The Studio
Seth Rogen and company could have taken the easy route with a behind-the-scenes Hollywood show. Instead, every episode is packed with smart, carefully constructed payoffs that reward your attention.
It's been fun watching Seth Rogen grow as an actor, writer, producer, and director. The Studio could have coasted as an Entourage-style look behind the scenes of Hollywood, but it was much smarter than that. Every episode has a Curb Your Enthusiasm-quality callback or surprise that pays off beautifully — sometimes you see them coming from a mile away, and sometimes they genuinely catch you off guard.
You can feel the effort, the craft, and the love that went into this show. Even all the work that went into the just-a-few-seconds-in-the-background posters and trailers for all the fake movies. As a lover of movies, I really enjoyed it, even if the frantic one-ers and tight close-ups occasionally stressed me the out.