After 20 years, we’re heading back to “The Office.” Well, sort of. Depends on who you ask about the latest iteration of the mockumentary hit.
Peacock’s “The Paper” is a sitcom set in the same universe as “The Office” from Greg Daniels (co-creator of the American version of “The Office”) and Michael Koman (co-creator of “Nathan For You”), although it takes place at a different kind of paper company than Dunder Mifflin: a local newspaper.
It’s a slight departure from what many remember from “The Office,” but it brings back the same documentary crew that immortalized the wacky Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch run by ever-so-eccentric boss Michael Scott (Steve Carell).
This time, the crew follows a historic Midwestern paper, The Toledo Truth Teller, and a publisher who has the difficult task of trying to breathe new life into it. However, optimistic editor-in-chief Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson) comes in with hopes of restoring the paper to its former glory days.
It’s an interesting premise at a time when the journalism industry is under attack and in desperate need of more investment — one that was inspired by reporting Daniels stumbled across on “ghost newspapers,” or local publications that have become shells of their former selves.
