The formula of “The Paper” Shuffles “The Office” of Peacock to a funny and worthy spin-off | TV / Streaming

The new editor -in -chief of Toledo Truth Teller is against.

He is in charge of a Midwest newspaper which once used hundreds of journalists, broke important stories and has rumbled his own print presses in the basement of the majestic building bearing his name – but this document is now on the life medium, in despite the staff, subscribed to the wire services for the most part of its content and sharing a floor space with a kitchen paper company.

This could be the premise of a depressing documentary on the state of journalism printed in the 2020s – but the series of Peacock models “The Paper” is an intelligent, windy and good humor sitcom, and something of a love letter to the most noble aspects of the profession. There is a clear writing and a sympathetic casting led by a serious performance of the versatile Domhnall Gleeson as Ned Sampson, the man brought to save the Toledo Truth Teller. The series exists in the same universe as “The Office” and successfully reflects a large part of the framework of this series. Several teams of cameras are hidden in the corners and try to be discreet when they film through window blinds and from a distance; A working environment with a group composed mainly of malcuzzants who have no idea of ​​their funny; The direct camera and speaking “confessions”; And sneaky, sometimes biting comments on the nature of a company that puts pressure against all odds.

Even when the satire turns into a wider territory, there was no episode where this veteran of the 37 -year -old newspapers (which recently took a takeover) did not recognize the essential truths – some funny, beautiful and inspiring, sober and melancholy.

One of the big things about “The Office” was the way he leaned over his vanity, until the documentary was released with the series of mockery pieces “The Office: An American Workplace”. (I loved the “modern family”, but it has never fully embraced the format of false documentary.). “The Paper” displays this same level of engagement, with the whole of the impressive controlling casting the technique which sometimes makes them recognize that they are filmed; In fact, the subjects here displayed even more awareness of the cameras than their predecessors Dunder Mifflin. As for this crew, we are told that it is in fact the same team that followed Dunder Mifflin employees for almost a decade. Their new mission: chronicle life (or should we say support for life) to TOLEDO TRUTH TelR, a small subsidiary of a conglomerate called annoyance.

As the British strategist for British affairs Smomy Company (a Tim Funny key from Deadpan) explains, they sell everything that is paper: “It could be office supplies, which could be concierge paper, which is toilet fabrics, protectors of toilet seats and local newspapers. And it is in order of quality. ” Skeletal staff of Truthful crossed the movements under the “guidance” of Smethoth of the theatrical editor -in -chief Esmerelda Grand (Sabrina Impacciatore, in a large swing of a performance which clicks on half of the time) – but here has just saved Gleeson’s day. Or collapse from Agita by trying.

“When I was a child, I didn’t want to be Superman, I wanted to be Clark Kent,” the elderberry said Doc crew on his first day. (The gleeson born in Dublin slips into an accent to the Midwest, which never seems over-modulated.)

THE Truthful Has only one handful of staff members with reporting experience, including Maresea Frei in a stars round), a former crew member of M1 armored vehicles who wrote for the Stars of Military Paper and Stripes, and Barry (Le Tours formidable Duane R. Shepard Sr.), a Stanley Hudson-Curmudgeon Duane R. Shepard since the 1970s and control. And hey, look there! Nestled at a corner office is the wonderful Oscar Nuñez, resuming his role as an “office” of Oscar Martinez, who is now a chief accountant for Enervat. When Oscar sees the crew of the Doc approaching, he exclaims: “I do not accept any of this!” – But it turns out that the press release he signed in 2005 has no end date. Poor Oscar.

Ned’s enthusiasm GUNG-HO, although imbued with more than a little despair, is contagious when he tries to prepare excitement and to drive in the editorial room. With Gbemisola Ikumelo, Melvin Gregg and Ramona Young offering regular laughs like Truthful And / or the employees of SOFEE fabrics who volunteer to be journalists for a few hours here and there, “The Paper” is installed in the familiar and efficient sitcom model of punch and punch-punch with current scenarios on the main players. (NED practically relates to a Bretzel, by ensuring that each employee is seen and that no one is offended.) There is a lot of humor to cringe, and a large part of the land, although a few episodes contain forced and superfluous developments. The scripts are also laid off from cynical but often painfully precise representations of certain types of modern journalistic practices that could have been disapproved of in the past, and we will leave that.

Gleeson is the undisputed star of the show, but work comedies are only good as the team, and “The Paper” has a list loaded with talents, with almost a dozen characters worthy of our interest. The stellar starting range plus the deep bench – it’s the key to keep an episode invested after the episode, maybe even the season after the season. Despite all its cynicism and the dark comic humor on its subject, the spectacle shares a large part of Ned’s passion for journalism stained ink. From time to time, we saw a documentary in 1971 in black and white on the TOLEDO TRUTH TelR, where the publisher (played by an emblematic American writer and actor) radiates with pride of the important work accomplished by the hundreds of journalists. “We only keep democracy, that’s all.” How can we not roast for Ned Sampson and his happy group to continue fighting this good fight?

Complete season projected for examination. All episodes are presented on Peacock on September 4.