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The Paper returns with more laughs to daily grind of print
WINNING journalism awards apparently gets you nowhere if people still do not want to pay for your newspaper. That is the problem facing the Toledo Truth Teller in the second season of The Paper, where a billboard celebrating its achievements only reminds readers to cancel their subscriptions.
It is a good joke, and a fairly depressing one if you work in the industry. It also captures what the show does best: finding humour in the increasingly ridiculous business of keeping a local newspaper alive.
Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, The Office spinoff returns with a cast worth spending time with. There are plenty of laughs, although the number of colleagues developing feelings for each other starts getting a little excessive.
Awards do not pay bills
The newspaper continues to share office space with toilet paper company Softees, whose product has considerably fewer problems convincing people of its usefulness.
Editor Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson) hopes the newsroom’s recent success will persuade management to provide more funding. Naturally, an employee’s death interrupts those plans and an obituary assignment becomes a headache once details of the deceased’s private life emerge.
These newsroom problems give the series plenty to play with. Even a seemingly straightforward task can go wrong when the people handling it are inexperienced, distracted or far too confident.
The affection for journalism comes through without everyone needing to deliver speeches about saving it. There is something appealing about watching this group care about getting a story out, even when almost everything surrounding that effort is a mess.
Gleeson holds it together
Gleeson gives Ned enough charm to make his optimism believable. He wants the paper to succeed, wants his colleagues to improve and would probably benefit from accepting that enthusiasm cannot solve every problem.
His relationship with reporter Mare (Chelsea Frei) brings out a more insecure side. The gun-range outing, where he would rather invent a rat bite than admit to being startled by a gun’s recoil, shows how far he will go to avoid looking foolish. Unsurprisingly, he makes himself look worse.
Frei gives Mare the patience and scepticism needed opposite him. Their shared interest in journalism makes them a believable pairing, particularly when work intrudes on time they have set aside for themselves.
However, Ned can be frustrating. The series asks viewers to admire his principles while also watching him behave like someone who cannot handle his girlfriend being better at something.
Everyone has a crush
Getting Ned and Mare together early gives the season room to explore how their relationship affects their work. Keeping it secret adds complications, and there is comedy in watching professional disagreements follow them into their personal lives.
The familiar misunderstandings become tiresome, though. Once Detrick, Nicole and other colleagues have romantic problems to deal with, the office starts feeling overcrowded with couples and potential couples.
Ten episodes provide limited space for all this. Some supporting characters could use an actual assignment and a decent subplot of their own.
Esmeralda takes over
Sabrina Impacciatore remains a standout as online editor Esmeralda Grand. Her expressions, physical comedy and complete lack of restraint can make an ordinary conversation hilarious.
The schoolboy disguise pushes things too far, but Impacciatore commits so fully that she remains watchable through the silliness. Lisa Gilroy also makes an impression as an HR representative whose own behaviour warrants a meeting with HR.
The Paper has enough funny people and good ideas to make another visit worthwhile. Its newsroom offers plenty of stories already. Giving those stories more attention would help a third season make better use of this cast.
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