There are some spectacular options right now on the Apple TV+ calendar, and Seth Rogen is hoping he’s got the next show to utter in the same breath as Apple TV+’s best series like Severance and Ted Lasso. The Studio premieres on March 26, parodying the behind-the-scenes happenings in Hollywood. Rogen stars as Matt Remick, a newly appointed studio head who must learn to balance his dreams of creating prestige cinema with the constraints of, well, everything else.
The cast is objectively phenomenal — starring Catherine O'Hara, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders and Kathryn Hahn alongside Seth Rogen — but it’s the guest stars you simply won’t believe. Apple TV+’s The Studio got people talking when it premiered at SXSW, so let’s see what critics are saying before it becomes available to stream with an Apple TV+ subscription. According to Judy Berman of Time magazine, it’s the first great new show of 2025. Berman says:
The Studio is a timely, funny, and exuberantly—though not uncritically—cinephilic panorama of a business caught in the latest battle of a war between art and commerce that has raged since studios like Warner Bros. were still run by their namesakes. It’s also 2025’s best new show to date, and 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.
Peter Travers of Good Morning America also dubs The Studio the best new comedy on the 2025 TV schedule so far, saying Seth Rogen has never been better, and along with co-creator and co-director of all 10 episodes Evan Goldberg, he busts open a piñata of juicy inside jokes for film geeks to devour. The critic continues:
That's why repeat viewings of The Studio are fun, since you can catch things you missed the first time. Rogen and Goldberg know that movies are in crisis, what with pandemic theater closings, labor strikes, dwindled audiences and streaming competition. It's ironic that the biggest boost old-school movies have had in years comes from this streaming series.
Nick de Semlyen of Empire gives it 4 out of 5 stars, writing that Seth Rogen brilliantly spoofs the daftness of the movie business, and by the time Martin Scorsese is sobbing in the arms of Charlize Theron, The Studio will likely have sucked you in. De Semlyen says:
Entourage meets Curb Your Enthusiasm, it feels like The Studio could run and run. Rogen certainly has the contacts book to pull from. And given he manages to somehow wrangle a cameo from Netflix boss Ted Sarandos — for an Apple TV+ show! — there appear to be few limits constraining his mischief. A fizzy, acidic send-up of movie-industry shenanigans, The Studio has a flat stretch or two, but is largely triumphantly funny, as Rogen chomps joyfully on the hand that feeds him.
Paul Bradshaw of NME awards the upcoming comedy series with a perfect 5 out of 5 stars, also invoking Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage as he says the creators “deliver a 10-part self-loathing love letter to the biz that just might be the sharpest, funniest show of 2025 so far.” More from Bradshaw:
It’s all out chaos, all of the time, with each half hour episode pitched at breakneck speed – low-brow, high-art cringe-fests that come close to the best bits of Curb Your Enthusiasm and the most excruciating moments of Entourage. It’s better than both though because of the way it’s all lovingly put together. Shot like a Hollywood classic, soaked in style and featuring an impressive attention to detail, Rogen and Goldberg milk much more out of the Apple TV+ budget than you’d expect for a backstage frat-pack comedy.
Nick Hilton of the Independent rates The Studio 4 stars out of 5, calling it laugh-out-loud funny and praising Seth Rogen’s strangely relatable Hollywood executive. Because each episode is self-contained, Hilton notes they’re a bit hit-or-miss, but this series is ultimately worth checking out. The critic says:
The Studio plays out as a fast-paced (almost relentlessly fast) farce. Episodes lampoon specific elements of the industry, from delivering notes to directors to approving trailers and posters. But they pay homage to the filmmaking styles being depicted: an episode set during filming of a big one-shot finale is filmed in a single take (like Adolescence), while the mystery of a missing film reel on Olivia Wilde’s Chinatown knock-off unfolds as a film noir pastiche.
This sounds like a can’t-miss comedy, especially for fans who love to see Hollywood satirizing its most ridiculous quirks. The above critics aren’t the only ones raving about The Studio. The series is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with 97%. The first two episodes will be available to stream on Apple TV+ on Wednesday, March 26, with one episode coming each Wednesday thereafter.
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