The new HBO satire shows the behind-the-scenes chaos of making a blockbuster, as star Daniel Brühl confirmed, "There's so much truth in it."

Art seems to imitate life with new HBO series The Franchise – the satirical comedy about life on a superhero movie set is getting mixed reviews.

Is the comics-to-screen formula played out? Yes. Should this series work harder to make good jokes about that? Yes.

Himesh Patel leads the comedy produced by Armando Iannucci and Sam Mendes, set behind the scenes of a big-budget comic book adaptation.

This satiric takedown comes from Armando Iannucci ("Veep") and Jon Brown ("Succession").

Which is a stealth joke within “Tecto,” and “The Franchise,” and a mischievous stroke of satire that transcends an already absorbing storyline. Mr. Anderson is the Journal’s TV critic.

Hollywood loves a navel-gazing satire about the movie business. Audiences do too, when given a good reason, from the upbeat mockery of 1952’s “Singin’ in the Rain,” to the excoriation of a studio executive in 1992’s “The Player,

British satire of Hollywood's top export goes behind-the-scenes of a fictional movie franchise to berate the artistic and moral bankruptcies driving modern blockbusters.