“The Morning Show” by itself is worth the price of Apple TV+
Lesson summary
Hi there everyone, I’m Jeff and this is Plain English, where we help you upgrade your English with current events and trending topics. This is lesson 586, so that means the full lesson is available at PlainEnglish.com/586. That’s thanks to JR, our trusty producer.
Today’s topic is “The Morning Show,” it’s a series on Apple TV+ that’s all about a morning news program. And if that makes you think it’s fluffy, then don’t make the same mistake I did. This is a serious drama, and it’s worth watching. I’ll introduce you to this show today—no spoilers. I won’t tell you what happens.
In the second half of the episode, I’ll show you what it means to “star in” a production. And we have a quote of the week. Let’s get going.
‘The Morning Show’ and the drama of TV news
“The Morning Show” on Apple TV+ has a star-studded cast . It features Jennifer Anniston, famous for playing Rachel in “Friends” and Steve Carrell, who played Michael in “The Office.” Reese Witherspoon won an Academy Award for “Best Actress.” She plays one of the two main characters. Comedian Martin Short has a role. Mindy Kaling, a comedic writer and actress, has a role, too. Jon Hamm, who starred in “Mad Men” will appear in Season 3.
The show is about morning news, specifically the morning news program on a broadcast television network in the U.S.
In real life, these programs are only a little about news. They have weather forecasts, cooking segments, parenting, health, and lifestyle stories. They make you feel good to start the day. People have them on in the morning as they get ready for work. There’s a little news, just enough to keep you informed, but it’s not too heavy.
So when I saw “The Morning Show” on Apple TV+ was about morning news, I thought the show itself would be as fluffy and lighthearted as the Today Show is in real life. But I was wrong. This show is a powerful drama about a high-stakes industry. The main plot stems from sexual harassment and questions about equality in the workplace. And it lives up to its star-studded cast.
The show starts by introducing us to Mitch, played by Steve Carell, and Alex, played by Jennifer Anniston. They co-host “The Morning Show” on the fictional UBA broadcast television network. They’ve been together for fifteen years—until Mitch is suddenly fired for sexual misconduct.
From there, the show, and the network, are thrown into turmoil, as they have to replace their highest-paid on-air news personality and, simultaneously, deal with the fallout from the scandal in the newsroom.
The show is very, very loosely based on real events. In real life, in 2017, Matt Lauer, the co-host of the Today Show on NBC, was fired. He was a household name in America—he and Katie Couric worked together for years in the morning. But he was fired for sexually harassing a female colleague at the Sochi Olympics in 2014. Other details of harassment and misconduct surfaced after that.
Small details from real-life events pepper the show. For example, the real-life Matt Lauer had a button under his desk in his Today Show office. With one press of the button, he could close his office door from his desk, without getting up. Mitch has a button just like that in “The Morning Show.”
Morning news might be fluffy, but it’s a cutthroat business. A reporter for CNN, Brian Stelter, wrote a book called “Top of the Morning” which detailed the intense competition in the industry.
And “The Morning Show” brings that intensity to life—not surprisingly, Brian Stelter himself was a consulting producer of “The Morning Show” on Apple TV+.
One of the crazy things about morning TV is the schedule. Anchors and producers wake up, often, at 3:30 a.m. They have ritualized morning routines. Every minute counts—and you see that reflected in the show. People who work in the industry say this was true to life.
Producers work behind the scenes to get everything done. They pick the stories, they slot them into segments, they write the copy, they book the guests, they make last-minute changes, they prepare the stars. And they do it without getting a lot of credit or public recognition. There’s one really funny line at the end of Season 2. A producer says to Alex, Jennifer Anniston’s character, “Just be yourself and read the copy I wrote.” That says it all!
The other thing about TV news: the egos. What you see on television is a polished final product. But behind the scenes, the personalities vie with each other to get the best stories. They scheme to get promotions, to get more visibility. They negotiate hard to get what they want. The networks pay a fortune for the on-air personalities—and then, for their trouble, they have a full-time job just to manage the egos of the people they’re paying.
The competition among the on-air stars is a big part of “The Morning Show.” But it also shows the personalities as, well, personalities—as people who have real feelings and emotions that aren’t the polished versions we see on television.
“The Morning Show” also shows the corporate intrigue. Who at the company will pay the price for Mitch’s outrageous behavior over the years? How much did the company know about what he was doing? How will they deal with the lawsuits from Mitch’s victims?
There are a lot of subplots, too. Morning news is produced in the big cities, but consumed in the small towns. The tension between big-city culture and small-town culture is evident when the network picks Mitch’s replacement.
Being on television, and working those hours, places strain on marriages and families, even when there’s no sexual harassment involved. A sub-plot explores Alex’s life, as America’s trusted mom in the morning—even when she’s not the ideal mom at home.
The show also explores the outbreak of COVID-19. In Season 2, we see the Morning Show crew start to grapple with “the novel coronavirus,” as we called it then.
We see them dismiss it at first—as we all did —and then gradually realize that it’s a big story. They deal with it as professionals, reporting on the virus, but also as people in a workplace—being sent home, worried about their health, even getting sick.
If there’s one criticism, it’s that there might be too many subplots to follow—it can get confusing at times, and some storylines are not as well-developed as others.
Seasons 1 and 2 are available now. Season 3 has already been filmed and will be released this fall. The events in Season 3 take place after the pandemic. The show has also been signed for a fourth season.
Worth the price of Apple TV+
This was such a surprise. I don’t know what it was. I think just how fluffy morning news is. Maybe I typecast Jennifer Anniston and Steve Carrell as actors who are in fluffy comedies. But I am telling you, this show alone is worth the price of Apple TV+.
Not that I paid that price—I got a new phone and I got three months of Apple TV+ for free, so I’m watching all the shows that catch my eye on there. Another one—”The Shrink Next Door.” That’s a great one, also with a star-studded cast.
Apple can afford to splash on high quality dramas with expensive casts , so let’s you and I enjoy these shows while the fun lasts!
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