There's good TV, there's bad TV, and then there's The Morning Show. Over its first two seasons, Apple TV+'s high-profile, star-studded drama never quite lived up to the promise of its cast or concept as a drama set in the juicy, competitive world of broadcast news, with Jennifer Aniston facing off against Reese Witherspoon as morning show anchors.
The problem from the very beginning (aside from Witherspoon's distracting country accent) was that the show tried to pair the fun parts (feuds, firings, flirtations and more) with the dark parts, like beloved male stars being accused of years of sexual harassment. Steve Carell, a beloved comedic actor, took on the role of Mitch Kessler, a beloved morning news anchor who raped a colleague and carried out numerous, complicated affairs in the workplace. For the first season and a half, the show revolved around Mitch and the women who were involved with him and the men who enabled him. Then, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was arriving, Mitch drove his car into Lake Como, finally ridding the show of its biggest problem. With Season 3, the series took a jump forward two years to a time when it could begin anew. No more COVID, no more Mitch, whole new Morning Show. And it's actually so much fun.
"Fun" is not a word that could have been freely used to describe the first two seasons, but it now feels like the show understands how to use its strengths, and how to use real-life news events to tell a story that's both ridiculous and compelling in equal measure. Basically, it learned how to take itself less seriously, and it makes all the difference in the world.
Season 3 finds UBA in a bit of a crisis. The network is out of money, and CEO Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup) is desperate to close a deal with handsome tech billionaire Paul Marks (an extremely well-used Jon Hamm) to buy the network. If the deal goes through, UBA will be added to Marks' portfolio alongside his high-profile rocket company, Hyperion. He's Elon Musk, but less sinister and he looks like Jon Hamm. And if you've seen any of Succession, you know how fragile a billion-dollar deal can be: up, down, on, off, and made extra complicated by ill-advised relationships. Whether the deal will happen is the question of the season, but there's plenty of messes to make and clean up along the way. The network is facing changes no matter what, and everyone's just playing whatever game necessary to keep those changes in their favor.
While the show has smartly jumped from March 2020 to the pandemic-light 2022, it doesn't fully ignore those two years. Instead, there's a bit of mystery to what happened in that time as the pandemic unfolded, George Floyd was murdered, Joe Biden won the presidential election and Trump supporters stormed the capitol on January 6. That mystery is fully answered in an unexpectedly satisfying flashback episode halfway through the season that manages to turn up both the drama and the goofiness. If you loved (and/or loved to make fun of) The Newsroom, you'll have an absolute ball with The Morning Show. No other show is dealing with current events — especially insurrections — quite like this, in a way where everything feels familiar yet ridiculous. The show finally seems like it's in on the joke, and when it makes fun of streaming services like UBA+ while airing on a streaming service called Apple TV+, it actually feels like it knows what it's doing.
Pros:
- ‘The Morning Show’ Season 3 Trailer Might Change Your Mind About the Apple TV+ Series
- Jon Hamm Is Offering Miracles in ‘The Morning Show’ Season 3 Trailer
- ‘The Morning Show’ Boss Says Season 3 Tackles Abortion Rights: ‘We’re Very Much Focused on Women’s Autonomy’ (Exclusive)
- Inside Jennifer Aniston’s Sex Scene with Jon Hamm on ‘The Morning Show’
- ‘The Morning Show’: Reese Witherspoon’s Costume Designer Explains How Bradley Went from ‘Practical’ to ‘Powerful’
- Katie Couric Critiques ‘The Morning Show’ Accuracy (Exclusive)
- Excellent performances across the board, with Julianna Margulies and Billy Crudup as standouts
- This season's got jokes
- No more Mitch Kessler
Cons:
- The tone is still all over the place
- Bradley Jackson still makes no sense as a character
There's also a sense that everyone on set is having more fun and feeling a little looser, happy to be making speeches about abortion access and equal pay and flirting with billionaires instead of grappling with sexual harassment. Aniston and Witherspoon are both on their A-games, though they don't share as many scenes as they should. And even though Bradley Jackson (Witherspoon) isn't even a morning anchor anymore, this still feels a whole lot more like the show we originally envisioned when The Morning Show was announced. A show starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon should be a great time, and this one finally is. Plus, the supporting cast remains excellent. Crudup hasn't lost any steam, Julianna Margulies gives an award-worthy performance in multiple episodes, and Hamm slips into "rich tech bro" mode almost too seamlessly.
All that said, this praise is a little relative. The first two seasons were so generally unpleasant that Season 3 feels like a masterpiece in comparison. It's still messy, still not entirely sure who Bradley Jackson is as a person and still figuring out its tone, but clearly the show is capable of improvement and has room to get even better in Season 4. 8.0/10
Release date: The first two episodes premiere September 13, followed by weekly releases every Wednesday until November 8
Who's in it: Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Jon Hamm, Billy Crudup, Karen Pittman, Mark Duplass, Nicole Beharie, Desean Terry, Greta Lee, Julianna Margulies
Who's behind it: Showrunner Kerry Ehrin, director Mimi Leder, executive producers Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Michael Ellenberg, Kristin Hahn, Lauren Levy Neustadter
For fans of: The Newsroom, Jennifer Aniston, Julianna Margulies giving it her all
Avoid if: You really loved the first two seasons of The Morning Show because of Steve Carell
Number of episodes watched: 10 (of 10)