The Paper

Streaming on: Sky / NOW
Episodes viewed: 10 of 10

The American spin-off of The Office was something of a miracle. Stateside reboots of UK shows rarely make it past the first season (see The IT Crowd, The Inbetweeners, Skins). The Office 2.0 not only ran for nine seasons but gained enough slow-burning popularity to launch its own spin-off, sharing just a few threads of connective tissue and that same shaky, side-glance-to-the-camera mockumentary format.

It’s a tough act to follow a show that had such a unique lifespan, and to its credit, The Paper doesn’t lean too heavily upon its legacy. Co-created by The Office’s Greg Daniels, the premise has more thrust than its predecessor: the print edition of the ‘Truth Teller’ is on its last legs and its partner website a near-unreadable trough of clickbait fodder. Enter a peppy new editor-in-chief, Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson), who is hired to salvage the publication. Maybe it’s no coincidence the character’s name sounds similar to that of a certain Simpsons neighbourino; all that’s missing is the moustache from this upbeat leader, who uses a typewriter and believes that elbow grease and integrity will shepherd the paper into a new era.

Domhnall Gleeson is unwaveringly endearing, especially when rallying the troops.

If you’re looking for an eye-wateringly cringey David Brent or manchild Michael Scott in Ned, you won’t find one. In fact, the only direct character replication you’ll find in The Paper is Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nuñez), who actually was in The Office, and whose disdain for the documentary team’s return makes for the first big laugh of the series. The surrounding characters are slightly drawn yet sweet enough, with the exception of two villains: Tim Key’s besuited bigwig Ken and Sabrina Impacciatore’s (The White Lotus) website editor Esmeralda.

Of the cast, Impacciatore is given the most room to colour outside the lines, albeit while bordering on caricature with her brightly painted talons and theatrics. Key is confined to the ‘stuffy Brit’ box but manages to slip in a few feral shrieks and some great physical comedy. And Gleeson is unwaveringly endearing, especially when rallying the troops, who are at their strongest when ricocheting off each other in livelier scenes.

Those moments, alas, don't come often enough. Between those flashes of creative gusto The Paper lacks energy. Of course, this is the HQ of a small-league paper: hardly Watergate-breaking stuff. But The Office’s dreary Dunder Mifflin housed characters that people invested in en masse. For now, The Paper’s collective ensemble doesn’t feel there yet. Like its sister show, it may need a first-pancake season to hit its stride and deepen the connection with its characters. Here’s hoping for another miracle.