Reaction: The Studio, "The Golden Globes" | Season 1, Episode 8

Here’s the thing about The Studio’s commitment to verisimilitude.

On the one hand, the recreation of the Golden Globes in “The Golden Globes” is frankly insane. As someone who has spent a fair amount of time in the Beverly Hilton when it hosted the summer TCA Press Tour, I immediately realized that they had gone all-in here: they are in the same ballroom where the Globes are held, having created an award show on an absurd scale.

But on the other hand, the broad commitment to the bit makes the small discrepancies more problematic. When Adam Scott wins his award and begins the episode’s frankly delightful “Sal Saperstein!” runner, The Boys co-stars—with a bit of synergy for Rogen, who produces that show—Erin Moriarty and Antony Starr announce him as the winner of the award for “Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie.” And there are two problems with this.

The first is that even in an earlier scene with the Hacks team playing itself, they specifically refer to their project as a “Limited Series,” which is the parlance that award shows have replaced Miniseries with in recent years—the Globes specifically moved to it in 2023. The second is that in every year but in 2023, the Golden Globes have given a combined supporting acting performance for all television projects, merging comedy, drama, and limited series. This means that the specific award Scott won only existed in a single year, and even when it did, its name was “Supporting Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Television Film.”

And look, I know I’m supposed to focus on Matt Remick’s deeply vain spiral as Sal’s viral fame hardens his need to be thanked in Zoë Kravitz’s acceptance speech. It’s another installment in an ongoing exploration of how pathetic Matt is willing to be. Catherine O’Hara returns as someone who has been in his position, and what I like about their dynamic is that she enables it: she acknowledges that Matt is being pathetic, but she also affirms that he’s right to want to be thanked, and correct in his anxiety over what it says about his place in the industry if he isn’t. The show’s take on Matt seems to be that everything he’s feeling is human, but he’s in an industry designed to strip you of that humanity, and in a thankless role where he’ll never get the credit he wants and needs unless he makes it contractual like Ted Sarandos does (or if he switches to producing like she did, which reinforces the Amy Pascal of it all).

We can debate about whether we actually are sympathetic to Matt’s situation, and whether he’s right that studio executives are “artists”—I’d also recommend checking out Friend of the Newsletter Phillip Maciak’s take on the show at The New Republic for how the show’s meta-take fits into our perception of both Film and TV. But I need to speak my truth and say that the show’s commitment to a “real” version of Hollywood made me hyper-focused on all the wonky bits of staging that went beyond the Miniseries/Limited Series mistake. I realize I am Comic Book Guying this, but if they’re going to commit to the bit, they can’t also have Zack Snyder come to the microphone to present a category carrying the Golden Globe. That’s the job of the attractive model-type who arrives onstage after the nominees have been presented!1 Just go back and watch Snyder try to open that envelope while also holding that fake Golden Globe—truly, what are the people behind this show even doing? This isn’t even to mention the internal contradiction wherein Quinta Brunson thanks Alexander Payne in her speech winning for Intended Consequences but then Zoe Kravitz suggests in her speech that Payne directed Day Lilies. This show can’t even keep its fake movies straight! Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.

In the end, the night doesn’t matter: Matt might be devastated that Zoë’s attempt to thank him gets cut off with the microphone, but he gets the Blackwing deal, and I appreciated the earnestness of that final interaction with Kravitz (who is at the start of a three-episode arc that’s a lot of fun). But the fact it doesn’t matter makes this another vignette hitting similar notes to those that came before, which is perhaps why the discord in some of the details bugged me so much…okay, it’s mostly just that I’m an obsessive pedant, but I still think there’s a concern that that we’ll carry into the now-confirmed second season.