The Paper, a new comedy series on Peacock, is about a local newspaper in Toledo, Ohio called the Truth Teller that is a small part of a larger company selling toilet paper.
Filmed in mockumentary style like The Office (2005-2013), American spinoff of the British series (2001-2003), The Paper was conceived by the same creator, Greg Daniels, in partnership with Michael Koman.
The central character is Irish actor Domhnall Gleason, who starred in movies like About Time by Richard Curtis, Ex Machina by Alex Garland, Goodbye Christopher Robin by Simon Curtis, as the idealistic new editor who encourages the inexperienced reporters to become real journalists, by understanding basics principles, such as double-checking facts and quoting sources on the record.
Part of the ensemble cast is Italian actress Sabrina Impacciatore, who played hotel manager Valentina in the second season of White Lotus (2022) set in Taormina, Sicily. She’s as hilariously over the top playing Esmeralda in this show as she is in real life.
Domhnall, son of Brendan Gleeson, researched newsrooms in Ohio, and was amazed that young people still want to become journalists and they believe in this profession, despite its decline during the past several years.
Comedian Alex Edelman plays an accountant. Last year I wrote for this publication an interview about his comedy special Just For Us.
Daniels cites as an influence the movie All the President’s Men (1976), directed by Alan Pakula from a screenplay by William Goldman based on the 1974 book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, about how the Washington Post journalists uncovered the Watergate scandal that brought down Richard Nixon. That film was produced by Robert Redford’s company Wildwood Enterprises, with the actor playing Woodward opposite Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein.
The Paper is a funny comedy show that also serves as a reminder of the importance of journalists “speaking truth to power” in these times dominated by fake news and lies from our current president and his Republican Party enablers.