When NBC announced a follow-up to their hit show “The Office” last January, the internet was skeptical.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” one commenter wrote on Facebook after hearing the announcement. “A spinoff could ruin [The Office’s] legacy.”

I was skeptical, too. “The Office,” in many ways, feels unique – a creation of its time that can’t simply be copied and pasted into 2025. In fact, the refrain I hear most often when people talk about “The Office” is something akin to “this wouldn’t fly today.”

“The Paper,” which hit streaming on Peacock last week, had a tall task. It needed to be funny in the same way that “The Office” was, but in a culture where what can be laughed about has arguably shrunk quite considerably.

Somehow, “The Paper” pulls it off. Like “The Office,” it rides

See Full Page