TAGGED AS: Comedy, streaming, TV
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the duo that brought us Superbad, Pineapple Express, Invincible, and many other great movies and TV shows, is back with The Studio, a comedic series about Hollywood. Led by Rogen and featuring an all-star supporting cast plus many industry cameos, the Apple TV+ original is garnering unanimously positive reviews following its premiere at the SXSW Film Festival. Based on these initial praises, The Studio should be a big hit.
Here’s what critics are saying about The Studio:
It’s 2025’s best new show to date.
— Judy Berman, TIME Magazine
[It’s] one of the best TV shows that can be found on streaming today.
— Jacob Fisher, Discussing Film
For those willing to get on its frazzled wavelength, this is a strong contender for the best new comedy of 2025.
— Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter
You’re going to want to green light this one yourself.
— Tyler Doster, AwardsWatch
Perhaps The Studio is too limited in its scope to appeal to the masses and too reliant on its starry cast to hook those who aren’t already obsessed with pop culture.
— Ben Travers, IndieWire
Creative duo Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg showcase that their comedy roots are still thriving with their most earnest, inventive, and laugh-out-loud hilarious venture yet.
— Jacob Fisher, Discussing Film
Rogen and Goldberg, who also direct the 10-episode series, swing for the fences with one home run after another. They are aided by stellar scripts and an ensemble of actors who are having an utter blast.
— Gregory Ellwood, The Playlist
The show is also consistently hilarious.
— Peter Martin, ScreenAnarchy
The series will leave you in stitches.
— Archi Sengupta, LeisureByte.com
The Studio manages to cover old ground with new hilarity, able to push past its generic subject matter to concoct a laugh-per-minute series that will shock you as much as it makes you laugh.
— Tyler Doster, AwardsWatch
The jokes consistently lead to huge laughs without fail.
— Jacob Fisher, Discussing Film
Its satire could certainly be sharper but the comedy is consistent.
— Ben Travers, IndieWire
The Studio’s strain of cringe humor won’t be for everyone.
— Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter
The Studio is the most entertaining and spot-on depiction of Hollywood since Robert Altman’s The Player…that’s high praise.
— Gregory Ellwood, The Playlist
It’s an enlightening series for anyone who isn’t well-versed in film production and a side-splitting inside joke for anyone who is.
— Tyler Doster, AwardsWatch
“[It’s] one of Hollywood’s sharpest self-portraits in ages — which is saying something, considering how much the entertainment industry loves to celebrate and satirize itself.
— Judy Berman, TIME Magazine
The Studio covers subjects that I’ve seen a million times before, yet still mines unexpected laughs and causes bittersweet tears to flow.
— Peter Martin, ScreenAnarchy
The Studio brings forth the issues within the entertainment industry and why it’s failing in the most chaotic and hilarious way possible.
— Archi Sengupta, LeisureByte.com
The Studio‘s love of film shines through in every episode. 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.
— Belen Edwards, Mashable
The Studio invites the audience along by filming each episode as one long tracking shot with no cuts, making it feel truly immersive to the chaos that runs wildly throughout Hollywood.
— Jacob Fisher, Discussing Film
What elevates The Studio to nearly unbearable (complimentary) levels of visceral embarrassment is the way it’s shot.
— Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter
It works out well for the series and makes it even more exciting to watch. The go-go-go attitude adds to the chaos of the situations that are presented in each episode, making us laugh and leaving us breathless, but ready for more, by the end of it.
— Archi Sengupta, LeisureByte.com
Above all else, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg make the audience care about each character after unwrapping the absurd comedy of it all.
— Jacob Fisher, Discussing Film
Although the character development we get with each of Matt’s friends is somewhat minimal, they’re all still able to contribute with their own opinions with such varying personalities.
— Chris Gallardo, Tell-Tale TV
Seth Rogen, especially, is both maddening and sweet in every scene.
— Archi Sengupta, LeisureByte.com
Rogen is doing his usual high-pitched panicked comedy, which still works quite well after all these years.
— Ben Travers, IndieWire
The Studio [is] a carefully crafted comedy that sees the entire cast — most notably Ike Barinholtz — at the top of their comedic abilities.
— Tyler Doster, AwardsWatch
The great Catherine O’Hara also stands out as the former head of Continental who weaves in and out of the season.
— Jacob Fisher, Discussing Film
Kathryn Hahn and Catherine O’Hara bring the house down.
— Ben Travers, IndieWire
Kathryn Hahn truly steals the show as the studio’s terminally trendy head of marketing Maya; every time she’s on screen, the comedy ceiling goes up several notches.
— Dave Nemitz, TV Line
Particularly, Hahn pulls out all the stops in making Maya as happily rambunctious as a studio marketer could be with a bit of that fiendish Agatha Harkness touch.
— Chris Gallardo, Tell-Tale TV
The guest stars are incredible, beginning with Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos…the standouts include Paul Dano, Anthony Mackie, Olivia Wilde, Ron Howard, Dave Franco, and Zoë Kravitz. All game and willing to skewer the business with utter glee.
— Gregory Ellwood, The Playlist
Each guest star slips right into the absurdity of The Studio and plays into the heightened reality of Hollywood in-fighting perfectly. Whether that’s [Dave] Franco getting high on shrooms or Ron Howard beating someone up, each guest star brings their A-game.
— Jacob Fisher, Discussing Film
The viewing experience, in a nutshell, is like Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at his TV set, over and over, for 30 straight minutes. The constant recognition of so many people, places, and events contributes to a giddy sense of being there, in the board room where the next blockbuster happens, which bolsters the comic shenanigans captured with unwavering urgency.
— Ben Travers, IndieWire
I’m personally using this review to start Martin Scorsese’s Emmy campaign for Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in The Studio.
— Jacob Fisher, Discussing Film
The Studio: Season 1 premieres on Apple TV+ on March 26, 2025.
