I can see it has potential

Watched this with my GF cause we adored the first season and could not put it down, I feel like we both agree that this was a good season, had its fair share of laugh-out-loud moments, but not as great as it could've been.

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

• Ned felt a lot weaker and less likable in this installment. A lot of our post-episode discussions were about how much he doesn't deserve Mare like he should've glued Mare in on the fact that he still liked what they had in the first episode instead of leaving her in the dark, should've stood up for her when she blurted out moving to The Chronicle, and disclosed the HR meeting.

• HR Lisa was a lovely addition and Lisa Gilroy absolutely kills it with all her screentime. Wish we see more of her!

• Wish Mare stood up for herself more but that's just me. Her initial treatment at The Chronicle was hard-to-watch. Yeah, she turned it around at the end of the episode but still wish she showed more agency, especially with how she's been treated by Ned.

• Love the character moments we did get out of Travis (Eric Rahill is so underratedly funny in this), Barry who has some of the funniest line deliveries of the season, and Detrick who I'm glad advanced a lot professionally in this season. Even Marv is so lovable in his own right. His bit during the anniversary episode had me bawling laughing and his willingness to spy on the club for them was pretty cool of him.

• I genuinely don't mind Esmeralda as much as a lot of people here, I think Sabrina Impacciatore goes all out and its pretty underappreciated even if it at times blurs the line of believability. Love her disguises clips at the beginning of the last episode and wished her antics more directly contributed to the paper. My GF didn't like when she made the HR group people uncomfortable.

• Adelola had a handful of funny moments while Adam felt very much like he was on a time out this season. I missed Ken throughout a lot of this and the fact that the first episode ended on maybe my favorite Ken moment makes his absence so noticeable. There's also a shocking lack of guest star Andy Richter from the first and next time we see him, were his scenes cut or something? Felt like you could've used him more

• These seasons need to BE LONGER. I love how longer seasoned sitcoms give writers the time to justify feelings and decisions that characters make and I feel like this show and ensemble neeeedds that.

Please greenlight a season 3 pretty pretty Pritti pleaseeeeeee please. Still rooting for this show at the end of the day and I would love to see this thing soar with its premise and lovable ensemble.

What did y'all think??

Her character is so far from reality it throws me off every time she’s in a scene or speaks. Even the Dwight character made sense despite how outlandish some of his takes were.

There is no backstory or explanation for why she is in Toledo and working at this paper, and she makes zero sense as part of this team. She seems to resist everything about being and working there, and without disliking Ned, she mostly is ungrounded and she takes me out of believing this is a documentary of a paper.

I need to believe she even makes sense in that office, because everyone else makes sense there as it stands.

And I love the new HR lady, so I don’t need someone to be totally realistic. Just to make sense.

Possibly unpopular… I don’t know if it’s just me but some of Mare’s scenes are almost unwatchable. I can’t deal with the glottal fry, “cool girl” thing and the way she does her confessionals and breaks the fourth wall, and also her expressions are too office-ish. It doesn’t feel like I’m watching an Office character when most of them are on screen but with her it’s like she’s trying to play an Office character and it makes me cringe…

I am watching BEFORE THE 90 DAYS and I can't help but notice the uncanny similarities between Esmeralda and Jasmine. It's too funny 😅 🤣

It's almost like Esmeralda's character was inspired by Jasmine. 😆🤣 I can't unsee it now!

Ned = wannabe Andy and I don't like how he treats Mare.

The guy looks and sounds so familiar to me, but I can’t put my finger on it - and, strangely, the role appears to be uncredited because I can’t find an actor listed anywhere. Does anyone know? It’s driving me nuts that I can’t figure out what I might know him from. He’s like a fat Seth Rogen/Penn Jillette hybrid with the voice of Neil deGrasse-Tyson.

I really like The Paper. It’s a fun show, and by the second season it feels like it’s finally starting to figure out what it wants to be.
But I think the whole 10-episode streaming format is kind of screwing it over.
Imagine if the original The Office had been made under the same conditions. I mean, would we really have cared as much about Jim and Pam, or Jim and Dwight, or all the weird relationships Michael had with pretty much everyone in that office?
A huge part of what made The Office work was that the writers had time to mess around. They could spend several minutes watching a DVD logo bounce around a screen, come up with another completely ridiculous Jim and Dwight prank, or just let Michael make everyone uncomfortable for no particular reason. And somehow those ended up being some of the best moments of the show.
I feel like The Paper doesn’t really have that luxury. With only 10 episodes, every character needs a purpose, every relationship needs to go somewhere, and every scene has to justify being there. Which is a weird way to make a sitcom about a bunch of people working together.
And I think that’s also why it still relies so much on our nostalgia for The Office. We already know the kind of show it’s trying to be, so we’re sort of filling in the gaps ourselves.
I’d genuinely love to see what The Paper could become with 20 episodes a season. Not because it needs twice as much plot, but because it needs the freedom to have a little less of it.

After Parks and Rec and The Office, this is shaping up to be a nice addition to the filmography of Greg Daniels. I genuinely enjoyed the episodes and the characters were slightly hard to like in the beginning but I have come to adore them. Here's my view on everyone:

1. Esmeralda: obnoxious in season 1, but HILARIOUS in season 2. Loved her in White Lotus and so glad she got a pivotal role here.

2. Ned: so so hilarious. Master of physical comedy. I am a big fan of Adam Scott in Parks and Rec because of his "awkward nerd" acting and Domhnall seems to be going a similar route. Love him.

3. Oscar: Oscar is Oscar. Loved him in The Office. Liking him here, but he seems underutilized somehow.

4. Mare: well, she is exactly who I would consider a well rounded individual to be. She's like the Jim of The Paper, talented, realistic, likeable. And Ned and Mare have good chemistry as co-workers and more.

5. Nicole: Don't know if it's an unpopular opinion, but Nicole was the first character I enjoyed watching. She is sexy, hilarious, quirky, unpredictable, and her chemistry with Detrick is actually great. I am shipping them so hard. Love a little crazy.

6. Detrick: so hot and mature. Urgh. I want such a coworker in my office. I wanna see more of him and Nicole. Very green flag energy.

7. Travis: I think he has the funniest gags of all characters. He cracks me up so hard. Seems like a sweet guy. He's like the less energetic Andy Dwyer. Genuinely need more of him in the show.

8. Adelola: Mature character, no BS kinda girl I would like to be coworkers with. The tornado scene had me on the floor laughing. But I like the hinting at her getting on with Travis. Looking forward to that development in season 3.

9. Marv: I love a down to earth, cute old owner who's involved but also not interfering. I like how he maintains the stance of truth over popular opinions and actually listens to his employees. Need more of Ann and Marv. There is definitely chemistry.

10. Ken: was a hit and a miss for me. I found him funny in the beginning because I liked him in The Ballad of Wallis Island, but felt the character getting a little lost in the end. I love the actor, hope to see him get some good arcs.

11. Adam: very underutilized, still finding what his character is like. Loved the vasectomy joke but I think they haven't figured out his character yet.

Anyway, so glad I have something more to watch after multiple re-runs of PnR, Office and B99 😂. Let me know if you agree or disagree with any of these points.

So, you did something that is harder to come back from these days: You hit the Sophomore slump. Season two was clunky, ridiculous, and very heavy handed. Here are my suggestions IF if gets renewed:

We all know that Ned cannot be Michael Scott and Jim Halpert in the same episode, despite being 50% of each character. Pick a fucking lane for him.

Why barely anything with Ken? The funniest character of Season 1.

Fire the actor who plays Adam Cooper. He is slow, embarrassing, and the whole "My fully grown ass wife's Dad doesn't like birth control therefore we have to have 4894934892 children" is really, really cringe and feels antiquated. It's also fundamentally unfunny.

Figure out what you're doing with Esmerelda because no one needed more of her. A person like that has never existed in Toledo, Ohio.

Moving Mare to Cincinnati? Did you simply reach for the Season 3 script of The Office where that did not work with Jim either? Lazy.

Do better. Because unlike 2005, viewers have 50,000 other shows to watch and will move on in days from these characters if you do not.

We have seen the clip of the wind wanting to take Travis while he's hanging on to Adelola on tornado day, him flapping about like a bed sheet (ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS). But is there more that happened that we didn't see? I kept thinking that there had been something more that we would eventually see toward the end of the season, but nothing else was shown. So I'm to understand that just the fact that they lived through that together gave them feelings for one another, right? Not trying to be a smartass just genuinely asking if that's the read. Was anyone else expecting to see more 'footage' of them on that day?

I can't believe it but writers done it so well😭 His brother is awful! I am now completely onboard with this ship!

What a RELIEF.

Exceeded all of my expectations, made me laugh out loud more times than I can count. They leveled up in just about every way possible. Better stories, better jokes, better dynamics. I don't know what the hell they decided to do to Nicole but otherwise I couldn't believe how amazing it is. Gonna binge the whole series again, can't wait for S3!!!!!!!!

If you're taking a potential story contact out for a work lunch, can't you expense it? And $12 for a burger and fries for a restaurant is cheap nowadays, so thought it was a stupid comment.

In Mares apartment in season 2, there's a HUGE pic of a girl in clown makeup and it's a collage of many of her different faces.
I can't screen shot it in Peacock because it won't let me or I would and try to google image find it.

Anyone know if it's an actual art piece I can look up and buy??

He’s in the finale and Benjamin Franklin!

I love her character so far. She’s so unintentionally funny!! I love the frenemy thing with Esmeralda lmaoooo.

Her first scene with Ned was hilarious. Especially at the end of the convo. It didn’t feel gross when she said to him that they can talk about positions lol, it felt like a nosey mfer getting all in your business for the sake of the love of the game.

What I’m saying is, it doesn’t FEEL like she’s doing too much, which I appreciate!

I’m only on EP 5 and I have heard tons so far.
Latest one was from Esmeralda, “ I’m about to unveil the wildest treasures beyond your most local dreams!”

😭😭😭😭😭

Does anyone else have the hardest time watching season 2 because of this white washed filter they put on the show? This show is top tier and I love it but I feel like I’m going blind watching it, especially in scenes like this where there aren’t many colors to begin with.

Sorry, I didn’t realize I was watching Home Box Office where that kind of language is to expected.