"Set at the Dunder Mifflin paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, it was very much in the spirit of the original, at least initially: a deadpan mockumentary centred on a megalomaniac manager (Steve Carrell's Michael Scott), who like Ricky Gervais's David Brent before him was a friend first, and a boss second and probably an entertainer third. The Office: An American Workplace ran for nine seasons, setting aside some of the original's cringe comedy aspects in favour of something with a little more heart."
"It is in this US Office universe that showrunner Greg Daniels's new spinoff is set, with the camera crew that followed Dunder Mifflin for a decade now decamping to a floundering local news outlet a state away (Oscar Nunez's judgy accountant Oscar Martinez is the only character to transfer from Pennsylvania to Ohio). The Toledo Truth Teller is a newspaper struggling to survive in the digital age: cue the arrival of plucky new editor Ned Sampson (a very un-Irish Domhnall Gleeson)."
"Ned hasn't actually worked for a newspaper before, but he has risen the ranks selling high-end cardboard at the Truth Teller's parent company, Enervate, which specialises in different types of paper (hence the link with Dunder Mifflin, and cue a recurring bit about the Truth Teller being less popular than toilet roll). In early scenes that may be triggering for journalists, we see just how terrible the Truth Teller is."
The spinoff relocates the original mockumentary crew from Dunder Mifflin to the Toledo Truth Teller, a failing local newspaper. The new editor, Ned Sampson, arrives with no newsroom experience, having risen through a paper company parent, Enervate. The Truth Teller relies on trivial wire copy and intrusive banner ads while staff produce sensational or shallow content. The show connects to the US Office through one transferred character and recurring paper-related jokes. The tone shifts toward heartfelt workplace comedy while satirising the struggles of print journalism adapting to the digital era.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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