Does Seth Rogen's The Studio count as Canadian content?

From Entourage to The Franchise, many television shows portray and poke fun at the inner workings of Hollywood. But critics are calling Seth Rogen's new Apple TV+ show, The Studio, the best one yet, thanks to its fresh satirical take on the inner workings of the movie industry.

The show also features many famous Canadians, including Rogen himself, Catherine O'Hara, Sarah Polley and more. 

Today on Commotion, TV critic Angie Han and entertainment reporter Teri Hart join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to discuss the comedic chops of The Studio, as well as if it can be considered a truly Canadian show. 

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Teri, you've called this the most Canadian non-Canadian show of all time. What are you getting at there? 

Teri: [The production] is dripping in the red-and-white. I think it's kind of odd because Seth admits that he and Evan [Goldberg, his writing and production partner] came up through the American system. These are not guys who came up in the Canadian system and understand how we make movies and television shows here versus the U.S. But I think that what we're really seeing here is the ability to satirize something that you are not a part of…. I think that that kind of Americana influence in our Canadian DNA is what allows us to do something like this.

Elamin: I just want to ask you if it makes a lot of sense to call this a Canadian show because this is one of those things that ends up blurring the lines … because it's made by a large American streamer. And having said that, it is at its heart driven by Canadians and has a lot of Canadians in it. This is a moment worth thinking through: what's a thing that makes a thing Canadian? How do you think about the show in that conversation?

Teri: Yeah, I think we're seeing more and more of it. But it is definitely not "capital C" CanCon. This is a show that has a lot of Canadians in it, as you said, Elamin, and is made by Canadians, but it's not owned by Canadians — and that is what makes "capital C" CanCon. We see that with a movie like My Old Ass, we could even see it with Sarah Polley's movie, Women Talking. At the end of the day, they're owned by American companies. 

The reason CanCon rules exist is because of culture, because of building culture. These rules were set up in the '60s, in the '70s. So are they due to be looked at again? Sure, probably. You want to know who wants to change them the most? The American streamers, they're the ones who want to change CanCon rules because they want access to our funds, they want access to all those things that are trying to be changed.

This is not CanCon. It's made by Canadians. We can still wave our flags watching it and be really proud of it. But at the end of the day, CanCon and those regulations are about building an industry that is about building culture — and we have to own something to build it.

Elamin: Angie, this is a show that is about the inside system of Hollywood. Is it a show for insiders? Do you need to know words that they're going to use and say, "OK, I don't know what that means, I need to look it up?" Or will you be able to follow along if you don't know anything about how Hollywood works?

Angie: No. I think as much as we've been nerding out about how specific to the industry it is, any concepts that you need explained, they explain within the show well enough that I think anyone would be able to pick it up. And I think really, you just need to have an understanding of what it's like to have a job that's demoralizing, which I feel like most people have some experience with at some point in their lives. As long as you like the sense of humour, you like the people, so on, this is a show anyone can enjoy.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Stuart Berman.