Season 1 of Apple TV+’s star-studded Hollywood satire “The Studio,” starring Seth Rogen as the beleaguered head of a fictional movie studio, became the comedy to beat on Tuesday for the 77th Emmy Awards, receiving 23 nominations.
The nominations tie it with Season 2 of “The Bear” for the most-nominated season of a comedy series ever heading into the final voting round, which begins on Aug. 18. The award ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 14.
Created by Rogen with his longtime creative partner, Evan Goldberg (along with Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory and Frida Perez), “The Studio” seemed, in many ways, perfectly engineered to succeed. For a comedy, it is exceptionally ambitious and well made — beautifully shot and elaborately choreographed, with most scenes filmed as extended single takes, or “oners” in the insider parlance of the show.
The show is also, as befits a series from the comedians behind “Superbad,” “Pineapple Express” and “Sausage Party,” very funny, taking aim at the pettiness of executive strivers, the boundless self-regard of celebrities and the industry threats posed by Big Tech and Wall Street. Rogen’s character must fight to preserve his artistic integrity amid the often humiliating demands of his corporate overlords.
“It knows its business well enough to be blisteringly entertaining,” The New York Times’s chief TV critic, James Poniewozik, wrote in his review of the series in March, adding: “When ‘The Studio’ is funny, it is funnier than most anything on TV now.”
It perhaps didn’t hurt that, for all the fun poked at Hollywood egos and excess, “The Studio” is very much a love letter to Hollywood — a show by, about and for the people who make screen magic, many of whom also vote in prestigious award competitions. Indeed, the show seemed to bring half of Hollywood in on the joke, with a parade of cameos by famous actors and directors, mostly playing themselves.
“We’ve decided to participate in it rather than lament it too much,” Rogen said in March of the big shifts that have left many in Hollywood scrambling. “To us it’s not a drag. It’s just like: The industry changes and evolves, and you must change and evolve.”
In racking up the most nominations for a comedy this year, “The Studio” beat two established winners in what had increasingly seemed like a two-horse race: “Hacks,” the HBO Max comedy about comedians, which earned 14 nominations on Tuesday, and “The Bear,” the moody FX restaurant dramedy, which earned 13.
Jean Smart of “Hacks” won best lead actress in a comedy last year, and the series won best comedy. Jeremy Allen White of “The Bear” has won the lead acting award two years straight; that series won best comedy in 2023. (Smart and White were both nominated again on Tuesday.)
The 23 nominations for “The Studio” — the most ever for a freshman comedy, besting the record of 20 set by “Ted Lasso” in 2021 — are part of a banner year for Apple TV+, which debuted in 2019. The streamer also laid claim to the most-nominated series this year for Season 2 of the sci-fi workplace thriller “Severance,” which earned 27 and is favored to win best drama. Overall, Apple picked up 81 nominations, topping its previous high of 72, set last year.
“The Studio” is well-represented in the marquee categories, including in the areas of writing, directing and acting. (Among them, Rogen got the nod for best actor.) But it is also poised to dominate the technical categories, earning nominations in production design, cinematography, picture editing, casting, costumes, hairstyling and others. Likewise, it picked up half the guest actor nominations, with Bryan Cranston, Dave Franco, Ron Howard, Zoë Kravitz, Anthony Mackie and Martin Scorsese all recognized for their appearances.
Season 1 of “The Studio” is competing against Season 4 of “Hacks,” which made a strong showing critically but saw its Rotten Tomatoes audience score drop significantly compared with Seasons 1-3. “The Bear,” whose fourth season debuted only last month, is competing this year based on its third season, which critics greeted with a more muted response than they gave the first two. (Eligibility for this year’s awards ended on May 31.)
“The Studio” was renewed in May for a second season and is expected to begin production in December.
Sarah Bahr writes about culture and style for The Times.
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