In 2005, the quirky British television comedy “The Office” launched his American version, which became one of the most beloved sitcoms of the century after a bumpy start. Twenty years later, Peacock offers a new part of this TV universe with ‘The Paper’.
The set -up is simple: Scrantons Dunder Mifflin was purchased by a large company in Toledo that, together with a variety of paper products, including the toilet paper from Softee, also owns the local newspaper, The Truth counter, where our story takes place.
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Anyone who is unhappy enough to have viewed the pilot epice of the American “Office” knows that it is one of the worst 30 minutes in TV history. The problem was that they used the British script almost word by word, and it just didn’t work.
The writers soon learned that Michael Scott had to be more interchangeable in the American version than David Brent, Jim Halpert had to be Manlier than Tim Canterbury, and Dwight could not be a complete idiot – because our cultures, sensitivities and comedy are different.
The new sitcom “The Paper” from Peacock brings us back to the universe of the hit show “The Office” of the early 2000s. (NBC)
Just as British cultural sensitivities in 2005 differed from American, the American sensitivities of 2005 are very different from those of 2025. The original “office” had to compensate for the geographical distance. For ‘the paper’ the distance is measured over time.
This is apparent from one of the first jokes, in which De Schurk, Esmerelda, the editor-in-chief, sends an e-mail about the first day of the new editor-in-chief Ned and says that he was “not #metoo’d” in an attempt to undermine him.
It is a subtle excavation with the overhearness of the #MeToo movement, and it makes you wonder if the reason we had to wait so long for a reboot of the “the office” universe was that it had to wait the Puritan #MeToo period.
From the beginning, when Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant created this office sitcom in documentary style, all shows have essentially been about boundaries and social standards. You spend most of your life with colleagues but What is your real relationship with them?
“The Paper”, Peacock’s new reboot of the hit show “The Office”, works because it understands that times have changed, writes columnist David Marcus. (NBC)
As in “The Office”, the romantic relationships in “The Paper” are the parts of the show that are the best and funny. Sparks immediately fly between Ned and Mare, the only other person on the newspaper with journalistic experience, and those scenes jump off the screen while they casually judge everyone, Ã la Jim and Pam.
Similarly, the charming flirting between Detrick and Nicole also shine in an incoherent and uncomfortable late millennial way, with Nicole ashamed of the attention she really wants deep inside.
Another thing that stands out in the 10 episodes that Peacock fell for Binge-Watching in one go is that the central joke of the original “office” no longer works in 2025.
Both David Brent and Michael Scott regularly violated the emerging identical attitudes of 2005 – as when Michael apologized to Oscar because he called him a Mexican, as if it were a blemish, or Brent told the camera how many nicer dawn was for the first time.
The cast of “The office” (NBCU Photo Bank)
Brent and Scott were blissfully not aware of the new series rules about how someone can talk at the workplace. That conflict created comedy. There is not this in “The Paper” because in 2025 everyone knows all these workplace rules better than a Catholic priest knows the Nicene Creed.
Two decades of ruthless business training worked – in real life and on TV.
Instead of misunderstandings about office etiquette, “The Paper” often replaces journalistic ethics, such as this crazy band from newcomers to collect news, learn how to present reasonably local stories.
An aspect of this show that shouts 2025 is the relationship between Esmerelda and Ned. Ned is her boss, and yet somehow, this 51-year-old woman who knows nothing about the news undermines him again and again without being fired.
Fortunately, as the show continues, Esmerelda becomes a bit more human, but we are still behind with the feeling that Ned is mainly grown by her for fear of being considered a sexist.
Perhaps partly because of the unique visual tricks of ‘The Office’, it is fascinating to walk back in this universe so many years later. It feels a bit like a visit to a city where you first lived in a decade – much is exactly the same, but just as much is very different.
The only Holdover character is Oscar Martinez, and there is an absolutely hilarious moment when he sees the documentary for the first time, with a mix of fear and anger, and promises that he will not participate this time.
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However, Oscar quickly admits that he easily returns to the role of documentary subject, whereby the experience of the viewer reflects while we re -introduce this fictional world.
“The office” is perhaps the last big sitcom that Americans older than 30 (and much below, because of repetitions) all have in common. It is a cultural touchstone. When JD Vance ran over last year for the camera in the vice -presidential debate, he immediately became Jim Halpert in the public imagination.
“The newspaper” seems to have little chance of becoming a different cultural phenomenon. It is not even on NBC, and in the world of streaming no script program can reach an audience such as “The Office”.
Looking at the show, however, feels as if we have given something back that has been lost – that weaknesses and honest human errors in the workplace do not have to be flammable violations; They can sometimes just be hilarious.
With the excesses of the #MeToo movement in our cultural rear -view mirror, “The Paper” is again free to play with the emotional and love life of his employees. And after so long – just like after Covid Lockdowns – it feels good to get back to the office.
Click here to Van David Marcus
