Culture recs: The Paper Satirizes the Sorry State of Journalism in 2025
Plus: Task stars Mark Ruffalo as an FBI agent in Delco, The Great British Baking Show returns, and Helen Mirren leads a cozy murder mystery
Labor Day is behind us, the kids are back in school, and the leaves are beginning to turn, which means one thing: festival season is upon us.
Early September brings the back-to-back-to-back lineup of Venice, Telluride, and Toronto, festivals that unofficially kick off Oscar season. So far the buzz around Hamnet, a drama from Chloé Zhao about William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes (played by Paul Mescal and Jesse Buckley) has me very excited (if also a little scared) to check out the film. I’m also curious about The Testament of Ann Lee, a spiritual biopic starring Amanda Seyfried.
Thankfully, there is no shortage of things to watch while I wait for the onslaught of Oscar movies to arrive in theaters later this fall. Here are a few titles worthy of a recommendation:
The Paper (now streaming on Peacock)
On most days I’m more likely to cry about the current state of journalism than I am to laugh. But this very loose spinoff of The Office manages to find the (extremely dark) humor in the story of Ned Sampson (Domnhall Gleason, doing a seamless American accent) the idealistic new editor-in-chief of a struggling Midwestern newspaper called the Toledo Truth Teller (copy editors please note: there’s no hyphen in that title), which is owned by a toilet paper manufacturing company called Enervate (as in, “to cause someone to feel drained of energy or vitality; weaken”). A nepotism hire who nevertheless believes in the importance of local journalism, Ned immediately attempts to revitalize the publication which, as jaded staffer Mare Pritti (Chelsea Frei) puts it, is less a paper than a random assortment of “local ads and clickbait with, like, four AP stories and high school sports scores on the cover.”
Idealistic Ned faces formidable challenges, including a smarmy boss, Ken Davies (Tim Key, channeling Ricky Gervais), an executive at Enervate, and an interim managing editor, Esmeralda Grande (Sabrina Impacciatore of The White Lotus) who has a starkly different vision for the paper (think: celebrity drivel that requires lots of scrolling). Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, the mockumentary features just one character brought over from The Office — punctilious accountant Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nuñez) — but uses the same visual language and similar character dynamics. (Yes, there is a rather adorable will-they, won’t-they romance.)
When it comes to the sorry state of journalism in 2025, The Paper takes plenty of dramatic — or in this case, comedic — license, but it also authentically captures many of the mundane details of the newspaper business, like dealing with clunky content management systems or the terror of having to fill space when a story falls apart at the last minute. As someone who only recently left a newsroom, I winced with recognition more than once while watching The Paper. And yes, I also laughed.
Task (premieres Sunday on HBO)
Head on down ‘da Wawa and grab yourself a hoagie, ‘cause the creator of Mare of Easttown has another gritty Delco crime drama full of rounded “Os” and quietly anguished Pennsylvania law enforcement officers. Mark Ruffalo stars as Tom Brandis, a schlubby, vodka-swillling priest-turned-FBI field agent who is asked to head up a task force to investigate a string of drug-house robberies spearheaded by Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey), a single father and garbage man raising two kids with help from his 21-year-old niece Maeve (Emilia Jones). When one of the late-night heists inevitably goes wrong, the two family men may be on opposite side of the law— but as Task slowly reveals their backstories, it also becomes clear that they have much in common. Like Mare of Easttown, which celebrated the eccentricities of a politically important region of the country that is all too often neglected by Hollywood, Task includes nods to the Keystone State’s myriad contributions to the culture, like Yuengling Lager and Poison, the ‘80s hair metal band from Mechanicsburg, PA (a sequence in the premiere makes brilliant use of their 1988 hit “Fallen Angel”). It’s also a family drama masquerading as a crime story. Featuring a bevy of tattooed bikers, Task may be heavier on the testosterone than the female-centric Mare of Easttown, but it is just as interested in exploring parents, children, and the traumas that bind them.
The Great British Baking Show (premieres Friday on Netflix)
The kindest, gentlest reality show on TV is back for another round of buttercream-frosted magic, and I for one couldn’t be more thrilled for the return of a show that has taught me more about Italian meringue and rough puff pastry than any cookbook ever could. The Great British Baking Show (known as The Great British Bake-Off outside the U.S.) has weathered many changes since it launched back in 2010, including the departure of original hosts Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc and judge Mary Berry back in 2016, then some recent seasons marred by overly gimmicky, culturally insensitive challenges. But since the utterly delightful Alison Hammond joined as co-host along with Noel Fielding in 2023, the show has returned to form, focusing on baking fundamentals rather than stunts like making pitas over an open fire. The key ingredient to GBBS has always been the contestants, and even when other elements of the show are off, the cast is enormously likable; a diverse mix of ages, identities, and regional accents you won’t find anywhere else on TV.
Thursday Murder Club (Now streaming on Netflix)
If you’re craving more cozy British content — and aren’t we all these days? — then try this breezy murder mystery, which goes down easier than an Aperol spritz. Helen Mirren anchors a phenomenal cast that includes seemingly every beloved British actor over the age of 70 (and a few younger ones too). I am not exaggerating: there’s Ben Kingsley, Jonathan Pryce, Richard E. Grant, Celia Imrie, David Tennant, and Pierce Brosnan (who is Irish, but still.) Although I would gladly watch these actors read the phone book for two hours, Thursday Murder Club has more to offer than that. Based on Richard Osman’s bestselling novel, it follows the true crime-obsessed residents of an implausibly cushy retirement community who meet once a week to revisit cold cases. When one of the facility’s owners suddenly winds up dead, they find themselves with a very hot case to solve. Directed by Chris Columbus, The Thursday Murder Club works as a twisty-turny Cozy Murder, and also a wry commentary on the Cozy Murder genre (“I feel like we’re in one of those Sunday night dramas about two bright-eyed, feisty old lady detectives outsmarting the police at every turn,” says one character.) If you’re looking for a very well-crafted diversion from well, everything, you can’t do much better than this.
Meredith Blake is the culture columnist for The Contrarian
Any early fall recommendations to add to the list for your fellow Contrarians? Let us know, or leave them in the comments below.
Thank you.
OMG you got me at "Thursday Murder Club".
Yes, Dr.Salk cured polio, and our NON-Dr. and ignoramus, RFK, has brought it back for one and all to enjoy. Aren't we just sooooo lucky?