The new Apple TV+ series, The Studio, has nailed every creative aspect, from casting and writing to inventive formalism and thematic construction. The most complimentary thing you can say about the series by Seth Rogenand Evan Goldbergis that it made cameos exciting again. Today, cameos, in film or television, represent the nadir of artistically bankrupt storytelling. They exist solely as fan service and appeal to the lowest common denominator of viewer engagement. What The Studio shrewdly identified is that, if you provide cameos with a substantial role and contextual importance within the narrative, they cease being cheap dramatic devices and evolve into integral supporting roles. The show’s memorable appearances by Martin Scorsese, Sarah Polley, Greta Lee, Ron Howard, and more are not only hilarious, but they add needed authenticity and meta-textual baggage to a story about the inside baseball of the bizarre world of Hollywood.
