Who knew Seth Rogen would just keep getting better as his career surges on? Honestly, not me. It appears his satirical comedy, The Studio, is his biggest achievement yet!
Seriously. It earned twenty-three nominations for this year’s Emmys, apparently the most for a first season comedy, and tied for the most nominations overall. Do I think it will win any of the major acting awards? No. Even best series? Again, no. But, there is honestly no way it’s not taking home those guest star awards. It was also cool to see Ike Barinholtz land a nomination. I love that guy! Aside from this series being a fun premise, I think it shows that Rogen is pretty well liked among his peers in the acting, writing, and directing world. I mean, how else do you land some of the names here?!
As a person who lives for shows or movies packing in the most famous people they can, this show definitely fit the bill for me. I will say, with so many people playing themselves (or somewhat fictionalized versions of themselves), it was hard for me at times to remember that Rogen was not in fact playing himself. He is instead playing the new head of Continental Studios, Matt Remick. Even though this is a dream come true for him, he soon learns that in order to make the niche arthouse movies he wants, he also has to make some IP laden crap to appease the board and the number crunchers. That means he’s making a live action Kool-Aid movie. Starring Ice Cube. Honestly, I bet a ton of people would watch that actual movie, so it will be interesting to see what the future holds.
While there is an overarching plot to this first season, it also feels like each episode is stand alone, which I found myself to enjoy quite a bit. There is a war for getting their films made, and also for a parking spot. There’s an episode where a whole film crew and cast are so nervous that Matt’s presence will ruin a oner they need to get before night falls. There is an episode where Matt gets forced to blackball Scorsese’s latest passion project, and one where he gets bullied by Ron Howard (hilarious). But the real episodes that shined the brightest for me this season was the two-part finale where they are gearing up for a presentation at CinemaCon.
Having been fortunate enough to actually attend CinemaCon once in the past, this was really fun to see in a more behind the scenes capacity. Was it all probably pretty fabricated? Absolutely. But they were in Vegas at the actual CinemaCon, so I felt a real kindredness to the episodes. In this particular bit, Matt provides a party with some pretty potent mushrooms that completely mess with Zoe Kravitz, and absolutely obliterate CEO Griffin Mill (a completely unhinged Bryan Cranston). The core group are grasping at straws in an effort to get him ready to present for Continental Studios first thing in the morning, but it seems more and more like they are going to have to Weekend at Bernie’s him. It’s hilarious and chaotic and so well done.
Overall, I really enjoyed this first season, though the cinematography kind of took me out of it at times. It was just done in a style that isn’t my favorite. It made it seem like it was trying to be an Italian mobster movie from the 70s rather than something taking place in 2025 Hollywood. And maybe I’m reading that totally backwards, but it’s just my personal preference and what didn’t make this series a 10/10 for me. I do look forward to what another season will offer, though! And if you like movies, and TV for that matter, than this is for sure worth checking out.