I’ll once again reiterate that I’m not as big a fan of the the mockumentary genre as I probably should be. I made that point when I mused just about a year ago about THE PAPER. When I’m in a mood for comedy, I prefer clever and quick, not patient and pondering. So when I eventually did get around to watching the first season my enthusiasm was, in a word, tepid. I like the setting and I appreciate the efforts, but the end product was much like I think about the city of Toledo itself. Not a bad place to spend a little time in–but hardly somewhere I would want to extend my stay beyond my initial investment.
I kind of get the feeling that the fine feathered folks at Peacock may be feeling the same way after I digested the show’s second season which opportunistically dropped just after the undoubtedly highly viewed NFL season opener last Wednesday and which magically the platform dropped me into after the Giants stunned me into temporary paralysis in the wake of their Sunday Night Football conquest of the hated Cowboys.
It’s pretty much a lather-rinse-repeat from a year ago; the fact that this second season had already been pre-ordained even before S1 dropped strongly suggests to me this is a de facto season 1B. Scant little novel or exciting to glom onto and to somehow attack the dreaded sophomore jinx that besets the majority of streaming series these days. And unfortunately given the economic demands and intense pressure their platforms are under it all but dictates the likelihood that a season three is anything but assured.
The reviews among those who are more invested in the show and the style are somewhat muted from last year’s levels of positivity and seem to be a mixed bag. The ROTTEN TOMATOES scorecard has dipped to an 80% Tomatometer level from 85% YAGO among critics, and the Popcornmeter of 70% among the vox populi is consistently meh. To be sure, there are ravers out there like FANDOM WIRE’s Richard Valero:
Toledo Truth Teller found itself on the decline until Ned Sampson picked up the paper and carried it to many wins at the Ohio Journalism Awards. Of course, the biggest question heading into season 2 is can Domhnall Gleeson and company capture the same magic? The short answer is yes. Not only does the second season land, but it may have raised the bar from season 1…The writers had the tall task of trying to write the romance between Ned and Mare in a way that didn’t feel stale. You almost walked a fine line because you would rather not take audiences out of the comedy and ludicrous nature of the paper, but also develop these two characters together and as their own entities. I created the writing, but also the quirkiness of how Domhnall Gleeson and Chelsea Frei play the parts of Ned and Mare.
THE PEOPLE’S MOVIES’ Danny Humby was even more effusive:
(T)he writing still nails the difficult balance between stupidity and hilarity. The characters often teeter on the edge of feeling like caricatures of real people but always get brought down to earth at the perfect time, making for some really funny moments. Because they’re based in a small local newspaper, they have a bit more freedom with story options than Dunder Mifflin, and they take advantage of that with some big swings. I particularly enjoyed Esmeralda getting confused between a Haunted House and a Halfway House for an article, as well as the camera crew following Mare and Ned for their first weekend away.
And if one were to ask SCREEN RANT’s Ben Gibbons, you’d think next year’s Emmy awards should already be stashed away for them to claim:
(T)he latest season proves this show can stand on its own two feet and deliver an exceptional new situational comedy that rivals anything else currently on TV…The Paper did bring a strong new cast of characters, with distinct personalities, and a format that drastically redefined the dynamics in the workplace, with a group of amateur reporters rather than a set of salespeople taking center stage. Within this new lineup, the series made bold choices and leaned into humor that balanced traditional comedy with absurd, quirky, and at times awkward humor.
And in many ways, that is the genetic makeup that went into The Office, and the backbone of what made that series so compelling. With that in mind, it’s wonderful to see The Paper season 2 double down on the reporting format and give every character room to shine in a way that immediately elevates this season far beyond what came before.
And yet, there are also haters, such as INDIE WIRE’s Ben Travers:
In the second episode…a fantastic idea emerges — fantastic in that it’s both really clever and impossible to imagine fulfilled. The unlikely source is Enervate’s company stooge corporate strategist, Ken Davies (Tim Key), a moron by any measure. But after pretending to be Esmeralda’s (Sabrina Impacciatore) “live-in British lover” for reasons I don’t need to get into, Ken shares an enlightening anecdote about what he’s learned from his fake office romance. “There is a certain satisfaction that you can get when you work with someone, and you may mistake that for love,” he says. “But in actual fact, it’s just that you’re working with someone.”
And it’s about here where THE PAPER lost me. I tend to reject those sort of Theatre Of The Absurd plot lines. I want to root for, say, Jim and Pam, or Leonard and Penny, or Ross and Rachel. I want the well-intentioned schmo to get the girl of his dreams. I don’t root for someone I can relate to choosing poorly. Give me more of Ned and Mare. But Kenmeralda? Wad that up and hurl it at your nearest wastebasket.
Maybe you think I’m being a tad harsh and judgmental but I’m one who actually wants the sitcom genre to survive even as global economics continues to dictate otherwise. I get those factors likely mandated what amounted to a traditional broadcast network season order being split into two parts and labeled otherwise. Assuming that’s the case (and my radar strongly points in that direction) I would have hoped that the team might have addressed the need to come out way stronger with a premiere more connected to a cliffhanger moment rather than an Episode 11 that’s pretty much disconnected and gives fresh opportunity for more ranting. Witness how this drop drove MASHABLE’s Belen Edwards downright batsh-t with consternation:
Sometimes a sitcom plot line comes along that’s so misguided, so confounding, so utterly ill-conceived that you stop and think, “Surely I hallucinated that in its entirety, right?” In The Paper Season 2’s case, that dishonor falls to literally everything the show does to Nicole (Ramona Young).
Season 1 of The Office spinoff paired circulation staffer Nicole up with ad salesman Detrick (Melvin Gregg) in one of the show’s main romantic storylines. Nicole consistently told him their dates and hookups were casual and that there were no feelings involved. She actively encouraged Detrick to see other women, but he didn’t. Their differences led to a breakup in the Season 1 finale.
The Paper’s second season comes along and wrecks Nicole’s character. Throughout Season 2, Nicole is a vengeful harpy out to get Detrick. She gets a promotion, then tries to use that extra power to give him extra work. (It backfires.) She reports their now-over relationship to HR rep Lisa (Lisa Gilroy), searching for any legitimization of the connection she mourned. When Lisa begins to show interest in Detrick, Nicole dresses as her — complete with dyeing her hair blonde — and rams her car into Lisa’s. She also follows Detrick to Cincinnati, leading to an unsettling sequence where Detrick genuinely seems to believe she’s going to do him harm.
I wasn’t quite as put out as was Edwards, but that’s predominantly because of the previous TOTA effort noted above. And in a binge distribution mode particularly after the high of a football game, those little things mean a lot.
We will likely learn rather soon whether my radar is still reasonably accurate or not. The fact that no immediate release on the show’s fate was supplied even with the outsized attention of two big football games and, in a more concentrated niche, tonight’s Emmys, is to me a significant indicator. And as we know, practically all papers are on the endangered species list to begin with. This one did not do much to separate itself from it.
Until next time…