Cringey Key stars in Office spin-off but ink is still wet

'The Paper' unveils a company desperate to preserve print journalism, and features standout performances and similar teething issues to the show it came from

- By Nick Hilton

It is an iron rule of TV that for every Frasier or Laverne & Shirley, spin-offs that became beloved in their own right, there will be any number of abortive attempts to stretch a premise beyond its breaking point. Joey, AfterMASH, The Tortellis, That '80s Show, Sanford Arms, The Golden Palace, Joanie Loves Chachi. The list goes on, and proves inauspicious reading for Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, who this week expand The Office (US)'s universe beyond Dunder Mifflin, to Toledo and the newspaper business, with The Paper.

When Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson) arrives at the Toledo Truth Teller to become its new editor-in-chief, he is accompanied by a documentary crew. They will be capturing a snapshot of life at the headquarters of paper products company Enervate. “Office supplies, janitorial paper, toilet tissue, toilet seat protectors, and local newspapers,” the company's head of strategy, Ken (Tim Key), tells viewers. “And that is in order of quality.” And so it seems, when Ned first encounters the Truth Teller's eccentric staff.

Sure, there's levelheaded Mare (Chelsea Frei), with whom he strikes up an instant rapport, but there's also depressive circulation manager Nicole (Ramona Young), irrepressible adman Detrick (Melvin Gregg), and fiery Italian managing editor Esmeralda (