The Morning Show Season 1 & 2
review by Bobby Blakey
In 2019 Apple TV+ debuted the new series The Morning Show inspired by the book Top of the Morning by Brian Stetler and meshed in numerous elements of the MeToo movement and the ramifications of it all. The show features a stellar cast including Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Billy Crudup, Nestor Carbonell, Mark Duplass, and Steve Carrell.
The Morning Show follows Alex Levy whose career is shaken after her co-anchor’s scandal. As rising reporter Bradley Jackson challenges the status quo, both navigate fierce rivalries, shifting loyalties, and power struggles amid a turbulent newsroom and evolving media landscape.
Any movie or TV show that sets its premise within the world of entertainment of any kind has the potential to be something special. News stations deal with the good and bad of the world, so they offer up even more options for something funny, powerful or informative. This series dove right into the biggest shake up to the entertainment industry, setting the entire first season on the world of Me Too. This enough is a sensitive topic, but the layers this show went with made it stand out in a powerful way.
As we are meeting all the characters and getting everyone in the place on the show we are infused into this scandal. They could have easily just focused on the scandal itself and those accused of the crime, but brilliantly it weaves a story that gives the viewer all sides of the situation and how many different layers it affects everyone there. I love that it never downplayed any side of the story good or bad and as more becomes in focus got heavier and heavier. Some of them are hard to watch just from
the subject matter and are infuriating but serve the strength of the narrative.
The cast are all great with both Aniston and Witherspoon fantastic together. They play two sides of the same coin and find themselves at odds and allies through all the insanity that unfolds. As great as they both are, it was Carrell that really stole the show for me. The usual lighthearted everyman is charming one minute and despicable the next. He brilliantly never really changes his demeanor throughout, but you can see the changes shine through in every scene. He is so convincing that there are moments you kind of feel sorry for him before you remember and see what went down and then can’t wait to see the outcome he deserves.
The second season not only builds on the aftermath of the first season scandal, but then right into the world of COVID-19 and the chaos that came along with it as well as the looming election of the time. Thankfully it didn’t make either the most important aspect and allowed all the characters to evolve good and badly. The shake-up with all the characters in the second season gave the show a different tone that I think worked to keep it feeling familiar but not just rehashing the same thing. The world of news is already evolving, and the show did a good job evolving with it.
There are moments in the show where it gets redundant with the back and fourths in relationships. Like most shows like this it gets tired with the characters being enemies, then friends then turning on each other again. I know that is par for the course but wish they would find that lane to allow you to invest in these relationships a bit longer before blowing them up once again in your face.
I really enjoyed these first two seasons and looking forward to diving into more to see where The Morning Show crew go from here. Grab your copy of The Morning Show Season 1 & 2 available now on Blu-ray and DVD as well as all four seasons streaming now on Apple TV+.