Clear off those dusty Scoops hats and prep your best deadpan punchlines—Greg Daniels is back, and this time he’s not selling paper, but reporting the news. Yep, you read it right. The master of workday cringe-comedy, the genius behind the American The Office, is set to drop a newsroom mockumentary on Peacock this September. Its title? The Paper. Is it a gritty, soul-searching drama about journalistic ethics and the meaning of truth? Absolutely not. It’s a satire about a dying Midwestern daily fumbling its way through the digital apocalypse, and somehow, it feels like exactly the show we need right now.
Meet The Truth Teller
Imagine a faded, slightly stained sign out front. The Truth Teller—a historic, not-exactly-vibrant newspaper in Toledo, Ohio—serves as our new comedy battleground. There are no Scranton branch sales figures here, just dying ad sales, half-broken printers, and a staff list that looks more like a volunteer club at a community college. Greg Daniels, together with Michael Koman (whose comedy credentials include Saturday Night Live and Nathan For You), clearly understood that the plight of the local paper deserves its own brand of mockumentary chaos.
The Crew: Familiar Faces, Oddballs, and Oscar in the Books Again
Every great workplace comedy needs its cast of lovable weirdos, and The Paper appears ready to deliver. Domhnall Gleeson (yep, the guy from Ex Machina and those Star Wars sequels) steps up as the newsroom’s hapless boss. Sabrina Impacciatore, hot off The White Lotus, brings an unpredictable energy as a senior editor. Melvin Gregg, Chelsea Frei, Ramona Young, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Alex Edelman, and Tim Key round out a staff that’s certainly short on paychecks, but not short on quirks.
And here’s something to make any Dunder Mifflin fan grin: Oscar Nuñez returns! That’s right, the man who once survived Michael Scott’s management now serves as the accountant for The Truth Teller. Maybe he just can’t say no to balancing budgets for underdogs. Or, maybe, Daniels simply knows how to spin fan service into comedic gold.
A Glorious Team-Up—On and Off Screen
If you’re sensing some déjà vu, you’re onto something! Daniels and Koman co-create this series, but there’s another surprise. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant—those minds who birthed the original UK version of The Office—are executive producers too. This union of comedy architects practically guarantees an ideological wrestling match between UK and US-style mockery, delivered straight to your living room.
Lights, Camera, Chaos: Production Tidbits
Shooting started in Los Angeles in July 2024. Wait, not Ohio? Correct. Hollywood magic does what Midwest budgets can’t. Still, expect the show’s set dressers to deliver plenty of Midwest authenticity: water-stained ceiling tiles, wobbly desks, and, obviously, a communal coffee pot that always burns the bottom.
The series plays the meta game, too. Just like The Office, the same faux camera crew—now more seasoned, maybe more cynical—captures everything, from idle gossip at the copy machine to the breaking-news scramble when a pothole swallows Main Street’s mayoral candidate. Daniels loves these setups; his camera always lingers just long enough to make you grin. Or squirm.
Reddit Reactions, Leaked Footage, and Journalist FOMO
Over on Reddit’s r/television, things have gotten wild. Early rehearsal footage “leaked” in April, and every eagle-eyed Office fan immediately began scanning for paper company Easter eggs. One user noted that Oscar’s desk has—wait for it—a Scranton University mug. Was that intentional? Or just the multiverse cracking open? Nobody can agree, but theorizing is half the fun.
Meanwhile, Twitter’s journalism crowd doesn’t know whether to cheer or cringe. Some editors share snarky memes about budget meetings gone wrong. A few beat reporters already claim the series pokes fun at their real-life pain—job cuts, clickbait quotas, “pivoting to video,” and the slow agony of seeing Pulitzer-worthy reporting trail behind puppy slideshows on the homepage.
Spotlight, But With Sarcasm
There’s a fascinating layer to The Paper, though, and it’s not just the comedy. The show owes a quiet debt to “Spotlight,” the Oscar-winning drama about The Boston Globe’s investigative journalism. But here, instead of uncovering major scandals, The Truth Teller’s team races to expose who keeps stealing lunches—and occasionally lands a news tip that matters. Daniels’ writing gently pokes at the tension between the glorious past of print and today’s meme-driven news cycle.
Expect witty references, too. Rumor has it, one episode lampoons the infamous “pivot to digital” staff meeting. There’s also a running gag where the editor-in-chief tries, and tragically fails, to implement AI-written obituaries (imagine a software glitch that accidentally replaces “beloved father” with “beloved fryer”).
Millennial Journalism: Suddenly, We All Feel Seen
Let’s not gloss over this: Millennials in the news business are having A Moment. For a generation who spent most of college chasing journalism dreams—only to enter a job market that evaporated faster than weekend event listings—The Paper feels acquainted with every inside joke. And every dark day.
The show’s staff? They survive on ramen and hope, burnt out and underpaid, yet doggedly idealistic about storytelling. Twitter threads from actual young journalists buzz with excitement and a touch of dread. Will this be cathartic? Will it hurt to laugh? Maybe both.
Comic Improvisation, Daniels-Style
Just like The Office, episodes rely on a loose, almost improvisational energy. Reportedly, scripts leave plenty of breathing room for spontaneous quips and sideways glances. Gleeson in particular has a knack for dry sarcasm, while Impacciatore brings sly, blink-and-you-miss-it facial expressions.
- Daniels’ signature “talking head” interviews return, with characters confessing everything from petty office drama to the existential horror of laying off a beloved pet columnist.
- Background gags abound—keep an eye on the bulletin board for increasingly unhinged classifieds and half-baked memes about the janitorial staff’s missing mop.
The Newsroom Meets the Circus
Unlike most “journalism dramas,” The Paper doesn’t paint its newsroom as noble or polished. In one leaked script, the editorial meeting devolves into chaos over whether to scrap the crossword puzzle to make room for “sponsored content.” The publisher suggests monetizing the horoscopes. The food critic trashes the new vending machine, calling the granola bars “so dry they could plug oil leaks.”
Every episode walks a tightrope: one moment, it lampoons media cliches, the next, it lands a sharp observation about just how vital local reporting still feels when the power goes out or a family’s dog runs away. Dark comedy? Bittersweet satire? It’s all of the above.
Critical Hype and Open Questions
Is The Paper the defining newsroom show for a generation that grew up binge-watching The Office? That’s the million-dollar question, and critics can’t wait to find out. Daniels’ return to the mockumentary format comes with huge expectations—some fans pray for more slow-burn sitcom magic, while others hope for an edgier, more cynical take.
There’s room for both, honestly. And there’s no doubt that Daniels and Koman know how to craft a watercooler hit. Just ask the legions already clipping and sharing every second of rehearsal footage, breaking down the teaser shot by shot.
One More Story Before You Go
“The Paper” will hit Peacock in September 2025, and the buzz crackles like a hot byline on deadline. This time, Greg Daniels aims at the heart of what it means to keep telling stories when the business, the tools, and maybe even the very point of it all keep slipping away.
So, ready your coffee mugs, sharpen those pencils, and maybe, just maybe, get ready to care a little more about the messy, oddball, heartbreakingly hilarious world of the local newsroom again. The daily grind might be different than Scranton’s, but the laughs? They’re coming hot off the presses.
