Star City, on Apple TV+

When Neil Armstrong first set foot on the Moon, he proclaimed it was a step “for all mankind.” In this alternate history, the Soviets are not so inclusive or unifying. They explicitly identify that step is of and for the Soviet Union. Yet, the KGB and security apparatus routinely surveil, interrogate, and even purge the very scientists and Cosmonauts who made that triumph possible. Despite their success, there is no more toxic workplace than the Gagarin Cosmonaut Center in co-creators Ronald D. Moore, Ben Nedivi, and Matt Wolpert’s Star City, their spinoff from For All Mankind, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

Landing on the Moon was huge moment, so the Party carefully scripted the landing speech. The mission was such a coup, the Party immediately orders another mission, to land the first woman. Yana Akhmatova (a fitting name, if you know your Russian literature) should be that woman, because she is the best Cosmonaut in Star City. However, one of the drones working for KGB security chief Lyudmilla Raskova in dreaded “Building 12” uncovers information that calls her loyalty in question. Naturally, a confession is quickly beaten out of her and she is scrubbed from the mission.

The Party—but decidedly not the director of the Soviet space program, known simply as “The Chief Designer”—select Anastasia Belikova as her replacement. Her loyalty is beyond reproach, but her competence is highly suspect. Not surprisingly, fellow Cosmonauts Valya Mironov and Sasha Polivanov bitterly resent her selection. However, they warm to her after she flubs her but speech, but subsequently helps avert disaster on the return-trip home.

Fortunately, Belikova’s prominence protects her, at least temporarily. However, nobody is safe while Raskova conducts her mole hunts. Recent Building 12 recruit Irina Morozova sees her boss’s ruthlessness first-hand. The transcriber-turned-operative impresses her boss with her intelligence and initiative, but she knows she is playing with fire.

If you have not seen For All Mankind (you’re not alone), but the first five episodes provided for review (out of eight) easily stand alone for viewers with no prior familiarity. Perhaps it might be preferable, since several roles were recast with English thesps replacing their Russian predecessors (including Morozova and Belikova), which might be distracting for the previous audience.

Regardless, Moore, Nedivi, Wolpert, and the battery of directors (including Nick Murphy, who also helmed the underappreciated The Awakening) do a nice job recreating the paranoia and mandatory hypocrisy of the Brezhnev era. The surveillance is constant and freedom of thought is non-existent. Indeed, the series was produced with a good deal of historical insight, such as the rapid disillusionment of Lakshmi, a scientist from “non-aligned” India, who immediately finds her apartment bugged and her professional credibility tokenized.

The Paper, on Peacock

If you think Frederick Wiseman’s documentaries are long, start watching all the footage shot by the filmmakers supposedly documenting Dunder Mifflin through all 201 episodes of The Office. They are back in the field shooting a new project, but it probably will not last as long. Arguably, creators Greg Daniels and Michal Koman were victims of their own success, because the popularity of The Office spawned a parade of mockumentary imitators. Their latest feels like more of the same, but there are enough connecting elements to call Daniels & Koman’s The Paper a spin-off when it launches today on Peacock.

Alas, Dunder Mifflin went out of business, but a giant paper conglomerate acquired the remnants, including accountant Oscar Martinez, whom they moved to their Toledo office (seriously, what a downer of a spinoff premise). There he shares open bullpen space with the company’s least important asset: the Toledo Truth-Teller. It was once a respected regional newspaper that was even the subject of a 1960s D.A. Pennebaker-esque documentary. Sadly, it has declined into a printed throwaway largely consisting of wire service reports and an online clickbait operation, which is exactly how acting managing editor Esmeralda Grand likes it.

However, Ned Sampson intends to shake things up, which he should be able to do, since he is ostensibly her new boss. He was a crackerjack paper salesman, so he parlayed his success into the journalism career he always wanted. Unfortunately, he only has one employee with legitimate journalism experience, Mare Pritti, an Army veteran and former Stars and Stripes reporter.

The self-importance of journalists ought to be a big fat target for Daniels, Koman, and their co-writers (the Truth-Teller name alone should inspire groans of mockery), but they largely ignore it, in favor of conventional office place humor. That might make sense, since it was their specialty, but the gleefully mischievous edge that made The Office consistently the funniest show of its time is conspicuously missing from the first four episodes. (All ten installments of season one premiered today, but other critics stopped at four, so it seems fair to match their endurance.)

Indeed, series lead Domhnall Gleason delivers plenty of Office-worthy cringe as Sampson, but there isn’t the same level of caustic wit to counter-balance it. Instead, Sabrina Impacciatore serves up constant over-the-top shtick as his main nemesis, Grand, who would defy viewers’ patience and credibility in an Absolutely Fabulous rip-off.

It is nice that Chelsea Frei portrays Pritti as a sympathetic veteran, who thus far seems to be the most functional staff member at the Truth-Teller. However, her persona has yet to develop beyond a skeptical potential love interest. Frankly, the rest of the staff is even blander, except Martinez, still played by Oscar Nunez, who came prefabricated and ready-for-use from the mother series.