Hollywood is a special place as anybody who has worked in the film industry will say. There are many people who work in the film industry. It’s a massive undertaking getting a movie made from what I’ve heard and seen in various featurettes and interviews from people in the industry. The Studio is a comedy series on Apple TV + that deals with the ins and outs of Hollywood starring/directed by him and Evan Goldberg.They nailed this world and all of its crazy and odd idiosyncrasies perfectly.

Matt Remick (Seth Rogan) is appointed the head of Continental Picture, a fictional film studio. He has a crack team of assistants Quinn Hackett (Chase Sui Wonders) Maya (Kathryn Hahn), and co-producers Sal Saperstein (Ike Barinhotz) Patty Leigh (Catherine O’Hara) who help him navigate the studio system. Eager to please his boss, the owner of the company Griffin Mill (Bryan Cranston), he greenlights a Kool-Aid movie. Yes, the same drink that kids drink in the summer to keep cool! This is just the start of all the craziness he has to deal with in his new job. 

As a director and the star of the show, Rogan has a lot of responsibility on set. He doesn’t let all of those get in his way as a creative person, though. There is plenty of ad libbing going on  between the cast and all of the celebrity guest stars. Seeing as this show takes place in Hollywood, you know you’re going to have a bunch of celebrity cameos. The series comes out of the gate with one of the best directors of all time, in my humble opinion, Martin Scorsese. In a hilarious bit, I can’t say what it was because I don;t want to spoil anything in the episodes. Suffice it to say it has to do with Kool-Aid. I was laughing so hard in the first episode, called The Promotion.. That’s how good this show is.

The second episode called The Oner and the Third The Third was equally funny. Both involve more of the day to day activities involved in being  a studio head. A set visit doesn’t exactly go as planned. In fact, it’s quite a disaster for Rogan’s character.The third  episode is more studio stuff involving talking to a director after seeing their film.This is typical stuff with producers fighting to get their way on a picture. Once again, I loved the banter and how all the characters interacted in these two episodes.The writing on the show is fantastic, though, and the episodes reflect that in every possible way.

Other episodes had guest appearances from  Dave Franco, Zoe Kravits, Ron Howard, Anthony Mackie, Olivia Wilde, and Zac Ephron, just to name a handful. Just imagine, no pun intended, the kinds of things executives would say to directors and / or actors in meetings or on set, and you get some crazy moments in the show. The series is so inside baseball that it’s unbelievable. There are so many in–jokes that Rogan and Goldberg get into the episodes. This show was so realistic that it even had a lot of cursing and raunchy jokes revolving around human genitalia. Everybody was on their A-Game when it came to the humor. This is going to be a trend during this review, but I laughed uncontrollably so often.

After the first episode, the fifth was my favorite, though. It was called The War and dealt with two opposing members of  the team who wanted different directors to direct the Kool-Aid movie. This episode gave viewers more character development of the Sui Wonders and Barinholtz characters. I thought their interactions and how it affected the main character were hilarious. Once again, showing some of the aspects of the studio system. I know I’m saying that a lot, but it’s true to the show.

I’m a big fan of classic comedies like Taxi, All In The Family, Threes Company, The Jerfferson’s and Sanford and Son. This may genuinely be one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen. I laughed so hard at so many of the character interactions and scenarios involved in the Hollywood system. Even the technical aspects were so well done. The camera movements and cinematography were so well choreographed that it was bananas.

The Studio is the funniest show I’ve seen in years. Rogan is so good as the head of a Hollywood studio. His ego as a character gets in the way of what he should be doing at times, but it leads to a lot of hilariously funny moments. The supporting cast of Barinhotz, Sui Wonders, Hahn, O’Hara and Cranston are comedy gold. The guest stars are fantastic in every episode. Seeing Martin Scorsese, though, made my day. I loved his episode.  This show is sure to be in consideration for awards in the future, and I hope It gets a second season. I absolutely loved this series.

All 8 episodes reviewed. The Studio is airing on Apple TV+

5 stars

Dan Skip Allen