Yeah, I’m a little late to the party on this one, but let the official record show (finally) that Seth Rogen’s new series on Apple TV+, The Studio, is up there with the best of what Rogen (and Apple TV+) has to offer. I’m a completist when it comes to Rogen projects (and a bit of an Apple TV+ completist as well), and this one isn’t just to fill in a gap.

The Studio places Rogen somewhat against type, playing the successful head of a movie studio and among Hollywood’s elite. In most of his screen appearances Rogen plays the everyman, but here he’s at the top of a corporate ladder, owner of a classic car collection, and doted on by his flunkies.

But he’s not without his flaws and insecurities. And that’s the genius of The Studio.

Any comparison to Woody Allen in 2025 invariably will elicit negative opinions (nothing to do with art), but The Studio definitely has a classic Allen vibe minus all politics and, well, other things. The jazz, the neuroses, the respect for old Hollywood and cinema writ large–it’s all there, and all good to watch.

Is Rogen the heir apparent to Woody Allen? Talented? Prolific? A certain Jewish touch of self-doubt?

The world needs a clean version of Woody Allen and this may be it.

Awesome.