SXSW’s opening night always brings surprises and amazing entertainment. This year, The Studio, the TV premiere starring Seth Rogen, lived up to the tradition. Rogen stars in this satire of the entertainment industry business world and also wears the showrunner, writer, director, and executive producer hats. He shares these jobs with long-time co-producer Evan Goldberg (Sausage Party, This is the End) and together they have once again created something amazing. The show will debut on Apple TV+ on March 26.
Promote Me
The show revolves around the misadventures (the only kind of adventures Seth Rogen characters have) of Matt Remick. In the first episode, The Promotion, Remick, a mid-level studio executive, has a chance at taking over as the studio head when the current boss leaves.
Dealing with the personalities and business realities, or unrealities, of the entertainment world provide Remick with an unending series of wild, and hilarious, challenges. His inner conflict revolves around the contradiction between “creating art” and “making money.”
I have worked on enough films, although never at the level portrayed in this series, to know that industry folks who watch this will find things to relate to and wince at in every episode. It’s The Office goes Hollywood.
Look! It’s…
One of the elements adding to the enjoyment of the first two episodes, which played at Austin’s Paramount Theatre, involved the visual surprises of so many familiar and beloved faces. I got the feeling that Rogan has quite a few friends in Hollywood. Each time a favorite appeared, the crowd in the Paramount cheered and applauded.
Many familiar, fun faces have recurring roles on The Studio. Catherine O’Hara of Second City TV and Schitt’s Creek will grace every episode. So too will Ike Barinholtz (Mad TV, The Mindy Project), Kathryn Hahn (Transparent, Glass Onion), and Chase Sui Wonders (City on Fire, Generation).
Cheers from the Paramount crowds also went up for actors appearing as guest stars including Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Paul Dano (The Batman), Martin Scorsese (director of Goodfellas), and Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road). And that was just episode one.
The Studio received a special recognition at SXSW from IMDB: The STARmeter Award. The award results from rankings on the IMDbPro STARmeter charts. These charts reflect the interest of IMDB’s hundreds of millions of customers worldwide. For a show which hasn’t yet appeared on TV, this is impressive.
The trailer for The Studio can be viewed below. Fun fact. In the scene on the patio overlooking Los Angeles, the rainbow is not a special effect. It’s real.
Future of SXSW
Next year’s SXSW will take place March 12 through 18. You can find out more at their website or on X, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
SXSW, long a part of Austin, Texas, has expanded into other parts of the world. The Asia Pacific region has enjoyed SXSW Sydney starting in 2023. Later this year, European movie, music, and tech creatives can experience SXSW London. The conference promises that each of these events will have its own special flavor.
The post SXSW 2025 TV Review: ‘The Studio’ Kicks-Off TV Premieres with Seth Rogen and an Amazing Team of Stars appeared first on Blogcritics.