As papers struggle, “The Paper” finds fun

Back in the days of “The Office,” Michael Scott gave a talk at a college.
“Paper will always be important,” he said (or some such thing). “Write that down.”
That brought some dutiful click-click-clicks. Students were writing it down on their computers, with no paper in sight.
It was a sign of things to come — including the sometimes-terrific “The Paper” (shown here), which debuts its entire 10-episode season Thursday (Sept. 4) on Peacock.
This is an indirect spin-off of “The Office,” with a similar notion: It pretends to have a camera crew following a rather mundane workplace.
There are flaws — the central character is inconsistent, one supporting player is wildly overwrought. But there are also plenty of sharp laughs, likable characters and clever twists. And it fits neatly into our times.
In “The Office,” Michael worked for Dunder Mifflin, which made paper — something people keep using less of.
But a bigger crisis came in real life, as people quit reading print newspapers. Some turned to their computers to read well-crafted stories from afar; others turned to their computers to read garbage and nonsense.
Even the mighty can fall. Last week, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution — winner of at least a dozen Pulitzer Prizes, including for Ralph McGill, dubbed “the conscience of the South” — announced that it will soon quit having a print edition.
And the un-mighty? That’s the fictional turf of “The Paper.”
The show says Dunder Mifflin was sold to a Toledo, Ohio, company which sells paper products — a lot of toilet paper and napkins, plus a newspaper.
The Toledo Truth Teller was once powerful. Now it has a few disinterested reporters and Esmeralda, a self-obsessed editor. When we arrive, a nothing story (actress Elizabeth Olsen’s facial regimen) is being added.
Taking over is Ned, with lots of idealism, zero news experience and a hodge-podge of possible reporters. One (Mare) is diligent; another (Esmeralda) is awful. Others are in-between — including Oscar, who’s been here before.
Yes, Oscar Martinez, the “Office” accountant, is on this show, grumbling a bit. He’s still played by Oscar Nunez, who first did this 20 years ago. And the show still has many of the key producers from “The Office.”
Nunez is one of the few actors that many people might recognize. Another, playing Ned, is Domhnall Gleeson (second from right).
Like his father (Oscar-nominee Brendan Gleeson), Domhnall is used to playing dead-serious roles. He received a Golden Globe nomination for the 2022 “The Patient,” playing a guy who kept his therapist chained downstairs.
That therapist, interestingly, was played by Steve Carell … who starred as Michael in “The Office”; now Domhnall is sort of the new Michael Scott.
And that leads to one of the few problems here: “The Paper” can’t decide what kind of guy Ned is.
In “The Office,” Michael was vain and foolish, surrounded by a mix of people, some (Jim and Pam) quite decent. “The Paper” flips that at first — an earnest Ned leads to people who are (except for Mare) unskilled and unmotivated.
But like many shows, this can’t resist going for a quick laugh. In some of the episodes, Ned inexplicably becomes vain or petty, as if he has a Michael Scott trapped inside him.
Then there’s the Esmeralda, way overboard. A good show is lost in excess.
But only for a minute or so. “The Paper” keeps bouncing back to its basic form — a droll and quietly clever show. We end up rooting for the characters — and rooting for newspapers to persist and survive.