The Paper review: I have this weird feeling I am watching Ryan Tubridy

Domhnall Gleeson in The Paper

I’m not sure about The Paper (Sky and NOW).

I watched a few episodes back to back and barely managed a giggle.

In fairness, The Paper is pitched as a spin-off from The Office (American version) and it took a while to get into that groove.

The link back to The Office is accountant Oscar, a minor character in the original who gets a-line-an-episode in The Paper, set at a failing newspaper in Toledo, Ohio.

Domhnall Gleeson plays the incoming editor Ned Sampson, a dewy-eyed dweeb who wants a return to the golden age of local news. Every time he appears on screen I have this weird feeling I am watching Ryan Tubridy. Trust me, this will be a nagging distraction for Irish viewers.

Sabrina Impacciatore as Esmeralda and Ramona Young as Nicole in The Paper

Sampson’s rival is the woman he replaced as editor, Esmerelda, who will be familiar to anyone who enjoyed the Sicilian season of The White Lotus, where she played the put-upon hotel manager. There she was brilliant, bringing pathos to a character with real depth.

Here, she is a ridiculously conniving Italian woman, written in a way that is insulting to both Italians and women. She is way over the top. But then Dwight was way over the top in The Office and he ended up as my favourite character. These things take time.

The beating heart of any office-style mockumentary is the will-they-won’t-they workplace romance. Here it’s between Sampson and digital editor Mare, played by Chelsea Frei. They are a genuinely believable couple on the side of the good-guys, but (unlike Jim and Pam in The Office) they aren’t very funny. I don’t care enough whether they get together or not. But again, these things are a slow burn with the audience.

Domhnall Gleeson and and Chelsea Frei at the premiere of The Paper. Picture: AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

Look, to be honest, I don’t think it’s going to work. For them, or me. I hated the American version of The Office at first, because it was way more twee and obvious than the UK original with Ricky Gervais. But even then I could see that Steve Carell was a brilliant comic actor. He kept the laughs going long enough for the story to grow around him, so I had time to fall for Jim and Pam and Dwight and even Oscar.

There isn’t anyone that funny in The Paper. The closest is Nicole, played by Ramona Young, a charming slacker with a nice line in self-deprecation. But she’s not enough to cover the obvious jokes and cliched characters all around her.

I know people who’ve watched all nine seasons of The Office at least twice. It was never going to be easy to follow that. I don’t think The Paper comes close.