The Harmony Gold movie theater in Hollywood bore unusual signage last Wednesday evening. In the shadow of Sunset Boulevard’s billboards promoting Peacock‘s upcoming “The Office” spinoff, “The Paper,” the theater was labeled the Toledo Truth Tower — in homage to the new show’s central setting.
Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, “The Paper” follows the staff of a dying local Ohio newspaper, the Toledo Truth Teller, as a new editor-in-chief tries to revive its journalistic prowess. It’s set in the same universe as “The Office,” and the documentary crew that followed Dunder Mifflin has now arrived at the Truth Teller’s doorstep, looking to cover a new set of subjects.
Koman explained that the tie makes sense both comedically and narratively. “You could have the exact same documentary crew that made the first documentary looking for a new subject,” he told Variety on the red carpet. “The documentary crews are characters in the show, and they would be looking for a brand new subject. They would not be looking to repeat themselves.”
The concept for the spinoff originated with Daniels, who created U.S. version of “The Office” in 2005. Then, Koman recalled, “He did me the tremendous honor of inviting me to work on this with him. He ran an idea to do a documentary-style show about a newspaper by me, and I just liked it immediately. I love two things: documentary-style comedy and the premise of people working at a struggling newspaper to kind o