Labeling it as spin-off to of The Office sucked the spirit out of its being.
From the jump, you’re reminded of how iconic the original was and how there will never be another — it works against the show. Complete with a theme song that sounds like a royalty-free version of the original from The Office, experiencing The Paper is comparable to the distracted boyfriend meme.
The new series is concerned with two things: carrying on the legacy of its predecessor and bolstering the need for local journalism, which I very much appreciate. However, it’s clearly more concerned with the former than the latter. However, I don’t know if The Paper was looking to be a champion of local journalism and the need for good journalism in general, but there is something to be said about that.
When it comes to the journalism of it all, The Paper looks at the industry through two lenses: Esmerelda vs. Ned. Esmerelda leans more towards the clickbait news fluff, while Ned wants to bring journalistic integrity back to the Toledo Truth Teller with investigative reporting in and around the community. In a time when the reliability of corporate media is questionable, there is a need for unbiased, community-focused journalists who know the difference between fact and opinion.
The journalist in me wished they really leaned into the journalism of it all. But would TV consumers actually care about a show about real journalism in a society where it seems like no one can distinguish fact and opinion? Will they care about how The Paper is bolstering the need for local, accurate, boots-on-the-ground journalism or would they rather be more comfortable with “reliable news sources” like Jubilee videos, TikTok influencers, misinformed Boomer-led Facebook feeds, and hot takes from yelling talking heads on CNN and Fox News? As a former Oakland Tribune reporter, The Paper did an OK job of capturing the essence of the vibe of a local newsroom — not great — but they did their best. If anything, it made me miss being part of a traditional newsroom.
As soon as we stepped foot into the Toledo Truth Teller tower, everything felt like we were in a different multiverse version of The Office, and it’s fun, but there are no moments of note. It doesn’t bring anything new to the workplace comedy, and it’s simply answering the call of the algorithm in hopes that more people will subscribe to Peacock. If anything, it’s exciting to see Impacciatore fully stretch her comedic muscles, and it is quite a sight to witness. Hell, give Esmerelda her own show. Now that I would watch.
The novelty, right down to the docu-style shooting, is comfort TV. The cast is talented, the writing is good, and on paper, it should be a successful comedy. Unfortunately, it lacks its own identity. The Paper feels like a little brother trying desperately to step out of their older brother’s shadow.
Perhaps this is a lesson for other studios and streamers to learn: not everything needs to be connected to IP.
