In 2024, HBO attempted to satirize the inner workings of Hollywood and big-budget superhero movies in the now-canceled series The Franchise. Too broad and seemingly uninterested in the very genre it was trying to critique, The Franchise simply never cut deep enough to offer any meaningful insight into the blockbuster machine. A shame, given the parade of massive egos and money-hungry execs the show could have drawn from.
So when Apple TV+ announced a Hollywood satire of its own with The Studio, I was skeptical. Would this just be another half-hearted attempt at poking fun at Hollywood? Or would it actually deliver a biting look into the studio system?
‘The Studio’ trailer: Seth Rogen skewers Hollywood in cameo-filled trailer
Thankfully, The Studio is everything The Franchise was not. Created by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, and Frida Perez, the series is as likely to take a fine scalpel to specific Hollywood issues as it is to bludgeon the studio system with a club. Both methods work — and elicit belly laughs galore — because The Studio‘s love of film shines through in every episode. It’s as much an ode to movies as it is a frustrated scream about what the cinematic landscape has become, and that tension propels The Studio to full-on comedy gold.
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