The Office is one of my favorite sitcoms of all time. So when they announced last year that a reboot was in the works, I was excited. But when I learned it would be a parody of a newspaper instead of a paper company, that excitement quickly faded.

I’d love to tell you I’m binging the show. Honestly, I’m struggling to get through it. A comedy about a newspaper is leaving me more depressed than entertained.

The Paper, available on Peacock, tells the story of the staff at the Toledo Truth Teller—or at least what’s left of it. The newspaper is a shell of its former self, and the remaining staff is portrayed as a group of inexperienced buffoons.

I’ve been out of the newspaper business for over six years, but my love for media—especially newspapers—remains strong. Watching the industry I care about become the butt of a series of jokes has been anything but funny. Sometimes, the truth hurts. In this case, the Toledo Truth Teller hurts.

This comedy hits a little too close to home. The newspaper in the show is called The Truth. One of the last newspapers I ran was also called The Truth, in Elkhart, Indiana—not Toledo, Ohio.

It’s more than just the name that reminds me of reality rather than escapism. Though done very tongue-in-cheek, the series addresses many of the issues I faced. Those same issues are still being faced by many of my colleagues. Things like declining circulation, limited resources, the shift to social media and digital news sources, and the financial burdens caused by a shrinking advertising base haunt the industry.

In one episode, the main character Ned Sampson discusses the financial woes of the newspaper he runs. He mentions that one of the burdens is the pension obligations for typesetters who retired in 1991.

While that line was clearly meant to get a laugh, I just stared at the screen. That was a real-life scenario I faced more than once during my newspaper career. And it’s still a real problem for many newspaper operators across the country.

Series creator Greg Daniels struck gold with The Office and the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. While it’s hard to match the success of that mockumentary, The Paper has earned critical acclaim and a sizable streaming audience. Season one has been well received, and season two is expected sometime next year.

It’s not that I haven’t laughed while watching—I absolutely have. My concern isn’t with the antics of the young reporters or the bumbling leader of TTT Online. In a world where traditional media is already a frequent punchline, I just don’t want to add fuel to that fire.

I also don’t want to make light of the hard work still being done. Newspaper pros in communities across the country are trying to keep newspapers relevant and alive. Viewers of this show may assume there’s some truth behind the humor. After all, what made The Office so funny was how relatable it was—you could see bits of your own workplace in it. Will the public assume this is how newspapers are actually run?

No thumbs up or down from me—no official review. I’m still working my way through it, and I will finish it. And yes, I’ll laugh. But I might shed a tear too.