The Studio (Season 1)

⭐ 8.5/10

This show is completely about how Hollywood romanticizes itself. Seth Rogan's character Matt becomes the head of a movie studio, a guy who loves "cinema" and wants to save it from all the slop, but ends up just being someone who fuels the slop machine. This push-pull of him trying to back projects that make money, but also please his superiors, is where a ton of the comedy comes from. In our age of streaming something that is kind of backwards looking like this is very timely. I shouldn't say backwards looking, its just interesting how people are dressed, what people drive, what the offices look like, clearly they are nostalgic for what Hollywood used to be.

At the end of the day this show is funny, and that's what makes it worth watching. A couple of the episodes devolve into people losing their mind because of drugs or some other reason, and I don't find that funny at all. But a bunch of the other episodes remind me of the high-octane Bear episodes, a ton of people trying to get things done in a tight timeframe. Almost everything is done in oners, which emphasizes this.

There are a couple fantastic episodes, my favourite being a disastrous night at a gala for doctors where Matt is painfully arguing how their jobs are equally as important as his. This episode has the awkward humour, the trademark slapstick this show manages to include in every episode, but also an earnest heart. I love movies, and its ironic that a streaming TV show is actively hating on what the entertainment industry has become. There is another episode where the team is struggling to cast their hit movie because of the racial backlash they fear regardless of the makeup of the cast which felt so crazy it must be real. Another in the style of a classic noir, where Matt needs to solve the mystery of the missing film. An award show episode. Just so many excellent ideas in a modern yet nostalgic package.

I think the finale went completely overboard, again the humour of a bunch of people on shrooms just doesn't do it for me. This show really found its stride through the middle of the season, and would be a cool show to have a season of every couple years as the industry changes. It's also packed full of cameos, I can't imagine what the budget of something like this is.

If you love movies, but more specifically the industry around movies, there is no way you could dislike this show.