In 2005, a documentary crew started following the workplace behavior and personal lives of the employees of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, PA. When they head back 20 years later, they discover that the company no longer exists, but that it had been purchased by a company called Enervate in Toledo, OH. Enervate now owns toilet paper company Softees and small local newspaper the Toledo Truth Teller, which both operate out of the same tower that was once the home of a bustling newspaper that employed 1000 people. Now the Truth Teller just has a handful of staff, and primarily just consists of Associated Press articles.

The staff at the paper includes compositor Mare Pritti (Chelsea Frei), an Army veteran with journalism experience at the Stars and Stripes, who now just cuts and pastes AP articles; the paper’s sole remaining full time reporter Barry (Duane Shepard Sr.), who’s become a bit senile and is often sleeping at his desk; self-centered acting editor and person in charge of TTT Online, Esmeralda Grand (Sabrina Impacciatore), a former dating reality show contestant and single mom who loves to be the center of attention and who is perfectly fine with filling the paper with AP and clickbait articles; soft-spoken circulation department staffer Nicole Lee (Ramona Young), who Esmeralda often treats like her personal assistant; ad salesman Detrick Moore (Melvin Gregg), who likes to cheer up his coworkers; accountants Adelola Olofin (Gbemisola Ikumelo) & Adam Cooper (Alex Edelman), the latter of which has four young kids at home and a father-in-law that forbids contraception; and head accountant Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez), who isn’t thrilled to see the return of the documentary crew.

As the series opens, Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson), a top Softees salesman, has taken on the position of the new editor-in-chief at the newspaper. He is wide-eyed and optimistic, and determined to return the Toledo Truth Teller to its former glory. Enervate CEO Marv Putnam (Allan Havey) is open to Ned’s ideas, but there’s no money to hire more staff or make any major changes. So Ned must get creative, and gets the employees, including Softees worker Travis Bienlien (Eric Rahill), to volunteer part-time as reporters for the paper, while also continuing to do their other jobs. However, Enervate’s corporate strategist Ken Davies (Tim Key) and Esmeralda, who expected to become the new editor-in-chief, are often plotting against Ned and trying to make him fail.

The recurring characters also include janitor Nate Wells (Nate Jackson), Softees sales rep Kimberly (Mo Welch), Marv’s assistant and sister-in-law Ann Putnam (Nancy Lenehan), Adam’s wife Summer (Molly Ephraim ), and former Editor-In-Chief from the 1970s John Stack (Tracy Letts).

The first season of the series is ten episodes, and finds the ragtag reporters up to some fun antics both inside the office and while out on the beat. Here is a rundown of the 10 episodes:

• “Pilot” (31:58) – Ned, the new editor-in-chief of fledgling local Ohio newspaper Toledo Truth Teller arrives at the office for his first day and meets his quirky staff. The same day, the documentary crew from The Office also arrives.
• “The Five W’s” (27:27) – With the AP wire service canceled, Ned’s new reporting staff of 7 only has a few hours to come up with enough news stories to fill his first paper.
• “Buddy and the Dude” (29:59) – Ned and Mare go undercover as a couple at a mattress store for a story on consumer protection; Ken and Esmerelda stage a coup and don’t tell Ned about the meeting with Marv, leaving Oscar in a tough position; and Nicole and Detrick get to know one another in a game of two truths and a lie.
• “TTT vs the Blogger” (27:29) – The Truth Teller is shadowed by some journalism students who have more experience than the newspaper reporters; Ned is jealous of a teenage blogger with 300K subscribers and when he gets accused of cyberbullying, he’s determined to take the teen down, finding an unlikely partner in Esmerelda; Mare is determined to prove her former high school drama teacher didn’t give her a role due to favoritism; and Derick pursues his seemingly-unrequited love for Nicole.
• “Scam Alert!” (28:04) – Esmeralda has been catfished by a man named Jarson (who looks a lot like actor Josh Holloway). Ned wants to turn it into a six-part story, but Esmerelda is in denial. Meanwhile, everyone in the office creates/updates dating profiles on the Latch app in hopes of luring the catfish. And Nicole seems eager for Detrick to start dating other women.
• “Churnalism” (30:42) – Ezmarela pitches a clickbait article about a Korean beauty company, but Ned wants them to do honest reviews of the products. Meanwhile Esmerelda takes Ned’s story about the closing of public park bathrooms, with Mare as her assistant.
• “I Love You” (29:26) – Marv temporarily moves to the same floor as the reporters. Ned accidentally says “I Live You” to him, and then becomes obsessed with impressing Marv. This sends Ken and Esmerelda scheming on a way to get Marv fired so they can divide the company among themselves.
• “Church and State” (26:18) – A city water main clog causes a sewer crisis for an entire neighborhood, and it appears to be due to Softees’ new Man Mitts product. Ned wants to break the story, but Ken is vehemently opposed. Meanwhile, an ad agency is holding auditions for Softees’ new Kid Mitts product and Esmarelda sees the opportunity for her son Matteo to become a star.
• “Matching Ponchos” (29:50) – Mare and Ned bond as they go on a road trip to investigate if a local farm is really a cult; Esmerelda has sex dreams about Barry after seeing a 30-year-old photo of him; Ken tries to rehabilitate the public perception of Softees using Nicole as his scapegoat; and the reporters—especially Oscar—take it hard when a troll comments on their articles.
• “The Ohio Journalism Awards” (29:57) – The Toledo Truth Teller has been nominated for three Ohio Journalism Awards, and the team attends the award ceremony. Ken’s worried about his job, Mare is nervous about winning; Ned is a bit jealous of her date and wants to reveal his feelings; and Esmerelda is determined to be the center of attention.

The Paper does an excellent job of recapturing the hilarious tone of The Office, though it doesn’t really rely on confessionals like the previous series. Instead, the documentary cameras just follow the employees inside and outside of the office. Sometimes the characters may make a comment directly to the camera, but it is not like the formal interviews that we constantly saw on The Office.

The ensemble is great and have amazing chemistry with one another. This is a really fun batch of characters that do share some similar traits to those on The Office, but there is not a 1:1 mapping of characters. There is also a bit of a will they/won’t they both with Nicole and Detrick as well as with Ned and Mare. But with the latter there is also this new boss/employee dynamic that throws an interestingwrench into the mix, so it is less like Jim and Pam.

I must admit that I initially found Esmerelda to be quite annoying. I loved the actress on The White Lotus, but there was something about this character that I found grating, especially the way she is constantly trying to undermine Ned. However, around the fourth or fifth episode, there is a turn, where she becomes less of an adversary and more part of the group, and this made all the difference. I started to really enjoy her ridiculous antics, and she became just another one of th group that I loved watching.

I think fans of The Office will really enjoy this new series as it has a similar tone, look and feel. I thoroughly enjoyed re-watching the 10 episodes of the first season on this Blu-ray release. It does a great job of introducing the characters at the beginning, and telling what could have been a complete story arc over the course of the season. That said, I am now even even more anxious to see the upcoming second season to see where things go next!

Universal has released the first season of The Paper on Blu-ray and DVD. We were sent the release for review from AV Entertainment. The 10 episodes of the season are evenly split across 2 discs, which are placed on either side of a standard-sized Blu-ray keepcase. Unfortunately this is a barebones release, and there is no bonus material included. The technical presentation of the series is excellent, with a solid, detailed picture, and clear dialogue throughout. The release does not include a digital copy, and our copy did not include any slipcover.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (4:51:10)

Blu-ray:
• All 10 episodes of Season One on 2 discs:
  Disc 1 (2:24:57): “Pilot”, “The Five W’s”, “Buddy and the Dude”, “TTT vs the Blogger”, “Scam Alert!”
  Disc 2 (2:26:13): “Churnalism”, “I Love You”, “Church and State”, “Matching Ponchos”, “The Ohio Journalism Awards”
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
• Subtitles: English, English SDH

Extras:

There is no bonus material included

Final Thoughts:

The Paper is a hilarious follow-up to The Office that is done with a similar tone, look and feel, but with a brand new setting and a fun new collection of characters and dynamics. The ensemble cast is great, with amazing comedic timing nd chemistry. The first season tells what feels like a complete story arc, but I can’t wait to see the upcoming second season to see where things go next. Universal’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds great, but unfortunately is barebones and doesn’t include any bonus material. That said, the release still comes highly recommended based on the quality of the series itself.