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First off, this series is not for everyone. It can also be a mountainous challenge to grasp the jokes, especially if you’re outside the movie-making industry. In the beginning, you’ll see a Matt Remick speak enthusiastically about his strong desire to be head of studio to his boss (Cranston), after ousting Patty (Catherine O’Hara), who appears to be traditional in approach. However, later, Matt Remick decides to get Patty albeit as a mentor.

Although the episodes move fast, I feel like it could have been much faster – minus all the dialogue that’s done, often, chaotically – as much as the directors meant to portray what it’s like to work in Hollywood at a studio.

By episode three, I was convinced to watch this in its entirety. In fact, I think episode three is the most memorable, even if it’s quite violent and sarcastic, with Ron Howard as himself in the episodic series. Some reviewers said they actually laughed out loud many, many times while watching. Well, I know I didn’t.

The saving grace is perhaps its soundtrack, in particular If You Could Read My Mind by Canada’s late folk-rock singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, which works well with and perfectly sums up the pace of the series up to the end of episode three.

For those who grew up watching Malcolm in the Middle, you might be reminded of it in some ways.

Episode 4 is where you’ll catch Zac Efron, and is an intense episode featuring excellent shots and scenery of Chinatown, although it must be said, by this point, I started to not quite like Matt Remick in terms of how he carries himself – despite the clever writing.

I also enjoyed much of episode 5, until its tame ending.

Perhaps, the highlight for me was on the portions on where mental health was mentioned – Remick comes to the realization that movie-making and meeting stars and directors are not all that glamourous and glittery, after all. Remick of course, goes into a web of deceit to please certain names, which in turn, leads him into trouble, although most of the time, these troubles end up being watered down by some slapstick humour, which really changes the tone of the episode.

For Apple TV+ standards, perhaps, this one’s trying too hard?

The target audience could have been much, much wider.

Then again, there's going to be 10 episodes, with 6 already published, to date.

So, perhaps I’ll wait for the remaining episodes to come out.

But I’ve a feeling some of the remaining episodes will be quite tame.

Remind me to edit this, if I discover otherwise, once all episodes are out.

The Studio is now rolling until somewhere in May 2025.