The Morning Show — Apple TV+ Web Series Review
Jennifer Anniston is in fine form as she returns to television with a well-acted but soapy #MeToo drama
The Morning Show had been on my watch list for a while now, but due to some reason or another, not least of which my unwillingness to subscribe to Apple TV+ for just one show, I never really got to it. A few days ago, after my Android smartphone decided to give up on me, I bought my first iPhone! Among all the new iOS features I got to discover (already obsessed with Animojis), I also got a free subscription to Apple TV+ for a year! And so a new iPhone and a complimentary subscription in hand (literally!), I decided to finally stream The Morning Show.
As its name suggests, the series is centred around a morning news show anchored by star reporters and on-screen partners of 15 years, Alex Levy (Jennifer Anniston) and Mitch Kessler (Steve Carrell). The two are referred to as being “America’s mom and dad” and have built the kind of chemistry that, as Alex sums up in the first episode, “does not come in a bottle you can buy at Whole Foods.”
Everyone associated with The Morning Show, including Executive Producer Charlie Black (Mark Duplass) and News Division Head Cory Ellison (a devious and captivating Billy Crudup), have their lives turned upside down when multiple accusations of sexual misconduct by Kessler are reported in the New York Times. The scene on the TMS set is expectedly that of shock, panic, last-minute script changes, and lots of yelling, with many behind the scene players, including head booker Hannah (Gugu Mbatha Raw) and weatherman Yanko (Nestor Carbonell) trying to make sense of the new world order.
As Mitch keeps blaming everyone but himself for his toxic behaviour, and Alex tries to take control of the narrative to safeguard her own career, Cory sees this as an exciting opportunity to reinvent the show and usher in a new era. In the third episode, he gives Network President Fred Micklen (Tom Irwin) a modern iteration of Petyr Baelish’s life mantra — “chaos is the new cocaine.”
Cue Bradley Jackson, a firecracker of a libertarian news reporter from West Virginia. Once her outburst educating an uninformed protestor about the harmful effects of coal goes viral, she finds herself being booked for a stint on TMS showcasing powerful women. Played by Reese Witherspoon embracing her southern roots, Bradley as the small-town journalist who wants to report on real issues, is as close to a moral compass as this show is going to get.
Over the course of its 10 episodes, The Morning Show is able to successfully showcase the domino effects of Mitch’s firing, both in front of and behind the camera. It effectively demonstrates how predators like Mitch don’t pop up overnight, but rather are enabled by toxic workplace environments rooted in institutionalised misogyny. We also see how getting rid of those predators doesn't necessarily change the environment that fostered them.
With the recent news of the toxic workplace environment on the Ellen Degeneres Show, its subject matter also has a more timely gravitas that’s not just limited to the #MeToo movement. Incidentally, The Morning Show has no problem being topical, as it also covers backstage politics, abortion, mass shootings, and the California wildfires.
If the show isn’t able to make the leap from good to great television, it’s because of its writing. At times it’s just too on the nose. For instance, in episode 2, a jazz singer is performing a cover of Radiohead’s Creep, singing “I don’t belong here” as Bradley literally enters the hotel bar for her meeting with Cory. In a later episode, when Bradley is contemplating a potential interview that can shed light on the workplace culture of silence, she is casually watching the Frost/Nixon interview, just in case the point wasn’t clear enough.
At other times, the writing is just illogical. In one scene, Mitch and Alex are driving around in his car, when Alex gets a notification from the New York Times. The article about Mitch’s sexual misconduct has been published and she is suddenly turned off by the notion of sitting next to him. Mitch calls her out by stating that she already knew about his behaviour (!!), to which Alex responds by saying “I knew about it in theory”, which, what? Make it make sense! Likewise, in episode 6, Cory somehow draws an analogy between baseball and television pilot season that is just laughably bad.
Then there is the case of characters either being incredibly one-dimensional or inconsistent vis-à-vis their motivations and actions. Bradley, in particular, barely gets any character development, and limiting her persona to being just a “truth seeker” becomes unintentionally hilarious. And while we get to see Alex’s motivations, some of her actions (particularly in the final episodes) are so out of character that you can’t help but question them.
Fortunately, where the writing falters, the acting delivers. From the get-go, The Morning Show is Jennifer Anniston’s vehicle, and she rises to the occasion. Whether she is reclaiming her power from a bunch of bozos wearing a red coat (instantly iconic), having a breakdown while running on a treadmill, or singing Not While I’m Around from Sweeny Todd (with Cory no less!), Anniston is in fine form.
However, it’s in the quieter moments where she truly shines, when Alex stops putting on a facade, takes a moment to breathe, and tries to make sense of a surreal situation. Watch the scene where Alex’s PR team talks to her about her impending divorce as she struggles to maintain her composure (it’s hard not to see art imitating life here, given Anniston’s own mammoth divorce), and you’ll realise why she deserved that SAG award.
Also doing stellar work are Mark Duplass and Billy Crudup. While Crudup gets the benefit of delivering some wickedly delicious monologues, Duplass has the more challenging job of generating sympathy for a character that has been ignorant at best, and complacent at worst of the toxic workplace environment on his show. Gugu Mbatha-Raw also gets to showcase her acting chops in the later episodes, and she delivers in spades.
And then there is Steve Carrel. It’s hard not to see shades of Matt Lauer (Carrel’s own resemblance to the disgraced anchor doesn’t help) in Mitch’s fall from grace, but every time we hear Mitch ranting about his termination, or see how he is “trying to fight back”, this becomes a weaker show. Carrel’s bland performance is also part of the problem, as the actor seems to be playing Mitch as a whinier and more obnoxious version of Michael Scott.
The show also tries to bring some nuance to the #MeToo conversation by emphasising how such accusations aren't a monolith, but rather on a spectrum. However, it’s hard to generate any sympathy for Mitch when the show also doesn’t shy away from showing how big of an asshole and sexual predator he actually is. His entitlement and ego know no bounds, and his consistent refusal to acknowledge how his position of power undermines the very possibility of a consensual workplace relationship or sexual encounter (something that is disturbingly demonstrated in a later episode) is enough to make you want to slap him across the face.
I especially loved the wide shots of Mitch’s luxurious house, only to be followed by his proclamations of his life being ruined. It was a subtle yet effective way of demonstrating just how much people (especially white men) have gotten out of their positions of power, and that it’s debatable if the ‘consequences’ (as Alex would put it) of their abuse of power are all that bad. After all, he still gets to play tennis in his giant mansion, with another sexual predator no less (Martin Short portraying some sort of an amalgamation of Woody Allen and Roman Polanski)
While The Morning Show suffers from inconsistent writing, it still initiates some necessary conversations about toxic workplace culture, institutionalised sexism, and the blindspots even well-meaning people can harbour. That alone is worth a watch, but add to that the stellar acting from the ensemble cast and this becomes an easy show to recommend. And if nothing else, it reminds us, once again, that this is Jennifer Anniston’s world and we are all just living in it.
Rating- 3.5/5
Miscellaneous Notes:
- Apple wasted no time in showing multiple close-ups of every character’s smartphone, which of course is the latest iPhone.
- It’s easy to see why Billy Crudup won the Emmy for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his work on this show. He is just brilliant.
- Also doing impressive work is Karen Pittman as Bradley’s producer Mia Jordan - a woman who has her own complicated history with Mitch. Her speech about being branded at her workplace is particularly gut-wrenching.
- The subplot around Bradley’s absent alcoholic father, addict brother, and dysfunctional mother is the type of lazy writing this show could do without. Although her relationship with her mom does set up one of the show’s best moments in Episode 4.
- Mild Spoiler: Alex saying fuck you to her ungrateful, selfish daughter was wildly entertaining. I think I replayed Jennifer Anniston’s scornful monologue at least five times!
- I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone cuss as soothingly as Mark Duplass does. Every “fuck” that comes out of his mouth is perfect.
