The Morning Show season 1

Main

• Jennifer Aniston as Alex Levy, the prominent host of The Morning Show. Working together with Mitch Kessler for over 15 years, she became known as "the mother of morning television" and brought the program its fandom. She wishes to gain respect and increased control over TMS, while UBA executives are secretly planning to retire her because of age concerns and consistent viewership decrease.^[8]
• Reese Witherspoon as Bradley Jackson, a field reporter from Virginia who replaces Mitch on The Morning Show. A person of fiery temper, she often confronts Alex and disrupts order at the show. This is the only season Bradley appears brunette; her hair color is changed to blonde starting from the second season.^[9][10]
• Billy Crudup as Cory Elisson, the newly appointed Director of the News Division of UBA. He is opportunistic and charismatic, but neither Alex nor other members of TMS trust him. He becomes a close friend to Bradley, whom he personally supports during breakdowns.
• Mark Duplass as Charles "Chip" Black, a quirky executive producer whose career is repeatedly put under threat by Bradley's actions.
• Steve Carell as Mitch Kessler, Alex's former co-host who was terminated after several anonymous accusations of sexual misconduct. He denies the allegations throughout the season and struggles to get his job and reputation back.^[6]
• Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Hannah Shoenfeld, a promising talent booker who initiated the interview with Bradley on The Morning Show. She was one of Mitch's harassed victims and, after receiving a promotion intended to silence her, sent an anonymous letter incriminating Mitch of his actions.^[11]
• Néstor Carbonell as Yanko Flores, lead weatherman at TMS who has secret romantic relationships with Claire.
• Karen Pittman as Mia Jordan, a seasoned producer of the show who works with newcomer Bradley. She is later revealed to have had an affair with Mitch to secure her promotion and becomes a subject of widespread gossips. She refrains from accusing Mitch, unlike other crew members, and is trying to prove her worth to end speculations against her.
• Desean Terry as Daniel Henderson, host of the weekend edition of TMS who is seeking for a promotion and is backed by Chip to take over Mitch's seat. When Bradley is announced as Alex's new co-host, he stays loyal to the show and reluctantly retains his position.
• Bel Powley as Claire Conway, a young production assistant from a wealthy and powerful family. Powley describes her character as a "third-wave feminist" whose relationships are defined through a wider conflict at TMS.^[12]
• Jack Davenport as Jason Craig, Alex's supportive husband who takes care of their daughter Lizzie while she attends college.

Recurring

• Tom Irwin as Fred Micklen, the authoritarian President of UBA. He is skeptical of Cory's and Alex's approaches and seeks to turn their moves against them and Chip. He also becomes the target of Mitch, having previously covered up his affairs with crew members.
• Kate Vernon as Geneva Micklen, a member of the fictional New York Theater Fund and Fred's wife.
• Joe Tippett as Hal Jackson, Bradley's brother who is a confessed drug addict.
• Embeth Davidtz as Paige Kessler, Mitch's wife who divorces him in the first episode.
• Martin Short as Dick Lundry, a disgraced movie director who had faced and admitted similar accusations as his friend Mitch.
• Marcia Gay Harden as Maggie Brener, a conceited yet reputable journalist from New York Magazine.
• Mindy Kaling as Audra Khatri, a glossy morning news anchor at YDA, the fictional rival company, who is pushing Daniel to quit TMS and become her co-host.
• Oona Roche as Lizzy Craig, the daughter of Alex and Jason.

Development

On November 8, 2017, it was reported that Apple ordered a full 10-episode season of an untitled morning show drama series.^[1] Together with the remake of Amazing Stories, it was one of the first original series acquired by the company.^[1][13] Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Jay Carson and Michael Ellenberg were set to executive produce the series, with Carson also serving as a lead writer.^[1] On April 4, 2018, five months after the series order, Carson left the production team and Kerry Ehrin was appointed as a showrunner and a lead writer for the series.^[2] She reworked the entire script for the season from scratch, restraining from on-site research in order to fit in previously set production deadlines.^[8] On July 11, 2018, Mimi Leder was announced to direct and executive produce the series.^[14]

Themes

At the moment of announcement, the series was set to explore the challenges faced by the workers on morning television, with additional input provided by journalist Brian Stelter.^[1] However, the fall of 2017 saw the rise of MeToo movement and a wave of sexual abuse lawsuits against media personalities, most notably Harvey Weinstien and Today host Matt Lauer.^[15] In light of these events, it was decided to pivot the initial conception and instead focus on the experience of women in the workplace.^[2] This required reassembling the writing team and searching for a female head writer who could provide personal expertise and create an authentic presentation.^[12]

When Ehrin pitched her concept for the series, she planned to devote the entire season to exploring the #MeToo movement and its aspects from multiple perspectives.^[16] Most female characters represent feminists of different levels of involvement and views on power, working relationships, and personal identity.^[12] Nevertheless, the producers aimed to preserve a balance between opposing viewpoints.^[17] The male co-anchor was envisioned as a composite character based on television anchors and other celebrities exposed as sexual predators in 2017; Ehrin specifically wanted him to look "likeable", hence casting Steve Carell for the role. Ehrin told the Los Angeles Times that she was more interested in telling the story of a character rather than in modeling him after a specific real-life person.^[16]

Casting and filming

Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon were confirmed to star in lead roles during the announcement of series order, marking Aniston's first role on television since the conclusion of Friends in 2004.^[18] Almost a year later, in a series of announcements made between October 23 and 26, 2018, it was revealed that Carell, Billy Crudup, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mark Duplass and Néstor Carbonell joined the series.^[19][20][21] On November 7, 2018, Karen Pittman, Bel Powley and Desean Terry officially joined the cast in regular roles. In March 2019, Deadline Hollywood reported that Jack Davenport would also star in the series, becoming the last addition to the main cast.^[22]

Filming for the series started on October 29, 2018, and concluded in May 2019.^[3] Despite the series being set in New York City, a relatively small number of scenes were shot there, while most of the season was filmed in Los Angeles.^[23] Apple and the producers avoided publicity and shared no details throughout the filming aiming for no on-set disruptions and plot leaks.^[8]

Marketing and release

The series was announced as part of Apple TV+ original series lineup on Apple Special Event on March 25, 2019.^[24] It was revealed on stage by Aniston, Witherspoon and Carell, who shared the new title and premise for the season.^[25] On August 19, 2019, Apple released a full-length official trailer for the series.^[26]

During the Apple Event held on September 10, 2019, it was announced that Apple TV+ would launch on November 1, 2019.^[27] On October 28, 2019, the series premiered globally on a close screening at Lincoln Center in New York, which was attended by principal cast members as well as Apple CEO Tim Cook.^[28] The first three episodes were available with the launch of the service, while the remaining seven were released every Friday until December 20, 2019.^[28][29] The release coincided with the publication of Ronan Farrow's book Catch and Kill which further exposed Weinstein, Lauer and other sexual predators and revived interest to the topic.^[30][31]

Critical response

The first three episodes received mixed reviews from critics.^[32] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 62% of 107 reviews from critics were positive with an average rating of 5.9/10.^[33] On Metacritic, the season reached a score of 61%, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[34] Critics lauded Aniston's performance, with Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair writing that "her anger commingling with sadness is compelling", while she also "reads correctly as a morning show anchor, calibrating that certain studio-lit warmth bordered by crisp professionalism just right".^[35] Other members of the ensemble cast, particularly Crudup, were praised as well, although some scenes featuring Witherspoon were found to be weak.^{[32][36][30][35][37][38]} Critics gave credit to Leder and the production team for set design and dynamic pacing.^[36][39]

However, the season received heavy criticism for incoherent storyline and meaningless dialogues that disrupted the narration.^[39][35] Otherwise "boring", the plot was found to lack a clear sense of direction while often relying on implausible plot twists to push the story.^[30] Carell's portrayal of Mitch was 'unclear' to several writers, who felt the series was trying to "downplay his offence", though his acting received critical acclaim.^{[35][39][32][36]} Critics felt that the season tried to deal with multiple broad topics at once, thereby leaving fewer opportunities to properly deliver the underlying message as well as represent the environment of morning television.^[40] Emily van der Werff of Vox wrote that the show was "fundamentally at war with itself", as its themes often contrasted with each other.^[41] It was therefore considered that the show couldn’t fully unleash its potential and, despite its high budget and heavy marketing campaign, would draw less viewers to Apple TV+ then initially stipulated.^[32][42][30] Later, during a press tour, Leder responded to negative reviewers, claiming that the backlash around the series "was really blown out of proportion" and that the creative team welcomed "constructive criticism".^[43]

As the season progressed, the reviews started to improve. Some noted that the season became increasingly engaging thanks to its vanity elements and 'campy' feel. In later reviews, some critics, including The Guardian's Stuart Heritage and Forbes' Linda Maleh, changed their attitude to more positive.^[44][45] Maleh wrote that it's "honestly hilarious much of the time" watching "fictional people on our TV screen be extra-dramatic in response to everything", comparing the series to early seasons of Succession.^[45] Similar thoughts were shared by Heritage, who found it "funnier than it should be, more kinetic than it should be, much, much weirder than it has any right to be". In a review for Los Angeles Times, Robert Lloyd ascribed this effect to the cast consisting primarily of actors with backgrounds in comedy rather than drama.^[46]

Accolades

At the Critic' Choice Awards, Billy Crudup was nominated for^[47] and later won Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series which would become the first major accolade won by an Apple TV+ original series.^[5] In addition, the season received three nominations for 77th Golden Globe Awards as well as three more nominations for 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards (one of them, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series, was won by Aniston) in December 2019. This made Apple TV+ the first streaming service to receive recognition from major academic institutions in the launch year.^[29]

In 2020, at 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, the season received five nominations including first recognitions in drama for Aniston and Carell.^[48] However, the only Emmy was won by Crudup in Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category.^[4] Additionally, the season won two accolades at the Newport Beach Film Festival (for Bel Powley and Gugu Mbatha-Raw)^[49] and earned a ReFrame Stamp for creating opportunities for women in different areas of production.^[50]