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.

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

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,