I’m not sure I’ve seen a comedy series gassed up this much by the cinematic press before. But as reviews roll in, some are even calling the show one of the best of the decade. Can that possibly be true?
The show is The Studio, starring Seth Rogen as a studio head to trying to manage the tumultuous state of Hollywood. The series will air, unsurprisingly, on Apple TV+, home of the highest quality series on TV these days. As of now, The Studio has a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes from a dozen and a half critics, no easy feat, and again, these reviews aren’t just positive, they are glowing. Here’s a sampling:
- The Playlist – “The Studio is the most entertaining and spot-on depiction of Hollywood since Robert Altman’s The Player. Granted, that’s high praise, but Rogen and Goldberg, who also direct the 10-episode series, swing for the fences with one home run after another.”
- Mashable – “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.”
- Awards Buzz – “This show – unlike so much of what’s portrayed on it – is a true success, one with many more stories to tell that should absolutely become an enduring staple of this moment’s top-tier television.”
- Discussing Film – “‘The Studio is perhaps the best TV show of the past decade, featuring Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s best comedic work yet.”
I told you, glowing. But I’m sure the initial reaction to this among the general public will be “Seth Rogen? Star of Pineapple Express?” But between him and Evan Goldberg, they have worked on some of the highest profile series on TV as of late from Invincible to The Boys, and the cast is stellar, as in addition to Rogen it boasts Catherine O’Hara, Ike Barinholtz and Kathryn Hahn, to name a few. And it is going to have a zillion cameos which include the likes of Greta Lee, Adam Scott and uh, Martin Scorsese.
If I am skeptical of one thing, it’s that Hollywood loves nothing more than projects about Hollywood, so this may be coloring a few of the reactions after the special screenings of the series critics got weeks before release. Yes, we cannot check out this show ourselves until March 26, and these reviews are out extremely early for some reason. I guess they’re building hype, as demonstrated by this very article.
I mean, I’ll buy it. Maybe not that it’s the best show of the last decade, but it certainly seems like it has all the pieces to be a stellar, memorable comedy, and it’s hard to doubt Apple TV’s judgement as they currently already have the best comedy on TV, Shrinking. And that stars someone I would consider extremely Rogen-adjacent with Jason Segel. I do believe The Studio will be good, I just wish I didn’t have to wait more than two weeks to see it.
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