The Paper (season 1)

The Paper follows the same fictional documentary crew from The Office as they shift their lens to the Toledo Truth-Teller, a struggling Midwestern newspaper in Toledo, Ohio. The show centers on Ned Sampson, a passionate new editor-in-chief, and his eclectic team of volunteer reporters as they navigate the challenges of reviving a historic publication in the digital age.

The Paper Review (S1: E1-3)

The first three episodes of The Paper are among the most joyless and insipid hour-and-a-half of television ever produced. Domhnall Gleeson, who is best known for the disastrous Star Wars sequels and as Ron Weasley’s older brother, leads The Paper’s colorless ensemble. A talented actor who seems unable to find his place in Hollywood, whether the weakness is directorial, the milktoast script, or his own comedic deficiencies (probably all of the above), Gleeson is completely miscast as the unqualified yet earnest editor-in-chief of the failing newspaper.

                   

However, Gleeson isn’t the only one guilty of enervating the life force of those unfortunate enough to watch this blobular miasma. The rest of the cast is equally a complete zero. The anti-charisma, their fungible and homogenously idiotic characters are as painful to watch bumbling through the script’s first year improv class dialogue as they are fumbling the dog piss (not hypobole) physical “comedy.”

After the series is inevitably canceled, each of The Paper’s unfortunate performers should petition that all evidence of their participation be clean-slated like a Nolan Catwoman.

The Paper should be rolled up and smoked until the only thing left is a pile of lifeless ash, even if that is only a lateral move.

WOKE REPORT

Clumsy Poking

• The Paper is so poorly written that it’s hard to say with any certainty, but it seems as though it’s poking fun at some of modernity.
  • There’s an “All Genders Bathroom” sign clumsily hung on the office’s bathroom. Its haphazard placement is what makes me think it’s a joke.
  • One of the employees is ex-military and is not treated like a joke for it.

Algorithm Approved

• The diversity is typically diverse. The Paper is supposed to take place in Toledo, Ohio, not a Whole Foods commercial.
  • Unsurprisingly, the ex-soldier is a woman.