- Rogen created and stars in the new Apple TV+ comedy
- The new series satirises the workings of the film industry
- The first episodes are out at the end of the month
The first reviews of Seth Rogen’s new comedy The Studio are trickling in – and the critics are very impressed so far.
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The Studio’s first episodes will drop on Apple TV+ on 26 March. Rogen stars as film geek Matt Renick, the newly appointed head of fictional Continental Studios. He is battling to save the struggling company amid the rapidly social and economic changes happening within the film industry.
It also stars Catherine O’Hara, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders, and Kathryn Hahn.
So, what have the critics been saying?
Mashable was one outlet with plenty of praise for the show, writing: “The series is as likely to take a fine scalpel to specific Hollywood issues as it is to bludgeon the studio system with a club. Both methods work — and elicit belly laughs galore — because 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.”
The Hollywood Reporter‘s review notes that while The Studio’s style of humour won’t be to everyone’s taste, the quality still holds up.
“The Studio’s strain of cringe humor won’t be for everyone; even as it mellows in the second half of the season, it remains too intense to wind down with or throw on in the background,” it reads. “But for those willing to get on its frazzled wavelength, this is a strong contender for the best new comedy of 2025.”
“The Studio feels like the type of project that Rogen could take command of”
However, The Wrap‘s assessment of the show was a little more mixed. “When The Studio is really cooking, as with a detective-film parody that comes early in the season, it’s very good — funny, inventive, affectionate toward the movies while skeptical toward their industry.
“But in about half the episodes, the spectacle of watching things blow up in Matt’s face during virtuoso oners (including oners used in an episode dedicated to capturing a great oner) becomes a bit like watching a show that keeps staging big climactic shoot-outs over and over.”
Collider, meanwhile, observed that “with The Studio, we get to see everything that Rogen is capable of in one project, as he is a co-creator, writer, director, executive producer, and star.
“While Rogen was once an important piece of [Judd] Apatow’s crew [on Freaks & Geeks], it’s clear that now, Rogen is a leader in a similar vein, putting together an impressive ensemble for this ambitious series, one that parodies and lovingly lampoons Hollywood from the inside. In a way, The Studio feels like the type of project that Rogen could take command of, one that his career has been building towards for the last decade.”
