Workplace comedies have done their dash, so why keep flogging a dead horse, asks Mitchell Hageman.
Perhaps, like me, you may have stumbled across a trailer for the new TVNZ+ series The Paper and immediately noticed the words “From the creators of The Office” so boldly appearing onscreen.
Genius marketing, I say, using one of the most successful workplace comedies of all time to hype a series that, at first glance, might not be even half as good.
Yes, optimists will say it’s all subjective and not to judge a book by its cover, but in my opinion, the prior record of awful The Office rip-offs already spelled disaster from day one.
Full disclosure, I thought both The Office and The Office UK were genius and set the bar for what workplace comedies could be (we don’t talk about the Australian version...) They had relatable, yet interesting characters, a good mix of humour and heart, and jokes that rarely fell flat.
The Office set the bar high for workplace comedies. But has the genre become overplayed? Photo / NBC Universal
The problem is, these shows also set the bar too high, and at the same time, ingrained some bad habits in the minds of TV writers of the future. I won’t go as far as to say that The Office producer’s Parks and Recreation was the beginning of the end, because standout performances from Chris Pratt and Aubrey Plaza saved that show, but I believe it was still a sign to quit while ahead.
In retrospect, the cracks really began to show in 2015, when department store workplace comedy Superstore gained widespread recognition online and then eventually on Netflix. Unlike Parks and Rec, which switched up character roles and relationships and brought in fresh new situationships, Superstore was essentially The Office reskinned.
It had a ‘will-they-won’t they’ couple just like The Office’s Jim and Pam, a fledgling underling yearning for acceptance just like Dwight Schrute, and enough bad acting to make the new War of the Worlds reboot look like a masterpiece. It honestly felt flat, cringey, and downright spat in the face of what made The Office so brilliant.
One bad show I can forgive, but two, that’s a whole other kettle of fish. St. Denis Medical last year further scraped the bottom of the barrel, changing the setting to a hospital but not changing anything else. Rehashed character tropes, unfunny jokes, work-related humour that was painfully irrelevant, the list goes on.
It's yet to be proven if The Paper is a hit or miss, but the track record of workplace comedies isn't in its favour. Photo /Getty
Now we get to The Paper, the American series now showing on Kiwi screens, which I’m yet to see. From a journalistic perspective, it’s a fascinating concept (a comedy set in a small newsroom), so you’d think I’d be well into it, but sadly, I just don’t know if I can trust this tired formula.
Yes, the characters from the trailer seem to be a bit different, with a rather straight-laced boss (a frustrated-looking Domhnall Gleeson) trying to whip things into shape, but the acting seems forced, and the jokes don’t land as naturally as they did in shows like The Office.
I’m breaking the age-old rule of “don’t judge a series by its trailer”, so naturally I’m going to give the series a go anyway and will happily be proven wrong. But I still think workplace comedies have done their dash, and it’s time to go back to the good-old HBO days of unique scripted and genre-bending comedy (Girls, Barry, Eastbound and Down are a few standouts).
Or maybe, if the workplace comedy formula has to continue for the sake of fan service, take the template of the Golden-Globe-winning series Veep and focus on topical and fresh storylines as opposed to watered-down workplace jokes.
My plea to any comedy writers out there: stop reskinning series like the next Call Of Duty game and give us something with a bit of bite. Perhaps The Paper will surprise me, but at this stage, it’s an unproven cautionary tale.
Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald’s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke’s Bay Today.
