I've Been A Journalist For 20+ Years, And Peacock's 'The Paper' Trailer Hit Me Hard

As someone who's been a journalist for more than two decades, I have so many memories that have been stirred up after having just watched the first trailer for "The Paper," Peacock's newsroom comedy debuting on September 4 that will serve as a follow-up to NBC's "The Office."

That said, I should point out that even though this new mockumentary comes from the same creators who turned "The Office" into a nine-season comedy classic, there's one important fact to clarify: This time around, events are set inside the dowdy newsroom of a mid-sized Rust Belt city, as opposed to the office of a regional paper supply company in Scranton. And, other than the presence of Dunder Mifflin accountant Oscar Martinez here (plus "The Paper" sharing the same creative DNA as "The Office"), it's clear this new Peacock original isn't a sequel or continuation of that original story.

It's set nominally in the same narrative universe, but it's also intended to be fully its own thing. And as a journalist who started his career by working in the trenches of a local newspaper — the kind of place where the pay is abysmal, the work is thankless, and a writer can only dream about a life less ordinary — I can already tell I'm not going to be laughing much throughout Peacock's series. But don't get me wrong, that's not meant as a criticism.

For many journos, local newspapers like The Toledo Truth Teller — the fictional newspaper at the heart of "The Paper" — used to be waystations on the road to the rest of your professional life. You did your time, you put up with attending the mind-numbing government meetings, you gave up yet another free night to cover a high school football game, and you didn't take umbrage at the whims of your editor and publisher that disrupted your workflow without rhyme or reason. Maybe a few salvageable clips would be enough to impress someone at the big city paper. Get hired there, and then it's off to the races.

Of course, that was before everybody — and I mean literally everybody, from executives at Google to private equity vultures to slogan-ready politicians to your uncle who only watches a certain cable news channel — decided that your profession is circling the drain because no one thought to ask them for help or wisdom. One thing leads to another, and before you know it: Advertising dollars have migrated online, killing print economics, and Google's AI-fueled theft is now likewise decimating the pageviews that once sustained digital newsrooms. It never ends, this work that's mostly powered by caffeine, panic, and the occasional miracle.

To that point about Google, by the way: "The Paper" co-creator Greg Daniels is on record as hinting that the internet will very much be the show's 'villain,' along with "the ability to look at everybody's news for free, and all the ad revenue going to Google." No complaints here.

"The Paper" debuts on Peacock with four episodes starting on September 4, with the show releasing two new episodes every Thursday through September 25. From Peacock's official summary: "The Paper follows the documentary crew that immortalized Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch in the Emmy Award-winning series 'The Office' as they find a new subject when they discover a historic Midwestern newspaper and the publisher trying to revive it. The series stars a standout ensemble cast including Domhnall Gleeson, Sabrina Impacciatore, Chelsea Frei, Melvin Gregg, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Alex Edelman, Ramona Young, Tim Key, and Oscar Nuñez."

At a time when journalism is encircled by more threats than ever, it hopefully doesn't need to be said that formerly ink-stained wretches like yours truly have the highest of hopes for this streaming release. If nothing else, it'll be a strange and slightly surreal walk down memory lane.