First, I should probably say I lived in Toledo, Ohio for 30 years, have worked in media for my entire adult career, and have been employed as a journalist for some of that. The Paper, Peacock’s new sitcom from the makers of The Office, is set in Toledo, Ohio at a struggling newspaper called the Toledo Truth Teller. So when watching, I was looking for a world that should have been quite familiar.

And yet, nothing about The Paper felt authentic to me. I know authenticity is a lot to ask from a sitcom, especially one that wanted us to believe that a film crew would spend nine years camped out at a paper sales office in Scranton, PA to make a single documentary. Yet even taking authenticity out of the equation, The Paper is lacking as a comedy, or even as a television program.

The Paper did pay homage to the city where it takes place, but only nominally. Yes, it name-dropped actual intersections, parks, the famous Toledo Mud Hens, and one of the town’s major businesses, but we spend most of our time inside the offices of the Truth Teller, and the scenes shot outdoors did not look to be in Toledo. There’s a scene shot on the roof of the Truth Teller Tower and the skyline didn’t match that of the Glass City.

Speaking of glass, the producers should know that the major glass manufacturing company that makes its home in Toledo is called Owens Corning, not Corning.

Of course, the producers were never going to film this show in Toledo, and should get some credit for including some footage shot in T-Town (the Toledo Loves Love mural is located close to my old house, so I was quite happy to see that in the opening credits). And no one who isn’t a former or current Toledoan is really going to care if they get the location right.

The way The Paper portrays the newspaper business is much more egregious than their depiction of the city of Toledo. When Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson) arrives at his new job as Editor-in-Chief of the Truth Teller, he finds a minimal staff that has no experience, and worse, they barely understand what news is. Ned ropes his team of accountants, salespeople, and other office denizens into writing local content, rather than relying on copying and pasting articles from wire news services onto the pages of the paper.

The show seems to be mocking the ineptitude of a majority of the staff. Only two staffers, Mare (Chelsea Frei) and Barry (Duane R. Shepard Sr.) even know how to write, or how to source information. The rest are hazy on the concept of what news even is – despite front pages from the paper’s glory days decorating every free wall in the office.

The mocking tone is enhanced by the fact that the news division shares office space with a toilet paper sales company owned by the same conglomerate that owns the Truth Teller. It’s awkward and embarrassing to watch the characters struggle to come up with compelling content.

The producers barely touch on the reality of the news business now in the era of falling subscription numbers, lackluster sales figures, the public’s reliance on news that comes from social media and internet bloggers, and a generalized distrust of all legacy media (whether earned or unearned). This just seems like a missed opportunity to make a meaningful statement, especially given that there is documentary crew that has left Scranton and fired up their cameras to tell the Truth Teller’s story.

By the last episode, Ned has resurrected the paper and he and Mare (and puzzle composer Oscar) sweep their categories at the Ohio Journalism Association awards show. This is astounding given the articles that we are shown the staff working on. Each episode, the entire staff focuses on research for one story, though we never see anyone writing anything.

But honestly, even that wouldn’t matter if the show were peopled by characters we care about and had some amusing lines or comedic situations. The most interesting characters are Ned, Mare and Esmeralda Grand (Sabrina Impacciatore), the paper’s managing editor who has been supplanted by Ned to take charge of the news content. Esmeralda is cartoonishly evil, executing petty acts of revenge, and is generally annoying for reasons that aren’t adequately explained. She is joined in her retaliatory antics by the two upper management suits, played by Allan Havey and Tim Key.

The character of Esmeralda is singularly the most irritating character I have ever had the displeasure of watching in my history of enjoying the television situation comedy. She’s the most cringe-worthy character in the cast, which is really saying something given what we see the other characters getting up to.

Oscar Nuñez is the sole cast carryover from The Office to The Paper, and so far, the producers haven’t given his character enough to do, aside from grumpily declaring his unwillingness to be filmed again and composing Sudoku puzzles that fill up white space in the Truth Teller.

The show sets up a couple tepid romance possibilities between some of the characters, but whether or not they do or do not get together becomes less important with every episode.

The Office may have had the occasional dull moments and even bad episode, but it had so many memorable scenes and hilarious situations because the characters were well-defined and they usually had something funny to say. The Paper so far offers too many lackluster lines and bland characters.

The Paper is obviously still finding its footing. It’s been renewed for a second season already, so perhaps with time, the show can grow into its pedigree to become a worthy successor to The Office, but don’t let the awards fool you: The Paper isn’t ready to take home any trophies.