Must Watch reviews: The Studio

Every week the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.

This week, Hayley Campbell and Scott Bryan join Rima Ahmed to review, new Apple TV+ show The Studio.

Co-created and starring Seth Rogen as an movie executive in Hollywood, The Studio follows Matt Remick attempting to juggle celebrity egos and corporate demands as he tries to keep his movies alive and relevant.

But what do the team think?

Rima: "I think that Seth Rogen has played an absolute blinder with this TV show. I think it's one of my favourite things that I've seen in years."

Hayley: "Oh, wow."

Scott: "No, really?"

Hayley: "That's big talk."

Rima: “I love all of this extra stuff that's going on in the background, but also I do think it looks beautiful. Los Angeles looks amazing in this."

Scott: "And it's Apple, so they've spent a considerable amount of money making it look very amazing.”

Rima: "Seth Rogen looks good too. He's doing a great job as this studio executive who's the kind of Michael Scott of the film world. Like if you've ever watched the American Office, very much like a bumbling executive. I loved it."

Hayley: "Yeah, so did I. It's basically a man who loves films trying to work at the most artless end of the film-making business.

"So he's trying to balance his desire to make good movies with the fact that the studio wants to make money and he sort of has to sell his soul to keep his job. And all the ways he has to do that are chaotic and incredibly funny.

“The way it's shot, the second episode in particular, is almost one take and it's frenetic and stressful and it's so tense it has that kind of Curb Your Enthusiasm quality to it. Like when you're watching it and you want to hide behind the sofa because it's getting so painful.”

Rima: "It's stressful to watch. Like, it's quite panic-inducing watching a full uncut half an hour in this man's life.

“But also, I'm going to say something here. I know I just said that I really love this, but the one-shot thing, I don't think it works for everything. And I think there are some scenes where it doesn't work for The Studio."

Hayley: "Oh, really? I thought it really worked in the second episode. It's on the set of a film and it was physically painful for me to watch. He insists on paying a visit to the set of a film they're financing, even though no one wants him there.

"And the film is doing this hugely important one take shot. The episode itself is shot kind of in one take. It's being shot at a specific time of day, so they have to get the right lighting - there's no margin for error.

“I'm a film journalist, so I've been on loads of different sets and your one job as a totally useless person is to stay out of the way.

"And it is actually quite hard work because you're in the way whatever you do. You're always stepping on a cable, you're getting in a shot, you're sitting on someone's script or you’re in an actor's eye line and you're being annoying. And this guy did the opposite of everything I try to do.

"He was constantly in the way, physically, audibly, emotionally even, and I had to pause it and go do something else because the tension was so specific to something I have lived that I just couldn't face it - it was too real.

"So I think if you're a film nerd, you will love this. There are so many in-jokes that go by in a split second and so many cameos - they're probably all in Seth Rogen's phone, he's just texting them. I loved it - I thought it was great fun. Horrible but fun."

Scott: "I just love that for a one-take episode, that you, Hayley, could only watch it in several attempts - it does somehow devoid the entire process.

"Not to be that cynical person at a party, because I did a little bit of digging, it isn't all filmed in one take. It's essentially quite long takes and they used kind of quite a long, elaborate shot. So I think it's about four different scenes spliced together."

Hayley: "They'll pan across something dark, that's a good place to cut it."

Rima: "There's an in-joke where someone says, 'audiences don't care if it's a one shot or not', and actually watching it, in my head. I was thinking - 'yeah, because why am I asking the question of how the camera has got off the back of the car into the house when I should be focusing on what's happening in the scene?'"

Scott: "To bring it back to Adolescence and not to be even more cynical, part of me wishes that actually it was filmed in one take, just because people really do care when it has been pulled off.

"I think for me, I agree. I think that this is a Must Watch too. It manages to do so many things. It's incredibly hard for it to pull off, but it does because it manages to, I think, merge three shows together and create something new.

"So it's bit like W1A - in terms of things going wrong. It's quite 30 Rock-ish, that Tina Fey sitcom in terms of its observations about the media and TV, and it's also a bit like Ricky Gervais's Extras in terms of having loads of stars making observations and essentially making fun of their own persona. There's so many A-listers that at times, you can't work out who is a cameo and who is actually a character in this TV show.

"But the biggest stroke of genius is the fact that it doesn't become smug or too much in love with itself because that's the number one failing that can happen with these sorts of shows where it's a love letter to your own industry.

"I think some episodes are better than others, but it's consistent enough, it's quite sitcom-y. The fact that it was able to pull it off without falling down is a complete masterstroke.”

Rima: "We need to talk about some of those cameos because they are delicious. Martin Scorsese in that first episode had me rolling on the ground. I had to pause with some of his line delivery. Maybe one of the best directors of all time, but why is no one talking about Martin Scorcese's acting skills?"

Hayley: "And he's so willing to make fun of himself. Do you ever watch his daughter's TikToks that she does with Martin Scorsese? He just seems to be up for anything. Like, why not? He's so great.”

Rima: "So there's two episodes out already. Is it a weekly thing? Because Apple like to do this, don't they?”

Scott: "As a way to keep you subscribing, yes they do... So the first two are out now.”

Hayley: "So everyone who cancelled your subscription after Severance, you're going to have to go back in."

The first two episodes of The Studio are available to watch on Apple TV+ now, with a new episode every Wednesday.

But before all that, why not contact Scott and Hayley with the shows you’ve been loving, loathing or lamenting on mustwatch@bbc.co.uk.

This week, the team reviewed Million Dollar Secret and Austin.

Must Watch is released as a podcast every Monday evening on BBC Sounds.