HBO superhero satire Cathartic but thin
Although HBO’s latest comedy is called “The Franchise,” there’s never any doubt which one franchise creator Jon Brown (“Succession,” “Veep”) has in mind. The beleaguered crew, stressed producers and insecure stars of “Tecto: Eye of the Storm” form a small fiefdom of a sprawling empire. Under the supervision of an invisible puppeteer, the master story is a tangle of continuity errors. Actors are taken off set for a day-long cameo elsewhere on the boring, generic backlot when plot holes require it. Directors and artists with prestigious resumes make time for a paycheck and receive praise for their visionary genius as their every contribution is overruled or ignored. If this IP abomination had a name, it would be Blah-rvel Cinematic Universe. But of course that is not necessary.
A byproduct of the superhero era is a whole series of (barely) fictionalized laments about what the superhero era brought about. “The Boys” has expanded its comic strip of the same name into a profane film against giant corporations and the “content” they produce. (In Aya Cash, the Amazon drama shares a cast member with “The Franchise.”) Hollywood satires like “Hacks” and “The Other Two” have put the state of blockbuster media under fire. Even the MCU has gone full throttle and broken the fourth wall with attempts at self-awareness like “Deadpool & Wolverine” and Disney+’s “She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law.”
What “The Franchise” brings to the table, then, is not new insight into the problems of popular culture, but the sophisticated cynicism of a comedy coaching boom. The half-hour series spits its bile with eloquence and conviction that, at least to begin with, create their own momentum. But ultimately, ‘The Franchise’ is more of a (noisy, funny) response to the zeitgeist than an entity in itself.
“The Franchise” is executive produced by Armando Iannucci, creator of “Veep” and “The Thick of It,” and the writing staff includes alumni of his many projects, including Brown and “In the Loop” co-writer Tony Roche. The eight-episode season shows signs of a shared DNA with these predecessors: the characters, like the minor political officials of the previous works, are hapless cogs in a rudderless institution. They can also ulcerate a blue streak. “You punched my eyeballs, you spineless bastard!” someone shouts after the series premiere culminates in an on-set accident.
Daniel (Himesh Patel) is the closest thing to a hero in “The Franchise.” He is the first assistant director, that is, the person in charge of running the set while the factual director, arthouse spitfire Eric (Daniel Brühl), starts a fight about product placement. Flanked by his third AD, the cheerfully ineffectual Dag (Lolly Adefope), Daniel spends his days putting out fires and managing egos. The film’s protagonist, American beefcake Adam (Billy Magnussen), has himself ‘Dorito’ed’ (fat top, skinny bottom) with injectable sheep hormones; the villain, British theater veteran Peter (Richard E. Grant), insists on addressing his colleagues by their number on the call sheet. (He also claims he’s “low-maintenance.”) Pat (Darren Goldstein), the studio’s ever-present eyes and ears, is a farmer who prides himself on his bad taste. When an aspiring artist mentions Ingmar Bergman’s name, Pat needs clarification: ‘Who is Berg Man? The ice cube man?’
The fruit is low-hanging, but enlightening to snatch away with such a naked spotlight. Such are the pros and cons of “The Franchise” stance, a biting sneer dulled only by a palpable sense of exhaustion. “Nose clips on, let’s eat shit, amen” is Peter’s idea of a hype-up chant; When a little hero, played by Nick Kroll, drops by for a cameo appearance, he quickly rates the performance as a “BFOGT: Big Fight Over Glowy Thing,” adding, “I shot this scene three times in two years .”
This jaded attitude is reinforced by a sense of specificity. ‘The Franchise’ is not just about the dominance of superheroes broadly, but about the specific late-imperial moment when the machine gets stuck in post-‘Avengers: Endgame,’ with diminishing returns at the box office and increasingly cumbersome amounts of interconnected backstory . There are references to trimming an oversaturated release calendar, as Disney CEO Bob Iger has ordered, and car crashes on the way home from late-night filming, a horror story cited in the lead-up to the union’s near-strike IATSE in 2021. A storyline about Katherine Waterston’s rare female protagonist who has to deal with an avalanche of online hate is especially moving. “The Franchise” may not like what it sees, but its creators have clearly spent years observing the field, or more likely, subjecting it to it.
However well-deserved this pessimism – about the future of show business, about the possibility of making real art within an unyielding structure – may be, when sustained for four hours it is unrelentingly bleak. “The Franchise” never leaves its claustrophobic soundstage, and the lives the film crew leads outside the walls are limited to a handful of quickly ended phone calls. Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, who is producing and helming the pilot, strips away the Technicolor CGI to reveal a fluorescent-lit facility. The lively energy of the shoot comes from the constant adrenaline production of the workers.
‘The Franchise’ could compensate for this oppressive atmosphere by investing more in the characters. Overshadowed by the more notable personalities above the line, many of the lower-level contributors fade into the background, an unfortunate case of making a point a little too well. But even when the foundation for a more personal plot has been laid, it is rarely used to its full potential. We’re told Daniel shares a romantic past with his new boss, the producer played by Cash. There’s little sign of the resentment or new sparks such a situation could create; the ex-couple are simply too busy steering their sinking ship. Unlike the bloated mess it mocks, “The Franchise” stays focused on the task at hand. That task happens to focus on the end, an end to which the human players are mostly just a means.
The first episode of “The Franchise” premieres on October 6 at 10pm ET on HBO and Max, with remaining episodes airing weekly on Sundays.
