So, do you all remember that show on Max called The Franchise? It was a show about what it’s like to make an MCU/DCEU franchise movie from the perspective of the First AD. It was hilarious, even if I didn’t hear about it much from people other than my review. So, to my surprise, I found out there was another comedic series set in the business of Hollywood.
The Studio by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, and Frida Perez is a show about Matt Remick, played by Seth Rogen, who is newly appointed studio head of the fictional Continental Studios and the trials and tribulations of running a movie studio in the current rapidly changing movie business. Most of this show is a workplace-style comedy of neurosis. Matt feels inadequate in his job and is trying to manage to deal with the actors, directors, and producers along with his team of executives, who are each trying to outdo each other in every way possible.
There are moments when the situations rise to such levels of tension and extremely awkward happenings that the laughter forced its way out of me uncontrollably. This show, which seems like a show made for people who listen to The Town three times a week and read each Hollywood trade magazine, would be the most niche show that no one can relate to, but it’s far from that. Just like The Office or Parks and Rec, you know each and every one of these people and can’t stop yourself from watching every single screwup Matt makes as he somehow still fails upward.
Matt is surrounded by Ike Barinholtz as Sal Seperstein, Matt’s best friend and studio exec who works as Matt’s right hand. The back and forth between the two as both are seasoned vets and know how to work off each other in every scene. Their mutual neurotic insecurities have them getting worse and worse off of each situation, be it trying to find a director or please some actor. They have some real Jerry and George from Seinfeld type of energy in here.
Chase Sui Wonders plays Quinn Hackett, the young studio exec who dreams of making A24 like film but gets constantly trampled on by her older peers, especially Sal, who feels she’s trying to take his place. As I’ve only seen her in two things before this Genera+ion and Bodies Bodies Bodies I didn’t know she was that good at comedy. Quinn gets one excellent focus episode with Sal, where the whole thing plays like a Spy v Spy gag. They both try to sabotage each other, but Matt does not find out. She can easily hold her own in scenes with Rogen, Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn, and Catherine O’Hara, especially in the last two episodes, which ratchet up the stakes with the comedy with each minute.
Speaking of those two, talk about two performers who take over a scene like Steph Curry in the 4th quarter; it’s them two. Catherine O’Hara, who plays Patty Leigh, Matt’s former boss and former head of the Studio who ends up still as a producer, is there to mentor Matt through positive and negative reinforcement. Rogen and O’Hara’s scenes are some of the strongest scenes and have some of the best heart. I can’t lie; it feels like her character takes inspiration from Amy Pascal, but I could be reaching there.
Hahn plays Maya, the head of Marketing at the Studio, and is obnoxious with a person who is good at their job while also being a person too old to be acting and dressing the way they are. While she’s more of a recurring character, she’s so different than most of the others that the clashes with the others bring some terrific laughs. Dewayne Perkins‘ Tyler and Keyla Monterroso Mejia’s Petra smaller roles bring some good common sense reactions to our main characters’ absurdity in each episode they appear. Also, there is some great stuff from Bryan Cranston as Griffin Mill, the owner of the Continental Studios. He has some real highlights in the last two episodes.
Part of this show feels like Rogen and Goldberg taking every shot they can at the people they have to deal with the most to get their projects made. Having the studio folks being the butt of the jokes are safe targets since they’re rich people who may seem a little self-important even though they’re mostly just business folks. The show’s use of classic film genres as the basis of each episode helps keep the show interesting from episode to episode so that it doesn’t feel like the same type of show for each episode and, I guess you could say, be an “elevated” sitcom.
Even with how much it shows how silly some of this show business is, the show ends up being pretty earnest and sincere about the love of cinema, as much as it’s all about changes around us. As it seems people don’t care as much about arts as the tech world has morphed, most people view it all as “content.” Matt’s love of making cinema and wanting to make the best films possible makes him a lovable main character. The Studio is one of the funniest shows I’ve seen in a long time; with its fantastic writing, performances, and filmmaking, Apple TV+ has a real gem here.
Score: A
