RIP Dunder Mifflin. At the start of The Paper, a 10-episode spin-off from the US version of The Office, we learn that “the people person’s paper people” have been acquired by Ohio-based company Enervate. From its Toledo headquarters, Enervate sells all kinds of products made from paper, which means the sales team for toilet tissue brand Softees shares a workspace with comatose journos from struggling local newspaper, the Toledo Truth Teller (TTT).
No jokes about modern-day journalism being in the toilet, please, because The Paper is actually quite sentimental about shrivelled rags like the TTT. When Enervate’s star salesman Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson) is drafted in as editor-in-chief, he finds the publication in stasis: reporter Mare Pritti (Chelsea Frei) is copy-and-pasting clickbait articles, while managing editor Esmeralda Grand (The White Lotus’ Sabrina Impacciatore) is only interested in celebrity gossip and free beauty products.
Wide-eyed and slightly awkward, with an undercurrent of benign entitlement, Ned still believes in the value of original news reporting rooted in the local community. So, he assembles a not-so-crack team of rookie reporters from Enervate employees who are moonlighting – well, skiving – from the paper-pushing jobs they’re being paid for. These include a familiar face, The Office‘s Oscar Martínez (Óscar Núñez), who is now being bothered by a new bunch of irritating colleagues and the same old intrusive TV crew.
Oscar is the only on-screen transfer from The Office, but this spin-off was co-created by Greg Daniels, who also developed its parent show. With Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant also back as executive producers, it’s no surprise that The Paper initially cleaves too closely to the original’s low-stakes but beautifully observed cringe comedy. It doesn’t help that the once-edgy mockumentary sitcom format no longer feels fresh, so all those exasperated looks to camera now seem more forced. The familiar talking head segments do some heavy-lifting in introducing ensemble cast members like Detrick Moore (Melvin Gregg), a salesman who’s less self-assured than he seems, and Nicole Lee (Ramona Young), an ambivalent administrator with a stoic streak.
But as the series progresses, it finds its own identity and becomes much funnier in the process. In what is probably the standout episode, the TTT’s impartiality is threatened when Softees toilet tissue becomes implicated in a city-wide sewage scandal. This puts Ned in direct conflict with his obsequious boss Ken Davies (Alan Partridge alum Tim Key), a clueless company man who says “If it was up to me, our corporation would support gay people all year round,” without a hint of self-awareness.
Key may be a scene-stealer but he’s matched by Impacciatore, who imbues narcissistic Esmeralda with deranged dignity. Quite often, she’s the agent of chaos who busts this show out of its comfort zone. In one episode, she becomes convinced that office duffer Barry (Duane R. Shepard Sr.) is an incubus pursuing her in her dreams. Does it all add up to watercooler TV? Probably not, but The Paper is definitely worth a binge on your next annual leave day.
‘The Paper’ will be available on Sky and NOW from September 5