“The Paper” is a new sitcom spin off of “The Office” about editor Ned Sampson leading his new staff of the Toledo Truth Teller, a fictional newspaper, as they transition from clickbait articles to a real journalistic paper. Obviously, as a journalist myself this premise interested me from the very beginning.

Starting this show, I couldn’t stop my high expectations. Pilot episodes and first seasons always take a while to find their niche, but as a sitcom enjoyer I still thought I would enjoy it.
My first disappointment was finding out the season would only have 10 episodes. Whatever happened to sitcoms with upwards of twenty episodes a season? I need my filler episodes! Regardless, I started the pilot.

I immediately found myself waiting for the problematic character that we love to hate from other sitcoms: the Michael Scott of “The Office,” the Pierce Hawthorne of “Community,” The Vulture of “Brooklyn 99”! I started finding hints of this archetype in Esmerelda Grand, managing editor of the paper, but honestly I find her a little more… insane. So far, she is mentioned to spend over $5,000 between paying her catfish boyfriend online and her psychic. I can’t seem to love her yet, but I think a show like this needs to establish early love (or at least a liking) to important characters.

Then the big devastation: The theme song is not a banger. I was devastated and ended up hitting the skip intro button at the beginning of every episode. The theme in “The Office” just had a certain kind of joy, but this new song is uninteresting. Also just as a picky note, I don’t love the photo slideshow thing they have going on in the intro.

Something that made the original show really stand out to me was how they covered controversial topics of the time. They even included a gay character in the show, which was written ten years before gay marriage was even legal. I was hoping this would mean the show today would include more LGBTQ+ characters 20 years later, but obviously I was mistaken. Instead, we received a miscommunication trope about one girl being asexual and a cold open regarding a pride month conference with not one, but TWO named gay characters. Welcome back, Oscar! The second character is one implied lesbian named Kimberly. I hope we get more out of her character than staff reporter Mare Pritti using her for investigative flirting purposes.

Not too bad, but also not great. Speaking of diversity, we have an averagely diverse cast, like the original. Still, we have two white main characters who seem to be heading towards what Ned would call a “hetero? Cis?” relationship. Just like the original…

I only started feeling interested in the plot during episode three when Ned and Mare were in the mattress store working as undercover investigative reporters. Most investigation moments I found interesting, but the product testing made no sense to me. Also, why would you show someone throwing up on your TV show when you could just imply it? Personally, I don’t find any joy or entertainment in watching someone’s head over a toilet bowl and watching things come out of their face. At least I got nostalgia from “The Office” feeling second hand embarrassment watching the episode “I Love You” — Ned’s daddy issues were so painful to watch I’ll definitely be skipping it in the future.

I know it’s not a great show so far, and of course it’s predictable because it’s a sitcom, but I still found myself a little giddy at the season finale romance sparking between Ned and Mare. Even over ten episodes I would have liked had a little more flirting and “slow” in the slow burn. “The Office” took its time because Pam was already in a relationship, but with this quick of a development I don’t really know what to expect from season two.

I grieve for longer season length, but what we have isn’t terrible. It can definitely be improved, and I think maybe the creators will find some inspiration in criticisms and work on characterization and diversity.