‘The Paper’ Season 2 Rotten Tomatoes Score is In, and Critics Say Peacock’s ‘The Office’ Spinoff Just Found Its Own Voice

Comedy sequels have a rough track record. Even the best workplace sitcoms often struggle to recapture what made their debut season feel special, and spinoffs face an even steeper climb since they’re constantly measured against the shows that spawned them.

‘The Paper’ faced exactly that challenge after its first season landed as a solid but occasionally uneven follow-up to ‘The Office,’ with critics generally praising the mockumentary format while noting it hadn’t quite carved out its own identity yet. That comparison shadowed much of the conversation around the Toledo Truth-Teller newsroom comedy heading into its sophomore run.

Now, ahead of its September 9 premiere on Peacock, the reviews for season two are rolling in, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. The series currently sits at 89% on the Tomatometer based on early reviews, putting it slightly ahead of its freshman season and signaling that critics believe the show has finally hit its stride.

Much of the praise centers on how confidently ‘The Paper’ has separated itself from its predecessor. Collider’s Tania Hussain wrote that the show has become “faster, funnier, and more confident in the type of sitcom it wants to be” this season, noting that with its sophomore run, “The Paper feels less like a show living in The Office’s shadow and more like a workplace comedy that can actually stand beside it,” according to Collider.

Hussain also singled out the ensemble’s chemistry as a major factor in the season’s improvement, pointing specifically to Sabrina Impacciatore’s performance as one of the standout elements driving the show’s biggest laughs this year. That sense of a tighter, more assured cast dynamic showed up across multiple reviews, with several critics highlighting how much more comfortable the characters feel navigating both workplace chaos and their evolving relationships.

IGN’s Michael Peyton echoed that sentiment, noting that season two often pushes the series beyond the confines of its mockumentary format into something with broader appeal. Screen Rant’s Ben Gibbons went even further, arguing the season proves “sitcoms are still viable” in the current television landscape, praising how it gives every character room to shine within the reporting format.

Not every reaction has been unreserved praise, though the criticism has remained relatively minor. Some reviewers noted that the season leans into broader humor at times, occasionally at the expense of subtlety, even as it continues finding fresh angles on office politics and romance among its ensemble.

Others pointed out a tonal shift in how the show handles its subject matter, with one reviewer observing that its perspective on the struggles of modern journalism, already uncomfortable in season one, becomes noticeably more unsettling this time around. That darker undercurrent seems to be a deliberate choice rather than a misstep, giving the series more emotional weight without sacrificing its comedic core.

Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, both returning as co-creators and executive producers, ‘The Paper’ picks up its story following the events of the first season’s finale. All ten episodes of the new season are set to drop on Peacock, giving fans a full binge-worthy batch to dig into right away.

With reviews continuing to roll in ahead of the premiere, ‘The Paper’ appears poised to join the ranks of Daniels’ other workplace comedies as a certified fresh success. Whether it can maintain that momentum with audiences once episodes actually start airing remains to be seen, but critics seem convinced the show has finally found its footing.

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