The Paper: Season 1

To call this a sequel to The Office isn’t really a thing. Sure, the format is similar, what with the film crew kinda-sorta filming a documentary at a small American company. The adapter of the American version of the show, Greg Daniels, is the creator of The Paper. And the basic setup is very similar, with an ensemble cast and some quirky personalities that fill in the edges of the center will-they-or-won’t-they romance. And Oscar (Oscar Nuñez), of course. It does have a bit of an uncanny valley feel to it after being enveloped in The Office and its reruns for the past twenty years. Oh, that person is the Dwight. There’s Stanley. But not. Because this isn’t that show, but it also isn’t not that show.

I will say that this was a rough pilot. Stiff and unfunny and generally awkward. All the characters’ characteristics were cranked up to ten. You know, to establish their… character. Rough pilots are kind of a hallmark for sitcoms, I suppose. So I cut it some slack. Though, even through an entire season, there are several characters that they could ball up and toss and I’d be not at all sad. The old, black dude who just sits there reading the paper and is seemingly suffering from dementia. Not funny. The Orthodox Jewish guy (Alex Edelman) who they refuse to say is an Orthodox Jewish guy — but is maybe, instead, a Mennonite or something? Unclear. Edelman seems funny — and, like Paul Lieberstein, is a writer on the show. But his Adam Cooper is just an undefined rube. There are times where Sabrina Impacciatore’s Esmeralda Grand is just too big for the show. She’s funny, yes, but her broad, over-the-top performance can overshadow the more subtle comedy . Oh, I didn’t think I had to explain what this series is about. It’s right there in the title. A paper company in Toledo that also runs a paper. Like a newspaper. That is more like a pamphlet or a newsletter. Honestly, it sounds like the type of thing that comes in the mail and goes directly into your recycling bin. Or is used for kindling in the fire pit. They have some vague relation to Dunder Mifflin, but it’s really peripheral. And unimportant.

While Domhnall Gleeson’s Ned Sampson is the editor-in-chief of the Toledo Truth Teller — and ostensibly the boss of all his reporters and volunteers — he is kind of one part Michael and one part Jim. Really, he’s Leslie Knope. A well-meaning straight man who is also crushingly insecure and awkwardly awkward. And I guess if he’s Jim, that makes Chelsea Frei’s Mare Pritti the Pam. Setting up the whole mating dance. Though without the subtlety, complications and humanity of the original. Again, more like Leslie and Adam Scott’s character. In fact, the entirety of the show is way more Parks and Rec than it is The Office. Which, to my taste, is inferior. It’s missing that edge. That deep psychopathy of Michael. The upsetting, genre-defining horribleness of “Scott’s Tots.” The general bordering-on-mean spirit of the show sometimes. This series is much mushier. Much more right down the middle. Unsurprising in its sitcom tropes and goofiness. Everything is just one step too nice. Too NBC proper. So PG-rated it hurts. Everyone is kind of childish and unworldly in a way that kind of makes you wonder if the writers have something against Ohio. I’m also not sure why Oscar is in this thing at all. Other than to have the loosest of connections to the original series. He’s hardly a plus up.

And, look, I know first seasons can be hard. There are a bunch of sitcoms out there that struggled to find their footing on their initial go. And this one isn’t bad by any stretch, just kind of rote. It feels like it’s borrowing a bit too much from its workplace comedy lineage. It really wants you to like Ned Sampson. So they borrow traits from the sheltered Jonah Simms character from Superstore. But Gleeson doesn’t have the same nebbish energy as a Ben Feldman. The same specificity. He’s your generic, entitled non-ethnic white guy. Sorry, generic white-guy ginger. Who is actually not American at all, but Irish. And I feel like my experience with Gleeson has been a bit of a mixed bag — especially when he’s playing American. The smoothing out of his Irish brogue can make his delivery a little stilted and I feel like it affects his performance for the negative. Maybe it’s just me. Also, his budding romance with Chelsea Frei just doesn’t feel realistic. He is ten years older than her, which I suppose is never an issue in TV shows or the real world, but they just don’t feel or look like a couple. He seems more predatory than anything else. Could be the red hair and the constant flop sweat, though. Anyhow, I’m expecting they’ll make some adjustments for season two and hopefully make us care about these people a little more and fine tune the comedy. They can’t rely on crazy Esmerelda, ass-kissing Brit, Ken Davies (Tim Key), and poop humor to drive all the laughs. As it stands, it can occasionally be amusing, but not really funny. I’ll give it a second season, but if it can’t find it’s footing, this paper will be folding.