When I heard that a spinoff of The Office was finally happening, I was incredibly excited, especially since Greg Daniels is still at the helm. Having watched season 1 on Peacock–yes, the full season was available right away–I can say that I enjoyed the show and am curious about where it’s headed.
The “documentary” crew follows a company that makes household paper products, and that company includes a semi-defunct newspaper that stopped doing any form of journalism or reporting long ago. That changes with the arrival of new, bright-eyed editor-in-chief, Ned Sampson. Humor, romance, and awkwardness ensue.
I found the show to be binge-worthy, funny, and occasionally touching. It treats journalism with equal doses of reverence and levity, and it has the Greg Daniels magic of letting the supporting cast shine. Mare Pritti is great as the lead reporter, I loved the owner of the company, and Oscar Martinez–the one carry-over from The Office–is hilarious in his objections to the documentary.
There are two elements of the show that I’d like to see evolve in season two:
- I’m somewhat baffled by the casting and writing choices for the Esmerelda Grand character. She mostly plays the foil to the new editor in ways that are much more aggravating than funny. And as hesitant as I am to say this about a very talented actor who has taken the care to learn another language, she’s very difficult to understand. I say this as someone who has traveled the world, works with dozens of localization partners, and whose family hosted numerous study abroad students when I was younger: I can quickly do the mental math of understanding heavily accented English as a second language. But it’s very difficult with Grand, and it impedes the humorous writing instead of adding to it.
- It seems like a specific writing choice that there’s one petty character in every episode. It’s often Esmerelda, but a few other characters take turns occupying this role. It happens so consistently that it must be intentional, yet it’s almost always the low point of the episode. Parks & Rec demonstrated that it’s possible to have well-meaning people do things that cause tension and drama without being petty; I’d love to see the same method applied to future seasons of The Paper.
Aside from those two elements, I’m really excited about the future of The Paper!
What did you think of the first season?
I was very intrigued by an office spinoff! I started watching the series but only made it through 2 episodes so far, and it’s entirely due to the Esmerelda Grand character. The paper/show feels like it has enough to overcome without her trying to wreck things, and it annoyed me from the very first episode. After episode two I found myself unsure if I wanted to continue, so I’m currently paused. I didn’t feel like it had enough wit to overcome what I’d disliked so far, so I’m leaning toward not going back.
I felt similarly through that episode (and through the third episode too)? The show seems to try to fix it after that–Esmerelda is no longer actively undercutting Ned–which helps, but that’s when the writers start giving someone else a rotating role of “petty person” in every episode. It’s very odd.