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Linda Holmes
The cast of Apple TV's very funny new satire the Studio starts with Seth Rogen. He plays a Hollywood studio head desperately trying to do a job he's afraid of failing at every single day.
Aisha Harris
But that cast list goes on and on. There are comedy MVPs like Catherine O'Hara and Bryan Cranston, but also cameos from actors and directors playing themselves, including Anthony Mackie, Zoe Kravitz, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese and Ice Cube. Oh yeah. And that is only the beginning. I'm Aisha Harris.
Linda Holmes
And I'm Linda Holmes. And today we are talking about the Studio on Pop Culture Happy Hour from npr. This is a fun one.
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Glenn Weldon
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Linda Holmes
Joining us today is our Pop Culture Happy Hour co host, Glenn Weldon. Hello Glenn.
Glenn Weldon
Hey Linda.
Linda Holmes
And also with us is Daisy Rosario. She's the senior supervising producer of audio at Slate, where she works with great shows like Death, Sex and Money and Icymi. Welcome back, Daisy.
Daisy Rosario
Oh, thanks for having me. I'm so happy to be here.
Linda Holmes
It's always great to see you. So, in the studio, Seth Rogen plays Matt Remick, who becomes the head of Continental Studios after his top boss, played by Bryan Cranston, fires his mentor Patty, played by Catherine O'Hara. Soon Matt is trying to run the place with the help of his old friend and right hand Sal, played by Ike Barinholtz. Also, you can't have a studio without marketing. Heading up that department is Katherine Hahn as Maya, a ruthless and calculating operator who always has her eyes on the box office. Like, for instance, when they're planning a big tentpole movie about Kool Aid.
Aisha Harris
You wanna make a fancy Kool Aid movie?
Linda Holmes
Why? Why?
Daisy Rosario
Nobody even watches the Oscars anymore.
Aisha Harris
Did Mario Brothers win an Oscar?
Daisy Rosario
Nope.
Aisha Harris
It did not. No, it didn't. But you know that it did win $1.3 billion.
Linda Holmes
We watch Matt oversee Continental's entire slate, which includes a Sarah Polly drama starring Greta Lee, a Ron Howard action picture with Anthony Mackie, and a gritty noir directed by Olivia Wilde and starring Zac Efron. And all these people appear in the series as themselves, having anywhere between a light chuckle and a belly laugh at their own expense. And sometimes proving, as in the case of not just Ron Howard, who obviously we know as a comic actor, but also Martin Scorsese, that they are very funny in their own right.
Daisy Rosario
That's the phrase.
Linda Holmes
They drank the Kool Aid.
Glenn Weldon
Drink the Kool Aid, whatever it is.
Aisha Harris
That's the phrase.
Linda Holmes
That's the climax of the picture. It's a big, big sequence.
Glenn Weldon
That's great. In a sense, I guess you could say that your film is about Kool Aid.
Linda Holmes
Very funny. That Martin Scorsese. The series spans everything from the Golden Globes to a missing reel of film to naturally Vegas. And it's streaming on Apple tv. I'm going to start with you, Aisha. How did the studio work for you?
Aisha Harris
Look, I'm not going to sit here and say that everything that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg touch turns to gold, because I watched a few episodes of that Sausage Party series that they came out with, and my God, that was horrific. But since Freaks and Geeks, there's pretty much been a pretty high chance that I was going to love something that Seth Rogen was either directly or indirectly involved in. So I'm pretty disposed to like this show. And my God, I like this show. I love it. In the realm of Hollywood insider programming. I feel like this show exists somewhere between like an episode of Curb youb Enthusiasm and an Oscars telecast like Curb. It's very crude, blunt, very self aware about the industry's trappings and the hypocrisy and all the weirdos, but it still maintains the Oscars underlying message that the art of making movies and entertaining people means something.
Glenn Weldon
And.
Aisha Harris
And I like that tension. I like that balance. And as the show goes on, you see the push and pull of, you know, the Seth Rogen character and his like, concern about art versus commerce and all these other things. So I loved this. I had some small quibbles, but overall this was just very fun and very much up my alley.
Glenn Weldon
I really dug it too. And that kind of surprised me for some of the reasons that Aisha mentioned. I am here to represent that cohort of listeners who were thinking of giving this a miss. But what sets it apart is, and this surprises no one more than me is Seth Rogen, who has decided here that if he just did his usual shtick, his usual on screen Persona and nothing more, that kind of goofy, amiable, regular guy who is probably a stoner, it wouldn't work here. Because this thing needs emotional stakes. And that's something that that Persona can't really. It doesn't really have the capacity to soak up. So he digs in here and he creates a real character with a single perfect tragic flaw. He's a guy wracked with, driven by this need to be love, loved, to be respected, to be considered cool. And the minute you want to be cool, you will never be cool. That's what the show understands. So instead of just Rogan being Rogan, and instead of just another Hollywood satire where, you know, directors and actors are invited to kind of come into the sandbox and play around in that kind of knowing way, which renders it, I mean, pretty safe. The satire. I think what we get in each episode is a cautionary tale, a morality play, Greek tragedy, basically, to go back to that flaw. And you know, we haven't mentioned the C word, but that's also in Curb. Cringe. There's certainly some cringe here in the mix.
Aisha Harris
Oh, so much, so much.
Glenn Weldon
Plus, as you mentioned, Kathryn O'Hara and Kathryn Hahn. What am I made of stone? The middle aged comedy queer. And that's my cheat code. So, yeah, I'm in. Totally in on this show.
Linda Holmes
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Daisy, how about you?
Daisy Rosario
I agree with everyone's descriptions so far. I'm a huge Seth Rogen. Fan in general, like, just have always appreciated the stuff that he's done and what he's kind of kept his own focus on, like, throughout his work. Right. Like, he just really seems to make stuff that he genuinely likes, and that, honestly feels increasingly rare in general. The execution of the show, I think, is really well done. Like, oh, my goodness, like, the cameos. Like, I. I knew that there were a lot of cameos. I didn't look up any specifics beforehand. So it was really fun to be watching it with my wife. And there's a scene where, you know, he goes to knock on a door, and, like, literally, my wife's like, who's this gonna be? And then we both were like, oh, man, that's such a great person. Like, so it had all of that. Right. But for me personally, man, I found it hard to watch. I don't know that I could have gotten past the second episode. I actually didn't feel this way for the first episode, but particularly once you get into the second episode and they're like, in these situations. For me personally, it hit really close to home. Like, I've been a creative executive. I am a producer by trade in general. Like, I've worked on a bunch of different stuff, and I don't know, I've always heard people tell me that, like, the bear is very stressful, and I don't feel that when I'm watching it because I think it's probably too close to, like, family stuff, which you think would stress me out. But my. It's almost like my nervous system understands the wavelength watching this. My nervous system was like, ping, ping, ping. Like, save yourself. Get out of here. I was stressed. But I do want to be clear that I think it's seems really good, even though I don't think I could have gone beyond episode two, if not four, being here today.
Linda Holmes
I get that. Yeah, I. Boy, I really liked this too. And I have really become a fan of some of the stuff that Seth Rogen is doing in his kind of middle age, if we can say it that way. I really liked Platonic, which he made with Rose Byrne, also for Apple, which Nick Stoller was one of the creators of that. You see quite a bit of Nick Stoller in this series. He also plays himself.
Aisha Harris
I know what he looks like now. I had no idea before.
Linda Holmes
And there's a really interesting continuum between people who are cameos in the purest sense. Right. They walk on and they walk off, and that's basically all you get. And people like Nick Stoller like Anthony Mackie, like Ron Howard, who play a character who is a version of themselves. And we did a whole episode at one point about people playing themselves in this kind of setting. And I think in just about every case, they do it exactly right. Because we had talked about a. It needs to be funny. You need to have a take. There needs to be an idea of who you are that's not just who you are. And so, for example, Daisy mentioned the second episode, and the second episode is about Matt going to the set where Sarah Polley is shooting a dramatic film starring Greta Lee, which, like, it makes sense. Right? It sounds like a thing that would exist, right?
Aisha Harris
Absolutely.
Daisy Rosario
Yeah.
Linda Holmes
And that's true, I would argue, of all of the fake movie projects in this, they sound very close to things. But anyway, they are trying to shoot a very complicated one or one of these long shots without cuts that requires a lot of choreography. And they're trying to shoot it right at sunset, so they have very limited time. The only thing he wants is to go there and be cool and be liked and be supportive and be helpful. I want to be a cool, good executive. And he can't do the only things she wants. And so she gets more and more frustrated. Sarah Polley does gets more and more frustrated with him, and all he's trying to do is please her. And it's also, I think, that episode, such a good meditation on the way that people in this kind of job, like the job he now has, they learn that they can't believe anything that anybody says to them just as much as other people don't believe them when they say things because they're often lying. He realizes is like, oh, they're lying when I give an idea. And she's like, sure, great idea. He's coming to terms with the fact that now you are so separated from these people that you can't have a conversation with them because, A, they want too much from you. Right. They want you to promote the movie. They want, in her case, more money for the music budget. And also they fear you. And so now you can't have a real conversation. And so, as Glenn was saying, he has this tragic flaw where his intentions consciously are basically good, but he also just can't help just big footing. Everybody all the time.
Aisha Harris
Yeah, yeah.
Glenn Weldon
His every relationship is transactional. And in the show's quieter moments, which there aren't a lot of, we see that, as you say, Linda, he sees it, too, and he hates it.
Aisha Harris
There's a moment in the second episode where patti, the Catherine O'Hara character. And that tension is also very interesting because he's the one who replaced her. But now she is getting some sort of creative fulfillment out of her lower.
Linda Holmes
She's an actual producer on movies.
Aisha Harris
Right, Right, right. And so she tells Matt at one point, she's like, literally, the only reason anyone wants to talk to you is because they want to get something from you. That kind of sinks in, but it takes, like, several episodes. And we see later on when he's at an awards show and he's just so desperate to. And how that just blows up in his face. It's like he still doesn't understand. Like, this isn't how these things work. Like, you just. You have to figure out how to fulfill yourself. And I think one of the other smart things about this show is that it is basically all about his work. We learn a little bit about his background, like he has a date, but, like, it's always his personal life that is intersecting with his work and not his work intersecting with his personal life. And I liked that, because there's a world where this could have been. Like, we're trying to balance. Like, he has a wife and kids, and he's on set. No, he's single. He is thrust into this position he's always wanted, and now he's kind of hating it. And I love that.
Linda Holmes
One of the things that I. That I really, really like about the way that they made this is, I think it is in some ways more effectively cutting than some of the Hollywood satires that we have already mentioned, while being less misanthropic. And the way they get there is they make it a study of how even people who are all individually decent human beings, who are driven by a genuine love of what they do, are constantly lying, undermining each other, throwing fits, doing outrageous things. I mean, the basic structure of many, if not most of these episodes is a problem appears. Matt begins trying to solve it, and he makes it into a gradually bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger problem until it explodes in some horrifying way. What I take away from this is that really the problem is once you create a system that is this messed up, it cannot be corrected by the individual good intentions of people within it. And that's one of the reasons why, yeah, Catherine O'Hara, as Aisha mentioned, is getting kind of more fulfillment now that she's not an executive, because the job of the executive is a miserable job. If you really love movies and that is systemic and not individually, a thing that you can solve, and that is why, ladies and gentlemen, the studio reminds me of the Wire because that is also the lesson of the Wire is individual good intentions do not fix completely broken systems. And that's what I like about it. I think it is, like, somehow more punishing toward executives and also more sympathetic to them. And I don't know exactly how that is accomplished, but that is sort of how the show struck me.
Daisy Rosario
Yeah. I think that that kind of humanity is really a big part of what makes Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's work work the way it does. Right. Because Superbad, if they didn't have that actual, like, core friendship and those emotional ties to it, then it's just 1,000 dick jokes in a movie. Right?
Aisha Harris
Yeah.
Daisy Rosario
And like, sometimes I forget when I go back to rewatch it, but I go back to rewatch it for those dynamics and things that really work where there's so many other movies that can maybe have that many jokes in it, but that humanity part of it is not there. Right. And so that helped make it a classic. And I think, yeah, they both keep that pretty core to the work that they do together. And I think, you know, it seems somewhat true of, you know, the little bit that we do know about Seth Rogen as a person. Like, if you read interviews with him, and I think that he also feels really weird about that. Is what I do important? But also it's such an all encompassing world. Once you're in it, like, it's. You can't work deeply in Hollywood and not think that it's super important. On some level, you just won't survive the day. Right. Because that's just part of what you have to believe to be able to do a bunch of the stuff that you're doing. There's a line early on in the show that Seth Rogen has been mentioning in the interviews.
Glenn Weldon
And I got into all this cause, you know, I love movies, but now I have this fear that my job is to ruin them.
Linda Holmes
And he says that's something that somebody really said to them, that somebody really.
Daisy Rosario
Said to him, and that made him have more empathy for their role as well. Right. And so, you know, Lord knows I've experienced that just in podcasting. Like, it's ridiculous. So, yeah, I think that part of it's very core for them as well.
Aisha Harris
Yeah, it's interesting to me because this feels like such a time capsule of where Hollywood is in this moment in a way that I think we're going to look back on and be like, this was really what it was like, or like at least what we, the public have think it is. Like, it's just fascinating to me, the fact that, like, there is a cameo from an actual executive that, like, I'm struggling with, because you could argue that that person is responsible for most of what is happening in this show.
Linda Holmes
I am going to be fascinated to see how people receive that scene, especially compared to how I think the person in it thinks it's going to be received.
Aisha Harris
Exactly, exactly. That is the one cameo where I was just like, I don't know about this. I think that's the issue. Right? It's like, it's this moment where the show frequently references Barbenheimer. We are in a moment where people are trying to duplicate this. That makes the Kool Aid joke even funnier. Like this long, gestating Kool Aid joke that continues. But it's also just like, man, this is kind of, kind of sad. And I do wonder if, like, this will feel in the same way that something like, I don't know, Sunset Boulevard. And I'm not saying that they're at all on the same part, but what I'm saying is that, like, we look at a movie like Sunset Boulevard or any movie that kind of like, really captures what Hollywood was feeling in that moment. I feel like this show does that in a way. Like the anxieties around TV and streaming and all of those things are really, really just brought to the forefront here.
Linda Holmes
I do want to talk about some of these performances. I will say, like, I have been for a long time a person who has felt that a little bit of Ike Barinholtz goes a long way. That is how I felt when he was on the Mindy Project. That is how I have felt in some other things. I think he's very good in this. Catherine O'Hara here is actually playing a little bit smaller than she sometimes has. It's not small. It's not small. And I love Catherine O'Hara big. I have a Moira Rose mug. It's not that, but I like the fact that there's a little bit more of a chance for a more kind of authentic seeming. I don't want to say Moira Rose wasn't authentic for a more kind of low key emotion to come out.
Daisy Rosario
The job is a meat grinder. It makes you stressed and panicked and miserable. One week you're looking your idol in the eye and breaking his heart, and the next week you're writing a blank check for some entitled nipple baby in a beanie.
Linda Holmes
While Bryan Cranston has not been playing this Crazy for a while. He plays a role in the sort of. There is inevitably a sequence that involves everybody and drugs and debauchery. To me, that is never the stuff that turns me on the most. I am a long standing, like, drunk people are only funny if you're also drunk kind of person. However, this is as close as you're gonna get to making me like it because it's funny. And Bryan Cranston plays a role in that. And does he go for it? He really does.
Aisha Harris
There's also just like a lot of great banter, including a moment when the Katherine Hahn character is describing Steve Buscemi and she nails exactly what his public Persona is like in just the most perfect way. Steven Buscemi is absolutely the worst case scenario. Either people know his name, but they can't recognize his face, or they know his face, but they have no idea what his name is. He is not good for Bennett.
Glenn Weldon
He's quite.
Aisha Harris
She's the devil on his shoulder. Like she is pushing him to do all the bad stuff.
Glenn Weldon
And props to her costumer as well, because the fits, the LV bag, the LV everything. That's a choice. Cranston is going real big in that first episode. You think he can't go bigger than you see subsequent episodes. And he in fact does. And I was worried about that at Linda because, you know, I know you, and I know you do not react well to drug scenes and drug storylines. It worked for me because there is a ticking clock in that scenario. There's stakes, there's danger. I think if it was just people getting high, I agree with you. But I think it's in service of something. A very funny something, but something.
Aisha Harris
Anyway, to its credit, it comes out of, again, Matt's fatal flaw of wanting to be cool and the reason why they all get so high. It's just like, dude, you're such a nerd.
Glenn Weldon
Yeah. Cause there's also a lot of technical skill on display too. All those single camera takes which gives it. I mean, there's a lot of them, but they're used effectively. There's a fluidity and a dynamic quality. It brushes up against mannered. In some places, you're almost getting more condiment than meat. But it always pulls back at just the right moment. I think it's fully in control of what it's doing.
Linda Holmes
Yeah, this one was a kick. I very much enjoyed it. I really hope people are gonna find it. Apple has had a heck of a time getting people to find most of their shows with a couple of major exceptions. Give it a shot. You know, it's probably not gonna be as triggering for you as it is for Daisy.
Daisy Rosario
It really probably won't be. Like, honestly, in one of the interviews I read one of the things that Seth Rogen was saying was that set in Hollywood, it's, you know, this life that not everybody experiences. But he wanted the dynamics of like the boss that is making choices from a place of insecurity and it's impacting other people and all of that stuff to really resonate. And I think, yeah, if you're not as easily triggered as me, if you have not had to move celebrities around and famous, powerful people around when the sun is going down and you have only a few minutes to do something, I think you can also enjoy this Absolutely, 100%.
Linda Holmes
Well, we do want to know what you think about the studio. Find us@facebook.com PCHH that brings us to the end of our show. Daisy Resarn, Aisha Harris, Glenn Weldon, thank you so much for being here. I would hire any of you to be in my movie.
Aisha Harris
Thank you. Thank you, Linda.
Daisy Rosario
Thank you.
Linda Holmes
And just a reminder that signing up for Pop Culture Happy Hour plus is a great way to support our show and public radio. And you get to listen to all of our episodes sponsor free. So please go find out more at plus.npr.org happyhour or visit the link in our show notes. This episode is produced by Hafsa Fatma and Lennon Sherburne and edited by Mike Katzeff. Our supervising producer is Jessica Reedy. Hello. Come in. Provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from npr. I'm Linda Holmes and we will see you all tomorrow.
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Summary of "Pop Culture Happy Hour" Episode: The Studio
Podcast Information:
In the latest episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour, hosts Linda Holmes, Glen Weldon, and guest Daisy Rosario delve into a comprehensive discussion about Apple TV’s new satire series, "The Studio." The show stars Seth Rogen as Matt Remick, a Hollywood studio head grappling with the daily pressures and insecurities of his high-stakes role. This episode explores the series' themes, performances, and its satirical take on the entertainment industry.
"The Studio" boasts an impressive ensemble cast featuring comedy veterans like Catherine O'Hara and Bryan Cranston. Additionally, the show includes numerous cameos from prominent actors and directors such as Anthony Mackie, Zoe Kravitz, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, and Ice Cube, who play themselves (00:31).
Seth Rogen as Matt Remick: Rogen portrays a more emotionally nuanced character compared to his usual comedic roles. Glen Weldon praises Rogen's depth, stating, “This thing needs emotional stakes. And that's something that that Persona can't really. It doesn't really have the capacity to soak up” (06:05).
Catherine O'Hara as Patty: O'Hara brings a unique blend of humor and authenticity, playing Matt’s mentor who is fired, leading to intricate power dynamics within the studio (02:58).
Bryan Cranston: Cranston delivers a memorable performance that adds a layer of debauchery and humor to the series. Linda Holmes remarks, “Bryan Cranston plays a role in that. And does he go for it? He really does” (19:52).
Guest Cameos: The appearance of real-life directors and actors adds a layer of meta-humor and authenticity. For instance, Nick Stoller appears as himself, blurring the lines between fiction and reality.
"The Studio" navigates the complex interplay between creativity and commercial demands in Hollywood. The show meticulously portrays Matt Remick's struggle to maintain artistic integrity while meeting the relentless pressure to produce box-office hits.
Art vs. Commerce: Aisha Harris comments on the show's balance, comparing it to “an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm and an Oscars telecast,” highlighting its self-awareness and critique of industry hypocrisies (05:46).
Transactional Relationships: Glenn Weldon points out Matt’s tragic flaw—his need to be liked and respected—leading to purely transactional relationships. “He digs in here and he creates a real character with a single perfect tragic flaw. He's a guy wracked with, driven by this need to be loved, to be respected, to be considered cool” (06:05).
Systemic Flaws: Linda Holmes draws parallels to The Wire, emphasizing that the show illustrates how individual good intentions can't fix a broken system. “Once you create a system that is this messed up, it cannot be corrected by the individual good intentions of people within it” (13:47).
The hosts dissect specific story arcs within the series to highlight its satirical edge and emotional depth.
Tentpole Movie About Kool Aid: The planning of a big-budget movie centered around Kool Aid serves as a satire on frivolous high-budget projects. Aisha Harris humorously questions, “You wanna make a fancy Kool Aid movie?” (03:37).
Episode Two - The Set Interaction: In the second episode, Matt interacts with Sarah Polley’s character during a high-pressure film shoot. This episode is highlighted as a turning point where Matt confronts the transactional nature of his relationships. Daisy Rosario shares her personal struggle with the show's intense portrayal, stating, “My nervous system was like, ping, ping, ping. Like, save yourself. Get out of here. I was stressed” (07:36).
Awards Show Scene: A pivotal scene at an awards show illustrates Matt’s desperation to be respected, ultimately leading to personal and professional fallout.
"The Studio" is lauded for its incisive satire and relatable portrayal of Hollywood’s inner workings. The hosts provide a multifaceted analysis that underscores the show's relevance and depth.
Balancing Humor and Critique: Aisha Harris appreciates the show’s ability to balance crude humor with meaningful commentary on the entertainment industry. “It's very crude, blunt, very self aware about the industry's trappings and the hypocrisy and all the weirdos” (05:46).
Character-Driven Narrative: Glenn Weldon admires how Seth Rogen’s character transitions from a stereotypical comedic persona to a deeply flawed, relatable leader. “Matt has this tragic flaw where his intentions consciously are basically good, but he also just can't help just big footing. Everybody all the time” (07:22).
Systemic Commentary: Linda Holmes emphasizes the show’s critique of systemic issues within Hollywood, suggesting that personal struggles are symptomatic of larger institutional problems. “The problem is once you create a system that is this messed up, it cannot be corrected by the individual good intentions of people within it” (13:47).
Humanity in Characters: Daisy Rosario highlights the humanity in the characters, noting that the show’s emotional depth sets it apart from other satires. “That humanity part of it is not there in many other movies. Right. And so that helped make it a classic” (16:05).
Linda Holmes (00:19): “The cast of Apple TV's very funny new satire The Studio starts with Seth Rogen. He plays a Hollywood studio head desperately trying to do a job he's afraid of failing at every single day.”
Aisha Harris (05:46): “I feel like this show exists somewhere between like an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm and an Oscars telecast. It's very crude, blunt, very self aware about the industry's trappings and the hypocrisy and all the weirdos, but it still maintains the Oscars underlying message that the art of making movies and entertaining people means something.”
Glenn Weldon (06:05): “This thing needs emotional stakes. And that's something that that Persona can't really. It doesn't really have the capacity to soak up.”
Daisy Rosario (07:36): “My nervous system was like, ping, ping, ping. Like, save yourself. Get out of here. I was stressed.”
Linda Holmes (13:47): “Once you create a system that is this messed up, it cannot be corrected by the individual good intentions of people within it.”
Aisha Harris (17:00): “There's a line early on in the show that Seth Rogen has been mentioning in the interviews: 'I got into all this 'cause, you know, I love movies, but now I have this fear that my job is to ruin them.'”
The Studio emerges as a sharp, insightful satire that captures the essence of modern Hollywood’s complexities. Through stellar performances, particularly by Seth Rogen, and a well-crafted narrative that intertwines humor with profound industry critiques, the show resonates with both casual viewers and industry insiders. The hosts of Pop Culture Happy Hour commend the series for its ability to humanize its characters while delivering a poignant commentary on systemic issues, making "The Studio" a must-watch for those interested in the nuanced portrayal of the entertainment industry.
Listeners are encouraged to watch The Studio on Apple TV to experience this engaging satire firsthand.
Key Moments from the Episode:
This summary encapsulates the main discussions and insights shared by the hosts, providing a comprehensive overview of "The Studio" for those who haven't listened to the episode.