Spoilers

“Cinemacon”

The Studio is on its way to Cinemacon to present a high stakes presentation for their slate of movies coming in that year. Matt and crew were extremely confident that the movies they had for Continental were amazing and that they were going to dominate Cinemacon.

So Matt threw an “Old-School” Hollywood party.

Mistake #1.

It was a dream of his to throw a party like this… it represented to him that he had made it. However, a miscommunication with his mushroom dealer lead to him having chocolates with a massive amount of ‘shrooms in them.

This sent the entire party into chaos just as Matt found out that Amazon was in negotiations to purchase Continental Studios out from under them.

Bryan Cranston reprised his role as studio CEO Griffin Mill, who was totally stoned after eating way too many drugs.

As always, there are plenty of cameos in The Studio. In this one, Dave Franco is here in full party-boy motif while Zoë Kravitz unsuspectingly consumed too many of the spiked chocolates. Rhea Perlman was here too as Matt’s mother.

Watching the crew run around the hotel, avoiding the entertainment reporters (such as Matt Belloni) while trying to keep their people from ruining the presentation was hilarious.

The episode ended with a TO BE CONTINUED message, which will lead to the finale(?) next week entitled “The Presentation.” This has been hectic and chaotic and really funny.

Spoilers

“The Golden Globes”

I did not love this episode of The Studio because I am not a fan of our main protagonist acting the way he did. When the character becomes so crazy, it was not that funny for me. It was more pathetic.

It was fun to see the background of the Golden Globes and it felt very realistic with the way some of the creators would act.

I did feel badly for Matt. It is a shame how everyone made such a big deal out of being thanked, but he went out of his mind. I preferred the Matt at the very end, even though he was depressed over the lack of a thank you.

Zoë Kravitz and Adam Scott were the main cameos of this episode. Kravitz was the director of the movie that came from Matt’s studio which was up for the Golden Globe.

Of course, I want to thank Sal Saperstein.

Spoilers

“Casting”

Oh, Yeah!

Who would have thought that the announcement of Ice Cube voicing the Kool-Aid Man would turn into a major race problem?

Only those on The Studio, as they, once again, turn the situation upside down and parody discussions that really happen in Hollywood.

Matt (Seth Rogen) is just trying to cast his movie, but when black tropes and stereotypes threaten to crush his film, things spiral out of control ridiculously as only The Studio can do it.

Watching Matt, Sal and Patty spin out over every perceived racial slight and their attempts to overcorrect them was hilarious. Kathryn Hahn, especially, was at the top of her game in this episode.

Meanwhile, the show does something sneaky as it takes the race argument out of the final moments and replaces it with a comment on AI, something Matt had okayed earlier in the episode to replace some special effects artists in order to keep the film on budget and release schedule… stuff that was messed up because of the massive recasting that was going on because of race.

Genius.

This show has been exceptional and only seems to be getting stronger with each passing episode on Apple TV +. If you are not watching The Studio and you have any interest in the way films are developed, you are missing some excellent stuff.

Spoilers

“The Pediatric Oncologist”

Matt is dating a doctor. A pediatric oncologist, to be precise, and she invited him to a fancy black tie fundraiser with other doctors.

Things do not go well.

Matt agrees to go even though, as the studio head, he has to get a trailer for Johnny Knoxville’s new satire about projectile diarrhea approved.

This led to a conflict between Matt and the doctors who were with his girlfriend. They were looking down on his work, treating it as if it was not important. Matt disagreed, claiming his work as “art.”

While it is difficult to compare movie making to trying to cure cancer, these doctors were extremely dismissive of Matt and looked down their collective noses at him and what he does for a living.

This led to some extremely funny moments. My favorite one was when Matt outbid the doctors at his table for a gold trip to Ireland, even though he does not like golf. I actually cheered for Matt when he tossed out his winning bid at the last second.

I have been enjoying this Apple TV + comedy every week. Again, it feels so very meta, but has some very strong themes.

Spoilers

“The War”

Quinn and Sal are at war with one another over the director for a blatant rip-off of the Smile movie franchise called Wink. They go to all sorts of shenanigans to make the other one look bad until there is a dramatic and terrifying burrito accident.

The Studio is such fun show and, while I know this is a parody of the behind the scenes events that occur at a movie studio, I have this feeling that there is more truth to the episode than fiction, and that it is just turned up to a higher volume.

This episode featured Chase Sui Wonders as Quinn and Ike Barinholtz as Sal as Seth Rogan is more around the outside of the episode. We see him, but he is not the center of the chaos as he has been for the first four episodes. Several other cast members such as Catharine O’Hara and Kathryn Hahn are missing completely.

The show is very funny and I do like how it is willing to put Seth Rogan off to the side with confidence that the episode would still turn out great. The Studio is one more excellent series from Apple TV and I am glad I started with it.

Spoilers

“The Missing Reel”

This is another great episode of this new show from Seth Rogan.

One of the reels of the new movie from Matt’s (Seth Rogan) movie studio Continental Studios disappears and Matt and Sal are on the case.

“Good artists borrow; great artists steal.”—Pablo Picasso

They use this premise to set up a noir-like story, which is absolutely hilarious. The writing on this episode is just so clever and awesome. The background music makes this all the more epic.

This show has had some special cameos so far. In this episode, we get the cameos from Zac Efron and Olivia Wilde. Olivia Wilde’s cameo is so fun because they play off her own image in the real world.

This was such a fun little mystery, and filmed as a noir, it makes it even better.

And the ending… unbelievable.

Spoilers

“The Note”

The third episode of the behind the scenes, meta show, The Studio, was hilarious. This is yet another huge success for Apple TV.

This episode had Matt, in his role as the head of the studio, needing to give a note on a new film directed by Ron Howard. Matt is afraid to do so because he had done something stupid years before after viewing A Beautiful Mind with Howard at a friends and family viewing party.

The note was that they needed to cut a sequence at the end of Howard’s movie that was dragging down the film, a sequence that everyone who saw it, hated. However, no one could face up with Ron Howard and tell him. Apparently, it was a sequence in honor of his dead cousin.

Ron Howard, who appeared last season on Only Murders in the Building as himself in a fabulous cameo, is awesome here and Anthony Mackie guest stars as himself, the star of the aforementioned film.

Kathryn Hahn is here quite a bit too and you can never go wrong with more Kathryn Hahn.

This pull-back-the -curtain series has been really fun so far and I have enjoyed them tremendously.

Spoilers

“The Promotion”

“The Oner”

The new Apple TV + comedy from Seth Rogan is called The Studio. Seth Rogan played Matt Remick, the newly appointed head of Continental Studios, is hopeful to be able to keep movies relevant and alive.

The first two episodes were hilarious. Apple TV + has had some of the best comedic shows of recent times (Shrinking, Ted Lasso) and it seems as if they have had another great one.

The show is filled with a bunch of “inside baseball” references in movie making and it works with Seth Rogan’s bumbling, almost slapstick, behavior.

My personal favorite of these two episodes was The Oner, which showed a film set trying to get a complicated “oner” scene shot, fighting against time to shoot it as the sun went down. The only trouble is that Matt was constantly in the wrong place at the wrong time, causing delays and conflict. Of course, the whole episode itself was shot as a oner.

The show also starred Catherine O’Hara, Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn, and Chase Sui Wonders. The first two episodes featured guest appearances from Steve Buscemi, Bryan Cranston, Paul Dano, Martin Scorsese, Charlize Theron, Greta Lee, Sarah Polley, Peter Berg, and David Krumholtz.

I am curious how this show would play to those who are not into the meta world of filmmaking, yet I found it extremely funny and clever work.

Spoilers

“Jupiter”

“Entanglement”

I’m conflicted over the last two episodes of Dark Matter.

On one hand, I like the sort of happy ending for the characters… at least, it seemed like a happy ending.

On the other hand, I am not a fan of the League of Jasons that suddenly formed with hundreds of doppelgangers coming together. All apparently able to find their way to the same universe.

I was so confused when Jason 2 killed that first Jason right off the bat in episode eight. Then, there were Jasons coming from the woodwork. There were Jasons everywhere you turned.

The entire time, I kept wondering how we were going to know if the Jason who wound up with Daniela and Charlie was the OG Jason. I suppose they all were OG Jasons, but I mean the Jason that we have been following since the beginning of the series. Not an alternate version because Jason made a choice.

Overall, I am not a fan of how this ended. The multiple Jasons just did not do it for me. I just wanted Jason and Jason 2 to be the final conflict, but Jason 2 even helped them out at the end. That character changed his tune too much for my tastes and I just did not know what was going on.

Spoilers

“In the Fires of Dead Stars”

This was a great episode that has seemingly set the show up for a huge final two episodes.

Jason finally found his way back to his universe.

Jason 2 returned Ryan from The Box after the police started looking for him. Was this a different Ryan from a different universe?

Amanda had decided to stay in a universe instead of continuing on with Jason.

Jason tried to buy a gun, after seeing Jason 2 with his family in his home.

Jason 2 came into the gun shop right after Jason left and Jason 2 discovered that Jason was there.

Jason 2 had cracked open the cement covering the Box, leaving it open for Jason make his way through.

Jason 2 had a disagreement with his therapist version of Amanda, telling her that he wants to leave.

There is so much in this episode and it feels as if the next two will be insane. Episode eight is the penultimate episode of the first season.

Spoilers

“Superposition”

Jason 2 is becoming more manipulative with every second. He accidentally gives his son ice cream with nuts in it, not aware that the boy has an allergy to them. This started some questioning by Daniela about what was going on.

Then, man the Box is a perfect way to get rid of bodies. Imagine, you could just drop a body off in some nearby dimension and no one would ever know. Jason 2 does that very thing, albeit not a dead body, when he tricked Ryan into going with him into the Box only to strand him in an alternate universe.

Jason and Amanda are starting to feel the stress of their continued failures at finding Jason’s actual universe. They’re coming across so many that are just a little different and they were feeling it. They are also growing closer to one another, bringing even more stress into the situation.

Jason 2 sealed up the Box at the end of the episode, seemingly finishing his plan. However, I get the implication that Jason 2 may not be as happy in this universe than he thought he would be.

I am not sure what will happen next, but I do think the doubts that have creeped into Daniela’s mind will continue to grow as Jason 2 increases his efforts.

Spoilers

“Are You Happy in Your Life?”

“Trip of a Lifetime”

“The Box”

Apple TV + has had some great series. Ted Lasso, Shrinking, and Silo are three of my all-time favorites shows. So with an opening in the schedule and Battlestar Galactica done, I needed a new show to go along with the X-Files and The White Lotus. I knew of a show called Dark Matter, which I had heard positive things about, and I decided this would be a good opportunity to start this watch.

After the first three episodes, I am completely in! This is some fantastic sci-fi storytelling and some top notch multiverse action.

I will admit the first episode or so was kind of confusing until I was able to figure out which one of the Joel Edgertons were Jason and which one was Jason 2. Once I was able to focus in on which one was which, things fell into place.

Three episodes in and this is really rocking hard. So hard that I am trying to avoid just binging the entire nine episodes in one sitting. That would defeat the purpose.

Joel Edgerton is awesome in this series, playing two versions of Jason Dessen. You can see the differences, subtle as they may be, between the two men. Edgerton does a fantastic job of carrying this story on his back.

With Jason and Amanda conceivably back in Jason’s universe (or on their way) I am curious to see where this show goes next. When Jennifer Connelly took a bullet to the head in the one universe, it was a shocking moment that told me that anything could happen. No one was safe in this multiversal tale.

I have found yet another massive winner on Apple TV +.