The Paper

The show on it's own not comparing it to the Office is fine. It needs time to grow I guess, hopefully it will find it's legs in the second season. The "Me Too" joke on the first episode was distasteful and there is some cringe through the season. My biggest criticism is that the character Esmerelda is complete garbage and not in a way that you love to hate a character, she just is jarring to the entire growth of the entire cast. She tries to ruin everything in a sense that makes me want to go away from the screen or turn it off everytime she's on. Get rid of or change Esmerelda and the potential will grow.

Really great cast with a lot of potential and a lot of the same heart as it's predecessor "The Office" watchable easy to get into and even better they dropped the whole season so you can keep watching and really get into and start to enjoy some of these characters. Mare is great and is kinda the Jim of the group and you see the potential with Ned the new editor in chief and they bounce off each other very naturally. I love the fact that Oscar is back I liked him from the original and to have somebody to kind of tie, everything together was a fun touch. The main detractor from this whole series is Esmeralda! I understand she's meant to be the antagonist , causing trouble being a pain but instead she's just kind of a disaster. She's out there by herself. She has no partner in crime. There is Ken but he's another separate person who comes in acts like a jerk and leaves he's not tied to anyone . Esmeralda has nobody on her side, so her character largely comes off annoying and frankly, I skip right past her when she comes on, it's just kind of painful. She's not a love to dislike kind of character and totally without humor. Apparently she's the "Michael Scott" of the bunch...she's no Michael Scott. I think with a simple cast change this show could be a hit.

I struggled to get through the first few episodes- it was like a chore. The Office gave us layered characters which took time to build and appreciate. The Paper is trying to start at a level that took The Office a few years to achieve. The characters have potential, but the shining stars are the two leads playing Ned and Mare. The show tries pushing Esmeralda as a female Michael Scott and it's cringy. If they are dead set on keeping Esmeralda as a character, then they need to give her redeeming qualities like they did Michael. She is worse than Season 1 Michael Scott.

Outside of Esmeralda's irritating character, the rest of the show has potential. The other characters are likable and the storylines are alright.

I have a LOT to say about this show, some things I didn't like, some things I loved, and some things I don't know how to feel about, but overall, considering I expected this to be pretty bad looking at the reviews and the trailer, it was actually pretty great.

Give it a shot and look at it as it's own thing, don't compare it to the office too much, it's a different show just with a simular setting.

I think if they remove or at least tone down Esmeralda and flesh out the characters this could be a great show.

I was a little worried this show was going to be nothing but rehashing The Office and luckily it's not. The one reference to Michael I noticed was well placed and a nice callback. Domhall Gleason is a great actor in my opinion and I have enjoyed most of his work. His role as a rather naive new editor of a local paper is a pleasure to watch. Other standouts would be Chelsea Frei and Ramona Young (who was also outstanding in Santa Clarita Diet). The only carry over character from The Office is Oscar and he also fits in well within the group.

Admittedly this show needs some work. The humor was rather hit or miss at times and there were some long lags where it did get a little boring. I would recommend this show for a relaxing afternoon. It's fun most of the time and quite enjoyable.

However one thing I could not get past was the character Esmeralda. I found her so grating and insufferable. If I watch this show again I will mute or fast forward her scenes. She's such an annoying person who I find impossible to root for. If there's a season two they need to lose that character.