For 15 years Alex Levy and Mitch Kessler have been co-anchors on The Morning Show, America's number one morning news show. Then a bomb drops. Mitch has been reported on multiple occasions to HR for sexual misconduct and while the internal investigation is pending the story is leaked to The Times. Alex, unaware of the situation, finds out at the same time as it is being reported and the show, the parent company, and everybody who works there are thrown into chaos. Mitch (Steve Carell) is fired and The Morning Show is the story of the fallout.
In the middle of contract negotiations, Alex (Jennifer Aniston) is desperate not to lose her job. The powers that be were already looking to get rid of her but with Mitch gone, they need her to steer the ship. She wants co-host approval and they won't give it to her. So she takes matters into her own hands and announces that the relatively unknown Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon, Sing) is Mitch's new replacement. The problem is that Bradley has no anchor experience and tends to talk first, think later. So from the instant that she is blindsided by the job offer, Bradley is thrown into the deep end.
While this is hugely problematic for the CEO, Fred Micklen, it is celebrated by Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup), the head of the entertainment and news departments who wanted to shake things up. Also in the mix, trying to get a grip on the out-of-control situation, is Chip (Mark Duplass) the EP of the show and of course, the rest of the team. But The Morning Show is far more than getting a show back on track. It is an incredible thought-out piece of tv that looks at allegations of sexual misconduct and the entertainment business from almost every conceivable angle.
Does Mitch even think he did anything wrong? More to the point, did he actually do anything wrong? Is he being hung out to dry and found guilty in the court of public opinion? Or is he so entitled that he doesn't even realise that when he propositions members of staff they feel powerless to say no? But this isn't all about Mitch. This is about a culture and a workplace that is so hell-bent on projecting a facade of simpering happiness that it swipes away anything that might crack the surface of the mask it has created, no matter what the cost.
I cannot stress enough how good The Morning Show is. It is the big hitter that launched AppleTV+ and for very good reason. It is one of those rare shows that grasps you from the second it starts to the second it ends, leaving you breathless and lying in its wake. Thought-provoking and inspired, it deserves every ounce of credit bestowed on it as well as the numerous awards and nominations it received. Let's just hope that Season 2 can bring more of the same insightfulness and drama.
