“Here at Continental, we don’t make films, we make movies,” declares CEO Griffin Mills (Bryan Cranston) as he promotes long-suffering suit Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) to head of the century-old Continental Studios. And though there isn’t a term to make the same kind of highbrow vs. lowbrow, pretentious vs. popcorn distinction for TV, The Studio falls on the “film” end of the spectrum while still managing to be “movie”-level entertaining.
The new comedy series by Rogen and Evan Goldberg sees Hollywood at its most comically cutthroat. Having essentially ousted his mentor and industry legend Patty (Catherine O’Hara), Matt finds himself quite a bit out of his depth as a studio head. He’s desperate for the talent to like him, to put money behind artsy fartsy films and elevate auteurs, but his career now depends on an IP-driven bottom line. His team of creative execs brings plenty of pressure too, from his ride-or-die pal Sal (Ike Barinholtz) to his ambitious former assistant Quinn (Chase Sui Wonders) to Continental’s inappropriately appropriative marketing head Maya (Kathryn Hahn).
The first few episodes make The Studio into a director-of-the-week show, the likes of Ron Howard and Olivia Wilde playing with their reputations or Martin Scorsese (whose Guest Actor Emmy campaign begins NOW) and Sarah Polley agonizing over how Matt is ruining their creative visions. These are among the best episodes that the series has to offer, largely because of the care put into the craft. Rogen and Goldberg direct the entirety of The Studio, adapting visual style and tone to fit each episode. For instance, Sarah Polley’s work involves shooting a painstaking oner, and the episode is shot to look like it’s one take too; when Olivia Wilde is making a thinly veiled Chinatown rip-off, the show leans magnificently into noir tropes. At its core, the series is for film nerds, for people who can appreciate The Studio’s appreciation for the medium.
The show does well to mix and match its ensemble cast too, though viewers will probably wish that Hahn and O’Hara showed up more in the proceedings. A real highlight comes halfway through the series with “The War,” when Sal and Quinn face off with dueling visions of Continental’s next low-budget slasher flick. Barinholtz has long been a hilarious presence on screen, and Sui Wonders makes a worthy opponent in the war of words. That their moves against one another are complemented by dawdling extras and band members for the Battle of Waterloo movie being shot on the Continental lot is a fun touch, and thankfully The Studio is all about adding that fun touch.
The show also brings some salient topics to the table, largely surrounding how out-of-touch the Hollywood elite can be. One such episode revolves around the casting of Continental’s tentpole Kool Aid, which is the studio’s answer to the billion dollar hit Barbie. Matt, Sal and Maya fret over the optics of casting Ice Cube as the Kool Aid Man, but they overcorrect so much that it then becomes offensive. At other points, Matt expresses his intention to support female filmmakers—but that support mostly involves him getting, well, involved. Another episode features Matt on a date with a pediatric oncologist (Rebecca Hall) and sees him debate whose job is more important, and you can imagine how well that goes over. The Studio hits you over the head with its messaging at times, and while a comedy this big should never be all that subtle, it does make the jokes more obvious and one note.
The series loses steam as it chugs towards the 10 episode mark, forgoing the focus of one movie per episode to expand on the industry as a whole. The comedy gets vaguer, but the performances in the closing episodes more than make up for it. Zoe Kravitz shows up as herself to deliver some fantastically funny work, and the only one who outdoes her is Bryan Cranston’s bonkers CEO (for reasons best left unspoiled). The Studio and its actors commit to the bit more than most, and the result is a consistently enjoyable, impeccably crafted and all around great new comedy.
The first two episodes of ‘The Studio’ premiere on Apple TV+ on March 26th.
