In addition to the company’s desire to “maximize exposure and engagement” across multiple platforms, Lisa Katz, President of Scripted Programming at NBCU Entertainment, said that The Paper NBC run is an “opportunity to connect” with the broadcast audience that loved The Office. Beyond sharing one character (Oscar Martinez, played by Oscar Nuñez), the “main connective tissue with the old show is the documentary crew,” co-creator Greg Daniels told Rolling Stone.
Speaking with The A.V. Club, Daniels elaborated, “We had this desire to bring mockumentary back to its rigorous roots, with an insistence that the cameramen are in the room, that it’s not just a stylistic thing where people are looking into the camera and doing talking heads as a narration. You have to really believe that the documentary crew is there with them, think about what the characters are doing off camera, and why they’re behaving the way they are.”
But the difference between the shows is that “This is not a group of people who are suffering through their day at work and looking for other outlets for happiness,” the other co-creator Michael Koman explained to Rolling Stone. “It’s a kind of work where hopefully they’re finding something about the work itself that brings them some satisfaction and some joy.” If you aren’t one of Peacock’s 41 million subscribers, you’ll have your chance to see the difference between the flagship show and the spin-off next week.
