The Paper returns with more workplace chaos

The newsroom is opening its doors again. The Paper returns for its second season on September 9, bringing back the staff of the Toledo Truth Teller and the awkward moments, office drama and everyday chaos that made the first season work.

A new workplace, same chaos

The series follows the same documentary crew that once filmed the staff of Dunder Mifflin in The Office. This time, their cameras are focused on a struggling newspaper in Toledo, Ohio and the people trying to keep it alive. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, the show has the familiar mockumentary style of The Office, but its workplace is very different.

At the centre of it is Ned Sampson, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, played by Domhnall Gleeson. After the Truth Teller wins the Ohio Journalism Awards, Ned is ready to chase a bigger story. His next target is a local private club, but the investigation could put the future of the paper at risk.

That gives the new season a bigger story to work with, but the fun of The Paper still comes from the people in the newsroom. Ned is trying to prove that the paper can matter again, while Mare Pritti (played by Chelsea Frei), is dealing with her growing feelings for him. Esmeralda Grand, played by Sabrina Impacciatore, is also trying to work out where she fits as the newsroom changes.

There is also the familiar face of Oscar Nuñez, who returns as Oscar Martinez from The Office. His presence connects the two shows, but The Paper does not depend on bringing back characters from Scranton. Its new cast has had a full season to build their own personalities and relationships.

That may be what makes the show work. The Office was never really about the company itself. It was about watching ordinary people spend their days at work, deal with each other and somehow get through another week. The Paper takes that same idea into a newsroom, where deadlines, money problems and the pressure to keep a newspaper alive create a new set of problems.

The second season, then, does not need to recreate The Office. It just needs to keep doing what made the first season enjoyable: putting a group of odd, ambitious and often awkward people together and letting the workplace do the rest.

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