The Paper will stop airing on NBC sooner than expected.
Variety confirmed on Monday, December 22, that The Paper won’t get its 10-episode run on Mondays as planned. Instead, NBC plans to air the remaining three episodes of The Office spinoff on Saturday, January 3. The Paper is also available to stream on Peacock and has been renewed for a second season.
NBC is swapping Stumble into the Monday time slot to allow for the new show to get more exposure. New episodes of the cheerleading series are still scheduled for Fridays after Happy’s Place.
Stumble is a mockumentary that explores the highly competitive world of junior college cheerleading. The cast is made up of Jenn Lyon, Georgie Murphy, Arianna Davis, Kristin Chenoweth and Taran Killam. Ryan Pinkston, Jarrett Austin Brown, Anissa Borrego and Taylor Dunbar also star in the show.
The series is inspired by the Netflix hit Cheer and Navarro College coach Monica Aldama, who is an executive producer on the project.
“Monica is on the page. The writers have created a brilliant character to play, but it definitely is inspired by Monica,” Lyon exclusively told Us Weekly in November about bringing her role to life. “She is tough as nails and inscrutable at points. But the way she is stern but loving, the way she’d give you the shirt off her back, the way she is driven and committed is all over the DNA of the character.”
Lyon noted that Courtney is “different” from Aldama.
“She’s got aspects of Monica, but reading her on the page and getting to collaborate with the writers, the creators and the director, we fleshed out how we wanted Courtney to be — including her level of warmth and wackiness,” Lyon teased. “I love to trip over things on the floor. I love to run into a doorjamb. These are things that Monica doesn’t do.”
The Paper, meanwhile, bridged the gap with its predecessor The Office when it premiered in September by having the same camera crew return to check in on Dunder Mifflin. However, they learned the paper company was gone after being acquired. Instead, the documentary shifted focus to the Toledo Truth-Teller — a Midwestern newspaper on its last legs until Ned — an overzealous cardboard salesman turned editor in chief, played by Domhnall Gleeson — stepped in.
The rest of the cast was made up of Sabrina Impacciatore, Chelsea Frei, Melvin Gregg, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Alex Edelman, Ramona Young, Tim Key and The Office alum Oscar Nuñez.
While there were onscreen nods to The Office, creators Greg Daniels and Michael Koman told Us that they weren’t looking to bring back every OG character. Daniels noted that fan favorites Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) moved to Austin, Texas, so it would be hard to explain why they were returning to the Midwest.
“I’m not exactly sure why [the documentary crew] would feel the need to call them up and transport them to Toledo or something,” Daniels said, while Koman added, “I certainly would say for this season, really, our focus was on these new characters and their stories. The future is the future.”
The Paper is currently streaming on Peacock. Stumble airs on NBC Fridays at 8:30 p.m. ET.
