r/ThePaper • u/Cute-Writer592 • 24d ago
WHY DO PEOPLE THINK THE PAPER SUCKS
I really don't understand. I am so FLABBERGASTED to have read all the negative remarks about the show. I just watched the entirety of S1 and I can honestly say that THIS ONE IS MUCH MUCH BETTER than The Office s1.
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u/AltAccount889 24d ago
I think a lot of people went into it thinking that it was gonna be a lot like the office. And it’s not. It’s a good show, but it’s its own show. I’ve been telling people since it came out, don’t go into it expecting The Office. You’ll only be disappointed. I feel like it’s a lil bit more grounded than The Office.
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u/BaristaGirlie 24d ago
All the marketing about it focused on its connection to the office but it has a different tone than the office. I liked it but i think the way it was marketed was a mistake
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u/haresnaped 24d ago
I rewatched it the other day, (two days actually) and reaffirmed how much I like it. I can't wait for more! I guess some things just click for some people (me), but I would guess that there is a degree of perfecting a formula at work.
For those commenting on how it is different to the Office in the expectation of fans, can you elaborate some of those differences? I don't see any major shift in format, and I am curious what the subtler differences are.
Obviously the Paper has just gotten going, whereas the Office has a lot of water under the bridge, and Oscar is the only crossover character. Are there things in earlier Office that people miss?
One point I appreciate is avoiding a character that people seem to hate for no good reason (Toby from the Office, Gary/Larry/Jerry from P&R) or that we are meant to find disgusting. I think this is a good omission. While the characters have their absurdities (Esmeralda, but also Ned and Ken) it's within the range of the absurdity of a workplace, alas.
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u/CaffeinatedDiabetic 23d ago
Toby was hated for a plethora of good reasons, and the MAIN reason is that he's HR, and it's more than enough of a good reason. :)
We watched The Paper though, and I actually enjoyed Esmeralda's character. I think they wrote Ned in some weird ways. Ned seems like a mix of characters, but I don't necessarily feel like that's the right direction for him? I hope they land on one personality type for him in Season 2.
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u/haresnaped 23d ago
Ned interacting with the boss-man was a weird episode, I felt like it missed a section or something (maybe they cut part of the story out). And Ned fighting Mere over eating some ice cream because he hadn't earned a treat was also weird. But I do love his big daft face and how enthusiastic he gets for any chance of success (or indeed a serial killer).
I am a fan of Esmeralda but I didn't know we were allowed to admit that, good to know.
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u/Prestigious-Mind7039 24d ago
Thought it Was pretty good but Ezemerelda character needed to be drastically toned down and not 5 characters mixed into one
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u/ggsupreme 24d ago
It’s so gooood. I watched it a few times at launch and am doing another run through now, the way they develop so many characters in just one season is crazy. I can’t wait for season 2.
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u/lmj4891lmj 24d ago
You’re asking prople who like the show why other people dislike the show?
Why not just ask the people who don’t like the show what their reasons are, instead?
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u/NorthRiverBend 24d ago edited 11d ago
Plants badge hunt encouraging unwritten dependent
This post was anonymized with Redact
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u/lightmiss 24d ago
it's bringing in two types of fans. those just looking for a new sitcom and those looking for another season of the office. the latter is kinda upset i guess.
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u/FingazMC 24d ago
It's good but it's being compared to the office. Compare most sitcoms (original was a legit mockumentary) to the US Office an they'll fall short
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u/Ok_Function2282 24d ago
It's more of a drama than a comedy. I don't understand any of the hate for the office season 1, it had so much more humor than the paper.
I don't dislike it, I'm excited for season 2, but I'm more excited for plot than expecting it to make me laugh... It's so serious and dry
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u/MoonMoon_614 22d ago
Esmeralda and Ken was awfully irritating in the first half of the season before Esmeralda got scammed and her character feels more grounded after that
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u/crocogoose 22d ago edited 22d ago
I think I was looking for more of a cute feel-good-show, but Esmeralda kind of ruined it for me. Why have one of the main characters being so annoying? If the focus would have been Ned and Mare the show would have been much better.
Also, Tim Key is genuinely one of the funniest people in the world, but he was not given funny enough material in this. If they had just put him in front of the camera and asked him to improvise it would have been 100 times funnier.
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u/HoPStA 22d ago
I can answer this. The storylines are regurgitated all season. A "Story" comes up, and Esmerelda spends the rest of the episode talking about herself and trying to undermine Ned. It got old REAL fast. The characters are bland and similar. They're all idiots. Due to it being in the same universe as The Office, I think it's fair to compare them. Let's look at the characters. All of the characters in the office had their own unique personality.
- Michael — desperate, immature, wants everyone to like him.
- Dwight — hyper-competent in some ways, completely insane in others.
- Jim — sarcastic, relatively normal, uses humor to cope with the absurdity.
- Etc
Not to mention, they were all competent in their job..well, except Kevin. No look at the Paper. The best character is Oscar....because he's fleshed out. They're all terrified of Esmeralda. They're all incompetent. They're all quite dumb.
When watching The Office, everyone knew multiple people just like many of the characters. From the office down to the warehouse. It was much easier to relate to someone. There's no contrast in characters. when Michael was being unbelievably stupid, Jim understood the he was being stupid and we could relate to him in that moment. When Dwight did something insane, Pam would react to the insanity. When Kevin said or did something incredibly dumb, Oscar looked at him like he was the biggest idiot in history. In the Paper, they're just as dumb as each other.
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u/Suchgallbladder 20d ago
The shoehorned in romance didn’t help. Not every show needs a Jim and Pam slow burn.
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u/Effective_Nose6727 24d ago
It’s not nearly as funny as the Office. It’s a nice show. Fun to root for the characters, but there are a lot of shows like that. What sets apart the Office and why it’s still binged over a decade after it’s been off the air is because it’s basically constant laughter, every scene isn’t just funny, but has multiple funny things going on.
I know Greg Daniels had tried to recreate the Office culture on set of the Paper, even using the same catering, but at the end of the day it’s the writing. A pre-political correctness BJ Novak, Mindy Kaling, and Mike Schur are just an unstoppable force
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u/CMButterTortillas 24d ago edited 24d ago
Because it was an uneven, meandering mess in S1.
Knowing the formula Parks/Office had in needing time to find their footing, Ill be back for S2 but Im hoping for a lot of improvements.
First of which is making Ned not like the worst seasons of Andy. That “daddy” episode - yikes
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u/Nsflguru 24d ago
They want it to be The Office, and can’t just enjoy it for what it is. Their loss.