TV Talk: ‘The Office’ spin-off ‘The Paper’ shows promise

Long-gestating mockumentary spin-off from “The Office,” “The Paper” streams its entire 10-episode first season Thursday on Peacock. There’s more of “The Office” in “The Paper” than one might expect, especially in the first episode.

The same documentary crew that followed the shenanigans of the Dunder Mifflin gang is now at work on a follow-up docuseries. Oscar (Oscar Nunez) moved on from Dunder Mifflin and now works as head accountant for Toledo, Ohio, company Enervate, maker of Softees toilet paper and publisher of the Toledo Truth Teller newspaper.

The newspaper gets a new editor-in-chief, Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson, “Peter Rabbit”), in the first episode of “The Paper,” which was created by “The Office” showrunner Greg Daniels and Michael Koman (“Saturday Night Live,” “How To With John Wilson”).

When evaluating “The Paper,” it’s worth remembering that the first seasons of “The Office” and fellow mockumentary “Parks and Recreation” were disappointments. “The Office” improved in its second season when it allowed Michael Scott (Steve Carell) some humanizing wins. “Parks and Rec” turned around with its gay penguin wedding episode that kicked off season two.

“The Paper” fares better in its initial outing than either predecessor series, but it’s still sometimes bumpy.

The show introduces Ned as a stabilizing force for the Truth Teller — a counterbalance to scheming, pompous, daffy Italian managing editor Esmeralda Grand (Sabrina Impacciatore, “The White Lotus”). Ned takes a liking to the only seemingly competent staff member, page designer Mare Pritti (Chelsea Frei, “The Moodys”), but as the first season goes on, Ned’s foibles grow.

The first “Paper” episode is amusing but rarely outright funny. The comedy quotient improves in later episodes, particularly episode four, when Esmeralda moves from sabotaging Ned to working alongside him on a scheme. That same episode also pairs Mare and Oscar, who hadn’t been put together previously, to positive effect.

The show’s supporting players don’t fully develop in the first season, although the Enervate corporate bosses get more to do, especially the CEO’s obsequious toady, Ken Davies (Tim Key), a Brit who brings some of the energy of Ricky Gervais’ original “Office” boss, David Brent.

Impacciatore is the stand-out, partially because Esmeralda is an over-the-top, buffoonish character, but also because the role is a departure from the aloof, put-together hotel manager Valentina that Impacciatore played in season two of “The White Lotus.” It’s a hoot to watch Impacciatore dive into a clownish role without reservation.

When “The Paper” returns for its second season – Peacock announced its renewal a day before the series premiere – it would be great to learn how Esmeralda got from Italy to Toledo and learn more about sweet-natured sales rep Detrick Moore (Melvin Gregg), oddball circulation boss Nicole Lee (Ramona Young) and accountants Adelola Olofin (Gbemisola Ikumelo) and Adam Cooper (Alex Edelman), all of whom Ned assigns double duty as reporters.

In a Zoom interview last week, Daniels said he took lessons from “Parks and Rec,” which shot its pilot one week and went straight into filming its second episode the following week.

“We didn’t realize that Amy Poehler was more suited to a slightly different version of Leslie Knope until we were a few episodes in,” Daniels said. “Part of the contract with [the ‘The Paper’] was we shot a first episode and then took a month off so it could be edited and we could observe everything. We also built in a bunch of reshoot days.

“As the show grew and we really understood how the characters were funny and wrote towards it,” Daniels continued, “we were able to shoot a whole new section for the pilot. Hopefully, those earlier shows taught us a little bit about how to make one of these.”

Among their discoveries: Impacciatore is “such a force of nature as a comedy person,” Daniels said. “She was really a revelation.”

A second unit crew filmed some exteriors in Toledo for images in the show’s opening credits, but most of the series was shot in Los Angeles, including exteriors of the Toledo Truth Teller building.

The opening credits theme song isn’t the same tune from “The Office,” but it sure does sound similar, like it belongs in the same universe.

“It has this emotional connection to the other theme,” Daniels said. He explained that he asked the same band that recorded “The Office” theme, Bob Thiele’s The Scrantones, to record “a live version” of “The Paper” theme song.

“It’s the same documentary crew behind the scenes, right?” Daniels said. “When you think of it that way, you think, well, whoever the producer of the documentary is loved that original theme music, and this is their musical taste.”

Daniels, who wrote for his high school and college newspapers, said producers subscribed to several small city newspapers as research for “The Paper.” They also talked to John Derr, former publisher of The Chestnut Hill Local in Philadelphia, who offered background on working as a print journalist today.

Despite the challenges that face American journalism, Daniels and series star Gleeson emphasized their desire to build the show around an optimistic Ned, who thinks Clark Kent is cooler than Superman.

“He looks at this person who everyone else considers the nerd,” Gleeson said during a virtual press conference last week, “and he sees the guy who’s really saving the world.”

Canceled

Shudder canceled “Creepshow,” which featured several Pittsburgh-set/inspired episodes thanks to showrunner Greg Nicotero, after four seasons, but a full series box set will be released on Blu-ray Nov. 11.

Amazon’s Prime Video canceled young adult drama “Motorheads” after a single season.

Channel surfing

The 20th season of British import “Taskmaster” debuts on TV in the U.K. and on the “Taskmaster” YouTube channel in the U.S. on Sept. 11 (5 p.m.). … Missed any episodes last season of CBS’s “Elsbeth,” “Fire Country,” “Ghosts,” “Matlock,” “NCIS: Origins” or Pittsburgh-set “Watson?” If so, free, ad-supported streaming service Pluto TV offers the chance to catch up on the full season of these shows at pluto.tv. … Following its defunding by the federal government, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will receive the 2025 Governors Award during the Creative Arts Emmys on Sept. 7 that will air as an edited presentation at 8 p.m. Sept. 13 on FXX and stream on Hulu through Oct. 7.