The Studio, Apple TV+’s Hollywood satire starring Seth Rogen as the newly installed head of a floundering movie studio, is the sort of series that we should be thankful is still getting made; one last splurge on the company credit card before the boss looks at the balance sheet and reins in all the spending. It’s a show that looks a million bucks and probably cost far more: at a time when American gameshows are flying contestants to Ireland to save on filming costs, The Studio shoots at notoriously pricey LA locations like Sunset Boulevard, the Chateau Marmont and Warner Bros Studios.
All this glitz is in service to a series that manages to be both a love letter to Hollywood, and a “must do better” report card. The setting is Continental Studios, a fictional old Hollywood giant in the style of Universal or Warner Bros that is experiencing turbulence in the streaming age. Rogen plays Matt Remick, a newly installed studio head who dreams of making great art. But instead he and his underlings (a great supporting cast that includes Kathryn Hahn, Ike Barinholtz and Catherine O’Hara) find themselves dragged down by the worst aspects of a flailing industry: a focus on empty brand IP over real stories; budget balancing over creativity; and even some gentle dabbling in AI. All of which might make the show sound like a bit of slog, but it’s often a (stressful) hoot, full of sight gags, slapstick comedy and one very Seth Rogen-ish subplot about a horror movie where zombies infect people through diarrhoea.
