The Studio just made fun of Netflix—essentially, to its face.
The Apple TV+ comedy‘s latest episode takes place at the Golden Globes. Brimming with a smorgasbord of cameos and celebrity guest stars, the episode skewers the ridiculousness of awards shows: how meme-ified they’ve become, how fake-humble everyone is, and how everyone desperately wants to be thanked.
That latter element is savaged courtesy of a swipe at Netflix. Throughout the episode’s depiction of the Globes, Matt Remnick (Seth Rogen), who is the head of the show’s fictional movie studio, Continental, gets increasingly annoyed. Every time a Netflix series wins an award, the winner profusely thanked Ted Sarandos, real-life CEO of Netflix—who, yes, also has a cameo. Matt wants that Sarandos glory for himself!
The Studio is a passionate love letter to and a brutal satire of Hollywood, and, to a lesser extent, movies and the experience of movie-watching. As such, its lampooning of Netflix could be seen as particularly pointed.
Recently, Sarandos told Variety that movie theatres are outdated and that they, Netflix, are saving Hollywood. One can imagine movie studio heads not appreciating that comment.
Netflix has also been criticized for making or acquiring movies to go on its streaming service, but, in order to have them be Oscar-eligible and to generate press, granting them a perfunctory, shrugging, and extremely, extremely limited theatrical run. The controversial Emilia Pérez is one such example. Essentially paying lip service to the moviegoers in order to get awards isn’t a good look, especially when your best and brightest of the year is Emilia Pérez.
Consumers have also soured on Netflix for introducing ads and raising subscription costs. However, if you want to watch Bridgerton, you need Netflix, so we’re sorta stuck with them.
All these real-life complaints about the juggernaut makes Netflix the perfect punching bag for The Studio, since Apple TV+, where the series streams, is the little guy. While the service has produced some winners—both literally when it comes to awards and in the sense that both Martin Scorsese and I thoroughly enjoyed Schmigadoon!—it hasn’t grown anywhere near to Netflix heights.
The Studio therefore has a lot of material to work with. Since Apple TV+ doesn’t have nearly the number of subscribers as Netflix or Amazon Prime, this is a good example of punching up. The extra sweet joke, however, is that, in real life, prestige awards such as the Golden Globes are, more often than not, going to shows that aren’t on Netflix—though Netflix sure does seem desperate to produce some winners.
In the episode, Severance star Adam Scott, whose Apple TV+ show is one of the most talked about and praised of the year, makes a guest appearance as himself. Scott wins in his category, something that could quite possibly happen at this year’s ceremony. While the episode’s other cameos and guest stars are nominated for fictional shows and films, Scott’s show isn’t mentioned…maybe this is a very subtle “for your consideration” from Apple.
Other cameos are pointed—they’re non-Netflix stars who pretend to be on Netflix shows. Hacks stars Paul W. Downs and Jean Smart, for example, each win awards for a fake Netflix series. When they win, they thank Sarandos.
In the bathroom, Rogen’s Matt corners Sarandos at the urinal and asks him the secret to his success. Sarandos admits that his talent is contractually obligated to thank him in acceptance speeches. The scene makes me think Netflix is in on the joke—even if it is also true that the company is thirsty for both awards and recognition.
With hilarious timing, given this episode of The Studio, Netflix just announced a massive two-week FYC series taking place at theaters and iconic locations across Los Angeles, to showcase its Emmy contenders and trod out talent vying for trophies—an awards campaign on an unprecedented scale.
If The Studio gets nominated and wins anything this year (which would be surprising given this season of Hacks), the meta of it all will be fascinating. And if Adam Scott wins for Severance, he has the opportunity to do the funniest thing: “Thank you, Sal Saperstein!” IYKYK.
