The new Peacock series The Paper, a loose spinoff of NBC’s The Office, uses the same mockumentary framing as its predecessor (and many subsequent sitcoms as well), mainly as a way to justify straight-to-camera commentary and fourth-wall-breaking jokes. But where The Office focused on the rituals, indignities, and fleeting pleasures of cubicle life, what is being documented in The Paper , in a roundabout way, is the reduced expectations people have for their lives in a post-truth world. The soul of the series, from The Office ’s Greg Daniels and Nathan for You co-creator Michael Koman, is its portrait of how day-to-day life in the United States in 2025 can make people feel directionless, depressed, and lonely, and its conviction that things will improve if we pay more attentio

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