Ivan Radford | On 30, Mar 2025

When someone wants to join in the joke in a satirical comedy, that usually means one of two things: either the satire is so scathing that they want to appear good-humoured or the satire is so gentle that they don’t mind it. The Studio, Apple TV+’s latest prestige offering, is both at once. And, somehow, it totally works.

Seth Rogen stars as Matt Remick, a Hollywood veteran who dreams of being the head of Continental Studios. He longs to make old-school classics, projects with artistic credibility that draw big audiences. But this is show business, and in the modern world of streaming rivals that means advertising deals, brand endorsements, taking no risks and cookie-cutter sequels. So when his boss, Patty (always-brilliant Catherine O’Hara), is ousted from her job, Matt’s opportunity to sit at the big table and take charge of bona fide Hollywood institution is both a dream come true and an absolute nightmare.

The series kicks off with an impossible challenge: a movie based on Kool-Aid. It sets the bar for the rest of the show by spinning that out into a gloriously funny debate about art vs commerce, and about principles and people-pleasing. “I was so much happier 2 weeks ago when I was just angry and resentful that I didn’t have this job,” remarks Matt, and his exasperation and desperation only build from there, as he struggles to satisfy the CEO of the studio’s parent company, Griffin (Bryan Cranston).

There’s a fine line between tension and comedy and The Studio treads if beautifully, upping the farce and the lies to absurdly entertaining levels – every conversation, party or business meeting is a tightly choreographed set piece. The chaos is reinforced by the long takes that take us from the set to the office and back again rarely pausing for breath. It’s a screwball caper and an awkward near-mockumentary all in one.

The cast are the key to making the sharp parade of one-liners work. Cranston is a walking, talking caricature of an old-fashioned movie mogul, but with the added force of money-calculating algorithms behind him. The wonderful Chase Sui Wonders is having a ball as Matt’s loyal development executive, Quinn, who is promoted by him from his assistant – a promise he insists he made not just to keep her around but because he meant it. Fresh from Apple TV+ comedy The Afterparty, Ike Barinholtz is perfectly toe-curling as Sal, Matt’s right-hand man, whose passion for cinema and fondness for his best friend are only outdone by his selfish ambition. Kathryn Hahn, meanwhile, steals scenes as the manic Maya, a marketing executive who doesn’t turn things down lower than 11.

At the heart of it all, Seth Rogen has rarely been better as the dizzied and dazzled Matt. Rogen’s greying temples feel apt for a man who’s starting to unravel, but he plays Remick with all the heartfelt everyman charisma of his youth’s stoner characters. Matt is someone we agonisingly root for simply because he’s still an everyman, still wowed by stars, still worried about not being liked, and still capable of making the wrong decision at almost every single juncture. He’s as excited as he is out of his depth, making him flawless at self-sabotage – and his exchanges with O’Hara’s frazzled, jaded Patty warmly remind us why he still bothers to go to work each morning.

The list of stars who wow him – and are inevitably upset or offended by him – is non-stop, whether it’s Martin Scorsese, Charlize Theron, Ron Howard or Adam Scott. Their presence, rather than undermining The Studio’s teeth, only reinforces Matt’s spineless, out-of-water nature. As he gazes around at the big names around him, you realise that the show’s half-brutal, half-affectionate satire isn’t a misjudged middle ground, but shrewdly character driven. Like Matt, this frenetic, funny and stylishly shot comedy loves the industry as much as it despairs of it. We wouldn’t say no to a sequel.

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