Season Review: The Studio Season 1

Welcome back to the blog readers. In case you guys did not know by now, I love the film industry. I have been a fan of film for as long as I could remember. I remember seeing Argo (2012) when it came out and it quite literally changed my life. I am a film fan mostly because of Argo, a film I now consider to be my favorite film of all time. Because of Argo, I can appreciate films like A Star is Born (2018), Oppenheimer (2023), and Dune: Part Two (2024). Hearing that Seth Rogen would be creating, executive producing, directing, and starring in a series that is not only a celebration of Hollywood but a satire of it as well definitely piqued my interest. Would the final results be worth the season 2 renewal? Stick around to find out.

The Studio was created for television by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, and Frida Perez. The first season features no showrunners but every episode is directed by Rogen and Goldberg. The season stars Rogen, Catherine O'Hara, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders, and Kathryn Hahn, along with a wide range of guest stars. In the first season, self-appointed cinephile Matt Remick is recently appointed to be the new head of Continental Studios and must navigate an ever-changing Hollywood to balance an increasingly IP-driven landscape with his own ambition to produce quality films.

NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the season.

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When I first heard of this show, I really had no idea what to think. A celebration and satire of Hollywood created by people who love the business? The idea sounded great on paper but I was nervous at the execution. But then I heard the chatter that not only was this show funny, it was really good and one of the best shows of the year. I knew then I had to give it a shot, but I then was not sure I should do reviews for it. Within the first five minutes of the first episode, I knew I had to because this show is as advertised. It is funny, full of heart, uncomfortable when it needs to be, and was just awesome to watch every week. Seth Rogen absolutely killed it in this role and the story that wound up being told was so awesome.

What's there to say about Seth Rogen? A celebrated comedian that has transcended his craft into iconic big and small-screen productions (such as The Lion King (2019) and Mufasa: The Lion King (2024), Superbad (2007), This Is The End (2013), The Interview (2014), The Fabelmans (2022), The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Dumb Money (both 2023)), a solid producer who has produced things like The Boys (2019-26), Gen V (2023-), Invincible (2021-) and Preacher (2016-19), and just a great overall guy. But playing the character of Matt Remick may be just what he needs to get himself some award attention, in the form of an Emmy nomination for his role. This show will get a lot of Emmy nominations I assume, and Rogen's role as the cinephile Matt is one of the best characters on television right now. Getting to play the somewhat dim-witted studio head who may or may not be qualified for his job definitely has its perks. Some of the scenes that really highlight this for me include his constantly ruining the one-take in the second episode, turning down Martin Scorsese in the premiere, becoming an old-school detective in the fourth episode, his stoned antics in the ninth episode, and failing to give Ron Howard the note in the third episode. Rogen is brilliantly able to bring his signature charm and charisma to the role that makes watching this character so much fun.

I next want to talk about all the celebrities that Seth Rogen was able to bring in for this series. The fact that he was able to snag cameos from high-profile names like Charlize Theron, Steve Buscemi, Martin Scorsese (!!!), Paul Dano, Peter Berg, Olivia Wilde, Zac Efron, Anthony Mackie, Ron Howard, Johnny Knoxville, Ice Cube, Quinta Brunson, Aaron Sorkin, Ted Sarandos, Jean Smart, Anthony Starr, Dave Franco, Zöe Kravitz, Rhea Perlman, Adam Scott, and Zack Snyder does a lot to help this series in the long run, for however long it goes. And I feel as if there is going to be a line down the block of people trying to get a cameo in this show just to be a part of the fun, almost like Only Murders in the Building (2021-) has done. If I had to put together a list of people I would like to see in the future of the show, it would include people like:

• Chris Evans (mainly because of his cameo in Free Guy (2021))

• Meryl Streep

• Michael B. Jordan

• Martin Short

• Steve Martin

• Scarlett Johansson

• Bad Bunny

• John Cena

• Ryan Coogler

• Bryce Dallas Howard (they already got her dad)

• Jon Favreau

• Jonah Hill (this one is unlikely)

• Channing Tatum

• Chris Pratt

• John Krasinski would be perfect in this show

• Nick Offerman

• Hell, just throw in Pedro Pascal because everyone loves him

And I want to end this review by talking about the story of the episode and how it was structured. When we meet our characters, we are in an interesting place where Matt has just become the head of Continental and he wants to take his job seriously. The problem is I got the impression pretty early on that he was not capable of doing this job. Some of the instances when I thought this to be true happened in the very first half of this season:

• When he completely mishandled the greenlight process of The Kool-Aid Movie by greenlighting both Nicholas Stoller and Martin Scorsese's pitches and then claiming he bought Scorsese's Jonestown film just to kill it

• When he completely ruined the filming of the one-take for the later titled Greta Lee film The Silver Lake by talking too loud, talking to Lee in the middle of the filming, and parking in the driveway which prevents the shoot from finishing up

• Being ineptly unable to give Ron Howard the note to cut the final 45 minutes of Alphabet City. Although this is more of a team effort because Sal, Quinn, and Anthony Mackie all fail to give him the note as well.

• Not being able to prevent Olivia Wilde from destroying the reel that she stole for her film Rolling Blackout

• Being unable to put a reign over Sal and Quinn when they are fighting over Parker Finn and Owen Kline

• Basically being responsible for the inebriation of Griffin Mill and Zöe Kravitz mere hours before a uber-important CinemaCon presentation

I feel as if there is going to be more of these in the second season, so here's to hoping that it comes sooner rather than later. A show like this should not really be hard to film in like 2 months and be ready in like 7.

And I want to end this season review by talking about how everything ties together in the end. When this season started, I thought we were getting sort of an anthology series in which each episode tells its own story but is disconnected from the larger world akin to Family Guy (1999-) is. Each episode either vaguely referenced a previous episode or did not at all. We first got a tie-in in the seventh episode when we were talking about casting for The Kool-Aid Movie but it all culminated in the final two episodes when we saw movie posters for all of the films we had seen throughout the season, meaning everything was building up to CinemaCon. I was so happy seeing everything tie in together and I can only hope for this same level of intricacy for the second season and the entire duration of this show.

In conclusion, The Studio's first season both celebrates and satirizes Hollywood in hilarious, uncomfortable, and heartfelt fashion. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.