Hollywood ‘Studio’ Satire, ‘Conners’ Final Season, ‘Mythic Quest’ Finale and ‘Side Quest’ Anthology

The Studio

“Film is my life,” gushes newly promoted movie-studio head Matt Remick (Seth Rogen), whose celluloid idealism soon curdles in a dark pit of soul-crushing compromise, fatuous flattery and endless humiliation in an unflinching and hilarious satire that could be subtitled “Honey, I Shrunk the Ego!” Rogen, a co-creator and co-director of each episode, is one of the most hapless heroes of a cringe comedy since The Office‘s Michael Scott showed how it was done. The opener, featuring Martin Scorsese in a memorably squirm-inducing cameo, is followed by a virtuoso second episode, where eager film buff Matt visits a movie set to observe an ambitious long take (known as a “oner”) being filmed. “Pretend I’m not here,” he says, which proves impossible as his awkward presence ignites a horrific slapstick farce, which is itself filmed in one long, uninterrupted and continuous shot. Clever and unsparing, The Studio is the best new comedy of 2025. (See the full review.)

The Conners

The Roseanne spinoff returns for an abbreviated seventh and final season, evoking the memory of the blue-collar family’s late matriarch when sister Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) concocts a plan to sue the pharmaceutical company responsible for Roseanne’s fatal addiction. Her widower Dan (John Goodman), who’s accustomed to life’s disappointments, isn’t so eager to revisit that painful time with no guarantee of success. Jackie is also inspired to rejoin Lanford’s police department after a chance encounter with a female officer, played by Metcalf’s own daughter, Zoe Perry (Young Sheldon).

Mythic Quest

The anxiety level is at an all-time high in the Season 4 finale of the workplace comedy set at a video-game company. Creative director Ian (Rob McElhenney) has left MQ — or has he? — and his pregnant colleague Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao) is ambivalent at best and nowhere to be seen when a corporate rep from Canada arrives to address the dysfunctional crew: “This would all be amusing as a play by Moliere, but this is a business. Montreal is concerned.” The only thing they can all agree on is that the new game expansion “Elysium” is genius, but where does that leave the geniuses who created it?

Side Quest

Speaking of expansions, Mythic Quest delivers a treat for those who may be left wanting more in a four-part anthology of vignettes set in the MQ world, each a parable of obsession. The first, “Song and Dance,” is the most conventional, following long-suffering and overworked art director Phil (Derek Waters) on an overdue romantic vacation to Hawaii, which Ian can’t stop himself from interrupting. Two segments deal with superfans, one set in a comic-book store where only one copy of a long-awaited MQ comic has arrived, and the other involving a guild of teenage game-players who discover a glitch in the role-playing game that could affect their friendship forever. The strangest, “Fugue,” stars Annamarie Kasper as a talented cellist in an orchestra on a world “Mythic Quest” tour whose drive for perfection leads to a breakdown.

Chicago Fire

Firehouse 51 chief Dom Pascal (Dermot Mulroney) is in a bad place after the tragic death of his wife in a car accident, and he’s looking for justice, but workplace pressures aren’t likely to bring him peace of mind. New to the floater pool: Severide’s (Taylor Kinney) half-brother Damon (Michael Bradway), who’s hoping to find a permanent home in the firehouse. Elsewhere in One Chicago world, Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) encounters a former patient on Chicago Med (8/7c), and Burgess’s (Marina Squerciati) memory is put to the test after an incident at her local diner on Chicago P.D. (10/9c).

 

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• Survivor (8/7c, CBS): One castaway learns a hard lesson about oversharing, while other tribemates open up during a shared meal. Followed by The Amazing Race (9:30/8:30c), with Bali in Indonesia the next stop, where the first team to arrive at the “driver’s seat” has a tough decision to make.
• Wild Cards (8/7c, The CW): Max (Vanessa Morgan) and Ellis (Giacomo Gianniotti) enter the world of high fashion while investigating the death of a streetwear clothing designer. Followed by Good Cop/Bad Cop (9/8c), with the Hickman sibs reeling from a family secret while helping Eden Vale recover from a sabotage attack.
• The Masked Singer (8/7c, Fox): Group C takes the stage for the first time during a Carnival-themed night.
• Abbott Elementary (8:30/7:30c, ABC): After last week’s surprise departure, several of the Abbott staff take on new responsibilities, and Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) struggles to connect with her afterschool music class.
• The Future of Nature (10/9c, PBS): A four-part docuseries puts carbon in the spotlight as scientists work to restore and stabilize the Earth’s ecosystems. The first episode explores the “biological carbon pump” of the planet’s oceans.

ON THE STREAM:

• Mufasa: The Lion King (streaming on Disney+): The origin story of the legendary lion, directed by Barry Jenkins with new songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, makes its streaming debut.
• Million Dollar Secret (streaming on Netflix): A devious new game show, hosted by Peter Serafinowicz, plays out over three weeks, pitting 12 strangers in an exotic estate to discover which among them has received and is hiding $1 million in a mystery box. Winners of challenges get clues to the “millionaire’s” identity.
• Harlen Coben’s Caught (Atrapados) (streaming on Netflix): The first of Coben’s novels to be adapted in a Latin American setting, Caught stars Soledad Villamil as an Argentinian journalist investigating the disappearance of a 16-year-old girl.
• Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney (10 pm/ET, streaming on Netflix): The eclectic guest list on the unorthodox talk show includes the legendary Henry Winkler, SNL alum Pete Davidson, comedian Luenell, music from Mannequin Pussy and a visit from funeral director and embalmer Raymundo Perez-Plasencia.