ANTI HEROES

"The Franchise," on HBO.

- INKOO KANG

Himesh Patel stars in a comedy series created by the "Veep" alumnus Jon Brown.

It's fitting that the title of the new HBO comedy "The Franchise" makes no direct reference to the superhero movie around which it revolves. That would be "Tecto: Eye of the Storm," a hundred-and-fifty-million dollar work in progress that has already been deemed an also-ran by its Marvellike studio. The executives view it as a money grab an opportunity to dangle before fans a three-minute cameo by a character from one of the studio's more popular tentpoles in the hope that they bite. Accordingly, no one actually working on "Tecto" is thrilled about being there, regarding it, instead, as a means to an end. The film's lead actor, Adam (Billy Magnussen), is betting that it'll be the vehicle that catapults him onto the A-list. The producer, Anita (Aya Cash), wants its success to open doors for her to make "actual movies," with the likes of Sofia Coppola. The very German director, Eric (Daniel Brühl), nurses fantasies that the film, which is set on a distant planet populated by fish-human hybrids, will offer meaningful commentary on fracking, or feminism-he hasn't really decided, but perhaps he'll have done so by the time he figures out the ending, a feat he attempts, sporadically, between takes. Most of the people ostensibly in charge are just there to pay their dues, meaning that no one sees it as his or her responsibility to ensure that "Tecto" is any good.