Alright, I have finally caved and subscribed to Apple+ in order to watch the last series I wanted to get to before the Emmys air this Sunday, The Morning Show. Look, when this show first got announced, I dug into my hipster way and refused to watch because of some of the cast. Yes, I am a big fan of Billy Crudup and Mark Duplass, but Jennifer Aniston and Resse Witherspoon are just slightly overrated in my opinion and that was enough to turn me off initially. That coupled with all the hype around the show also turned me off. Sometimes excitement about a show gets me excited about it, but sometimes it has the opposite effect on me. Go figure. Regardless of how I felt then, though, I really, really enjoyed The Morning Show and I’m glad I finally gave it a viewing!
The show is inspired by the book Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV written by Brian Stelter. However, when I watched the very first episode, Matt Lauer of the Today Show immediately came to mind, because almost the exact same thing went down. Beloved anchor, Mitch Kessler (played by Steve Carell), has just been let go due to multiple sexual harassment allegations against him. Shocked by his actions is his co-host, Alex Levy (Aniston). I didn’t follow the Matt Lauer story closely, but I believe Savannah Guthrie was as surprised by his allegations as was portrayed on the show. More fictionalized are the lengths that Carell’s character go to in order to get his life back.
Since Alex is told that the network was looking to get rid of her she takes some decisive action in order to take control of the ship. Part of that was blindsiding them by announcing a blunt amateur reporter, Bradley Jackson (Witherspoon), as her new co-host. Alex seems to dislike Bradley for almost the entirety of the season, but the two have their moments. Two other key players at the network are executive producer of The Morning Show, Chip Black (Duplass), and the executive over news operations, Cory Ellison (Crudup). These two gentlemen, along with Witherspoon were always a delight to watch onscreen. Duplass played Chip at the peak of stress almost all the time, and Crudup’s Cory was quite the oddball, but not afraid to stir the pot. That’s probably why his character connected to well to Bradley. I really like the bluntness of Witherspoon’s character – it made her relatable and likable.
Aside from these main cast members, their performances were propped up by a large handful of equally strong supporting characters that really gave the show more chaos and depth. It’s really insane how awful most of these people are, and how dedicated to the job they are. Yes, every employer wants dedicated employees, but I get the feeling that the network could request the blood of their first born child and these people wouldn’t give it a second thought! It’s these “secondary” characters that really added the emotion and pain to the scenes regarding Mitch’s sexual harassment, and I felt connected to their struggles even more so.
I’ll stop there, lest I give everything away, but prepare yourselves for ultimate betrayal, a few good laughs, and just general anxiety. Everyone delivers an environment of unease and that to me proves success. For all the hype Jennifer Aniston is getting for her performance, I found her character rather unlikable and would have rather seen Witherspoon get some recognition. Oh, well. Can’t be mad that Mark and Billy got some Emmy love, too! If you can get the free week trial of Apple +, I encourage you to watch this really entertaining show. We’ll see how they fair at the Emmys!