Jennifer Aniston stars in the new Apple TV+ Series. Photo Credit: Bip America via Flickr
By Justin Capera
Apple TV +, the latest streaming service that launched Nov. 1 premiered with original series such as See starring Jason Momoa, Dickinson starring Haile Steinfeld, and The Morning Show as well as others. The Morning Show stars Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell.
To start off, “The Morning Show” series only premiered with its first three episodes available for viewers to watch, the first two were completely free without a Apple TV + subscription. The third episode requires a subscription, and you can sign up for a free trial that can only last a week. The plot of “The Morning Show” features Alex Levy played by Jennifer Aniston. Levy comes to work one morning to hear shocking news her co-anchor of 15 years Mitch Kessler played by Steve Carell is fired from “The Morning Show” after a sexual misconduct scandal.
This later sets up Bradley Jackson played by Reese Witherspoon. Jackson’s arrival came after a video of her yelling at a coal mine protester goes viral. She gets invited on The Morning Show, and this is where the antics of the show makes it a hard pill to swallow.
The series in itself looks wonderful. Personally, it has the same look of an HBO series, due to the high cost of producing it on a $300 million budget. The performances are riveting at times but can be a bit much for some viewers. For some reason Hollywood seems to think that constant yelling makes a performance stronger. It can work at times but this series can tone it down a bit. Levy for example has moments where you want to root for her as she gives her all to her career, which can mean sacrificing time with her family.
However she goes off to do power plays to get what she wants that come off as unprofessional, rather than the almighty feminist icon she wants to be. The point of Levy’s character in “The Morning Show” is to demonstrate to the audience how women need to fight for their place in a white male-dominated field which is a valid point however the show does a great job in realizing that this is a feat that is easier to be done by a white woman, which Alex Levy is.
Daniel Henderson, played by Desean Terry, is a black man who is another reporter at the popular news program. Just like Alex Levy, Terry’s journey reminds you that it is ten times harder for a person of color to demand respect in a white male-dominated field.
Witherspoon’s performance as Bradley Jackson shines the most in the first three episodes of “The Morning Show”. Jackson is a woman working at a small conservative news station in West Virginia, dealing with an in denial mother, and her troublesome brother who contributes to his mother’s in denial behavior on his issues Jackson has a lot on her plate. Jackson shines as a hard hitting foul mouth libertarian who speaks her mind even if it gets her trouble.
Her passion for true journalism is a constant theme brought up in the first three episodes. She always fights for what it means to be a true journalist. However, this is where the show gets sour. Mitch Kessler, played by Steve Carell, has a story arc that is anti “Me Too” movement; a narrative that is very toxic to display on screen. We live in an extremely sensitive time where serious topics such as sexual misconduct are taken seriously. The series pushes a narrative that the “Me Too”movement is a witch hunt meant to take down good men by women who lie for fortune, raises many red flags.
The whole series thus far feels more like Hollywood’s shallow view of what the real world of journalism looks like rather than giving an honest portrayal sprinkled with some horrible anti “Me Too” propaganda on top of it.
“The Morning Show” is based off the New York Times bestseller, “Top of the Morning: Inside The Cutthroat World of Morning TV” by Brian Stelter.
New episodes of “The Morning Show” premiere every Friday only on Apple TV +.
