The first season of NBC’s The Office spin-off, titled The Paper, premiered on Peacock on Thursday, September 4. Although the series was originally supposed to be released weekly, Peacock made a last-minute switcheroo and decided to drop all 10 episodes at once. When news of the scheduling change broke, there was a general assumption that this did not bode well for The Paper’s chances at being a good show or getting a second season. It felt like the strategy was to release it right before football season started, take the L, and then hope football made everyone forget about it. Well, Peacock proved all of the naysayers wrong because they’ve already announced that it’s been renewed for a second season.
Don’t stop the presses: “The Paper” is on a roll. A day before the series’ Sept. 4 premiere on Peacock, “The Paper” has already been given an early Season 2 renewal by the streamer. The news comes as “The Paper,” which is set in “The Office” universe, has earned strong early buzz — leading to this major vote of confidence inside NBCUniversal.
“The Paper” renewal was set to be announced on Wednesday morning by stars Domhnall Gleeson and Sabrina Impacciatore as they appeared on NBC’s “Today” show.
The early pickup comes as series co-creator Greg Daniels is already at work on plans for a Season 2. The greenlight now gives him and fellow exec producer/showrunner Michael Koman enough time to make sure that “The Paper” returns for its sophomore season around this same time next year.
Added Pearlena Igbokwe, the chairman of TV studios, NBC Entertainment & Peacock Scripted at NBCU, of Daniels: “Having seen all the episodes, I think he’s done an incredible job. These are characters you just grow to love and appreciate what he’s doing in the show. I think they do an incredible job of landing the season. So I am very hopeful and optimistic that the audience will feel the same.”
“The Paper” stars Domhnall Gleeson as Ned Sampson, a successful salesman in the toilet paper division of paper-centric conglom Enervate. Ned, who hasn’t worked in journalism since college, is given a new task: Help save the company’s small market newspaper in Toledo, where he’s just been named editor-in-chief. The problem? The Toledo Truth-Teller employs one or two legit reporters, tops. Ned is indealistic and has big plans to make it work — but has his work cut out for him. That challenge is why it’s all being filmed by a documentary crew. That same crew that previously spent years shooting Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch, as seen in “The Office.”
Strategically, this was a good move for Peacock. The trailer received mixed reactions, so this gives on-the-fence viewers more of a reason to commit to watching the first season. It’s hard to justify investing hours of your life into a television show just to have it be for naught once the series gets canceled. My theory about why Peacock decided to switch from weekly to all-at-once is that the show starts off really slowly and then suddenly picks up midway through. The network is signaling that it’s worth pushing through those earlier episodes by announcing that there will be a season two. After all, The Office and Parks and Rec did not hit their strides until their second seasons, and had we given up on them right away, we would have missed out on countless, iconic moments in TV comedy. But, we’ll see! I’m on the fence, but I’m willing give The Paper a shot. I’m planning on binge-watching it this weekend, as soon as I am done with S2 of Wednesday.
Photos credit: Sadou Faye/Avalon and via Instagram
This is a funny take, to think that what was appealing about The Office was the fact that they sold paper. “That’s the golden ticket, my friends! We just need to make another show about people who sell paper! This time, toilet paper!”
Gold.
It is not a show about people that sell toilet paper. It’s about people working for an actual newspaper.
Esmeralda though… 🤐
I watched the first 2 episodes with trepidation last night and it was really funny already! And they do work for a paper company that mostly sells toilet paper and keeps the legacy newspaper on for the ad revenue (click bait adds, and such). I actually just texted my friend today that she needs to watch it – because we both fall asleep to The Office on a loop. I was so relieved. The genius of the original US version is the shear density of jokes. Like, you can watch over and over and catch a new line or a background action happening. The Paper isn’t quite at that level yet, at least in the first two episodes – but it was getting there!!!