I’ve said it before, but it absolutely bears repeating: Apple TV+ is currently producing some of, if not the strongest original content of any streaming platform.
Sure, HBO is still very much HBO, in that they are putting out some of the best shows on TV, having already released The Pitt, The White Lotus and The Righteous Gemstones all to general acclaim, and in 2025 have yet to release new seasons of The Last of Us, The Rehearsal, and Peacemaker, in addition to brand new shows It: Welcome to Derry, J.J. Abrams’ Duster, and the Game of Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. That’s quite the lineup – without even having to mention some of the other highly applauded and eagerly anticipated shows – so much so that it is difficult to envision beating it. Yet, Apple, too, has come into 2025 with great momentum that doesn’t necessarily match HBO’s quantity, but can more than challenge its quality.
What’s already come has certainly impressed, such as the Scott Derrickson movie The Gorge, another immensely well-received season of the criminally underrated show from Rob McElhenney, Mythic Quest, and of course, arguably the best show currently on TV, Severance, which recently dropped its long-awaited second season. The streamer will only build on this already solid foundation as 2025 will also see the release of a myriad of highly anticipated and promising productions that include new seasons of For All Mankind, Foundation, and Slow Horses, in addition to an adaptation of the science fiction novel Murderbot starring Alexander Skarsgård, while an adaptation of one of the greatest novels in the history of the genre, Neuromancer, has recently been confirmed, but in all likelihood won’t be released until 2026. If all this wasn’t enough, Apple TV+ will also be releasing the Brad Pitt-led movie F1, which will be the first feature from director Joseph Kosinski since the wildly successful Top Gun: Maverick.
While there is certainly reason to be excited for each of these upcoming projects from Apple TV+, we can ultimately only speculate on their overall quality and appeal until they release. However, this is not the case for the new satirical show partly created by Seth Rogen and his longstanding creative partner Evan Goldberg, The Studio, as reviews have already started to pour in in anticipation of its March 26th debut, and they have been nothing short of glowing, currently sitting at 100% from 23 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes as of writing.
Rogen, who also serves as a producer, writer and director on the show alongside Goldberg, plays Matt Remick, the newly appointed head of a fictional legacy studio called Continental Studios, as he tries to navigate the pitfalls of an everchanging industry, striving to make tasteful, artistic projects that also make significant returns in the box office, an ambition that his friend in the show’s trailer, played by David Krumholtz, assures him “never happens”. We then watch as chaos unfolds in what is a star-studded trailer that includes guest appearances from Greta Lee, Ice Cube, Olivia Wilde, Canadian Oscar-winner Sarah Polley (in what looks to be a hilarious scene with a raging Polley), Zoë Kravitz, Adam Scott, Bryan Cranston, and none other than the Martin Scorsese, in addition to numerous other stars not seen in the trailer. Rogen’s regular supporting cast also impresses, featuring the underrated comedian Ike Barinholtz, up-and-coming actress Chase Sui Wonders, the seemingly ubiquitous and very talented Kathryn Hahn, and the legendary Emmy award-winning actress and comedian, Canada’s own Catherine O’Hara.
Suffice to say, the cast alone is an astonishing collection of some of the most talented performers and filmmakers in the industry today, but it would all be for nothing if the creatives behind The Studio couldn’t bring all its elements together, yet the critics have been effusive in their praise of the show. Julie Berman of TIME Magazine, for one, has called it “2025’s best new show to date”, while Jacob Fisher of Discussing Film goes a step further, declaring The Studio to be “one of the best TV shows that can be found on streaming today”, while boldly asserting that this is the “Best Comedy Yet” from Rogen and Goldberg, which is truly saying something.
Clearly, this isn’t just Entourage with a new coat of paint, and in actuality the creative aspirations of the show transcend that of most TV comedies, as The Studio is not just some side-splitting affair bolstered by a jam-packed celebrity bonanza, but a daring treatise on the art of filmmaking that is not just reflected in its narrative, but in the very way it is filmed, as each episode is presented in what appears as a single shot. There’s a reason why we don’t often see this practice; it’s incredibly difficult to do, a sentiment with which I am sure the Oscar-winning cinematographer of Birdman, Emmanuel Lubezki, would whole-heartedly agree. But it is also one of my personal favourite techniques in cinema when done right, and if the words of Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter are anything to go by, “What elevates The Studio to nearly unbearable (complimentary) levels of visceral embarrassment is the way it’s shot.”
As such, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s The Studio has already earned the rapt attention of critics, serving as a biting satire that is just as much of a love letter to cinema, with Mashable writer Belen Edwards noting that “The Studio‘s love of film shines through in every episode.” Still, the show might not necessarily be for everyone (not that anything necessarily is for everyone, as I’m sure Rogen’s character Matt can testify), and curiously it has even been subject to review bombing on IMDb, even though the show is not set to release its first two episodes until March 26th. While it’s most likely the type of trolling one can expect from internet shit-stirrers, even Angie Han admits, despite her adulation for The Studio, that its “strain of cringe humor won’t be for everyone.”
Nonetheless, there is a great deal of reason to be excited for what might become one of the best new comedies on TV – if the reviewers are to be believed – and I for one, as both a fan of cinema and Rogen and Goldberg’s brand of comedy, cannot wait to sink my teeth into The Studio.