Read the original The Studio post here.
Welcome to OPE!, the newsletter by writer and music journalist Brady Gerber (me). This essay, originally published in my weekly newsletter, is free for all subscribers. Paying subscribers also gain access to an exclusive curation of my favorite songs and links of the week. All typos are intentional.
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Well, hello there. How are you?
As I discussed last week, 2025 feels flimsy in terms of new “stuff” I like. I’m also reaching the age where I don’t place as much value on “new”; I’m happy to sit around and catch myself up on amazing albums and other works of art that I’ve missed instead of checking out whatever trendy show we’ll forget about in three months. But I was compelled to start The Studio after hearing from everyone I trust saying how much they loved it. I did the same thing with Black Bag, but I might save that for next week.
For this week, regarding The Studio: It’s good!
This is maybe my second-favorite Apple TV+ original show as of this writing. (Slow Horses is still my favorite, and I stand by my original gut check that Severance is a smart show for people who don’t read books, which I say out of love because I have some friends who worked on that show and know that a lot of people enjoy it … it’s just not for me.) I especially like all of The Studio’s hyper-local-specific jokes that probably hit harder if you’ve ever lived in LA, which John Mulaney’s Netflix show does well too. The LA and Hollywood-ness of it all might also turn you off if you’re sick of Hollywood winking at itself, which is fair.
I’ve also been historically hot-and-cold on Seth Rogan. I was the perfect age for Judd Apatow’s golden age and loved those movies as a young teen until I rewatched them as an adult; as I get older, I’m less interested in “riffing” filmmaking. But this character as a new studio executive thrust into trying to salvage a sinking ship feels like the ideal Rogan role: Someone who owns up to his vanity but in the service of trying to make something “greater” (or at least something that doesn’t suck), but, unlike most of his other characters, not pretending he’s a nice guy when he’s not. It’s refreshing that Rogan is a compelling lead in a show in which no one pretends to be the hero. The point is not “I hope Rogan finds happiness,” but “I hope this guy can make something great.”
The first episode is worth watching even if you’re on the fence. Rogan probably blew the show’s pilot budget on all those big star cameos, but they all work. Martin Scorsese playing himself is the highlight, though I think Paul Dano was fantastic in his brief scene.
The second episode does feel a little tiring after a while. We get it, we’re doing meta commentary on how tough it is to film a oner while wink wink can you tell that we’re filming this entire episode as a oner and oh by the way let’s remind you for the seventh time that the Goodfellas oner is a classic and blah blah blah. But it still manages to capture a true feeling of modern Hollywood. In my very limited experience of being on a set—I played “Pool Guy #3” as a background actor in a recent Peacock show that I won’t name because I don’t want you to look for my one shot in which you can barely see me from a faraway drone shot—the second episode is pretty spot on about how being on set is essentially like being in a factory, and you’re just raw material being told by union dudes in cargo shorts and leg tattoos (a compliment; those guys rule) where to stand and how to look and what to say and how to say it at any given second, and one slight mistake tears the whole thing down. It’s stressful with a lot of second-hand embarrassment. It’s fun.
So, yes, if you’re into Hollywood making fun of itself and need a new show, I recommend The Studio.
With love and all the other good things,
-b
Original OPE! logo by Claire Kuang. Words and cartoons by yours truly. My views don’t reflect my clients or the publications and brands I work with. All typos are intentional.