The Morning Show Information

The Morning Show (also known as Morning Wars in Australia and Indonesia) is an American drama web television series starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell, that premiered on [[Apple TV+]] on November 1, 2019. The series is inspired by journalist Brian Stelter's book Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV.

Premise

Alex Levy anchors The Morning Show, a popular news program broadcast from Manhattan on the UBA network that has excellent viewership ratings and is perceived to have changed the face of American television.

After her on-air partner of 15 years, Mitch Kessler, is fired amidst a sexual misconduct scandal, Alex fights to retain her job as top news anchor while sparking a rivalry with Bradley Jackson, a haphazard field reporter whose series of impulsive decisions bring her into a new world of TV journalism.

Cast and characters

Main

• Jennifer Aniston as Alex Levy, co-host of UBA's The Morning Show
• Reese Witherspoon as Bradley Jackson, a field reporter turned TMS co-host
• Steve Carell as Mitch Kessler, the recently-fired co-host of The Morning Show

• Billy Crudup as Cory Ellison, a UBA executive from the network's entertainment division who recently took over news operations
• Mark Duplass as Charlie "Chip" Black, the Executive Producer of The Morning Show
• Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Hannah Shoenfeld, The Morning Show's head talent booker
• Nstor Carbonell as Yanko Flores, The Morning Show's meteorologist
• Karen Pittman as Mia Jordan, a producer at TMS
• Bel Powley as Claire Canway, a production assistant at TMS
• Desean Terry as Daniel Henderson, the co-host of TMS's weekend edition who has his sights set on the weekday host's chair
• Jack Davenport as Jason Craig, Alex's husband from whom she is secretly separated

Recurring

• Tom Irwin as Fred Micklen, UBA's president
• Victoria Tate as Rena Robinson
• Janina Gavankar as Alison Namazi, Daniel's co-host on TMS's weekend edition
• Shari Belafonte as Julia
• Joe Marinelli as Donny Spagnoli
• Katherine Ko as Dhillon Reece-Smith
• Ian Gomez as Greg
• Augustus Prew as Sean
• Amber Friendly as Layla Bell
• Eli Bildner as Joel Rapkin
• Hannah Leder as Isabella
• Marcia Gay Harden as Maggie Brener
• Andrea Bendewald as Valrie
• Michelle Meredith as Lindsey Sherman
• David Magidoff as Nicky Brooks
• Joe Pacheco as Bart Daley
• Kate Vernon as Geneva Micklen
• Oona Roche as Lizzy Craig
• Joe Tippett as Hal Jackson
• Roman Mitichyan as Sam Rudo
• Mindy Kaling as Audra
• Adina Porter as Sarah Graveler
• Brett Butler as Sandy Jackson
• Philip Anthony-Rodriguez as Gabriel

Guest

• Fred Melamed as Neal Altman
• Ahna O'Reilly as Ashley Brown
• Natalia Warner as Cecily
• Mark Harelik as Richard
• Markus Flanagan as Gerald
• Embeth Davidtz as Paige Kessler
• Martin Short as Dick Lundry
• Andrew Leeds as Alan
• John Marshall Jones as Noah
• Zuri Hall as Herself
• Kelly Clarkson as Herself
• Kelly Sullivan as Vicki Manderly
• David Morse as Mr. Jackson
• Julian Morris as Andrew
• Cheyenne Jackson as Himself
• Robert Cicchini as Robert
• Mike O'Malley as Tim Eavers
• Romy Rosemont as Sheila Lutkin
• Brian Bowen Smith as Photographer
• Paul Guilfoyle as Reid
• Ethan Cohn as Jared
• Dana Davis as Christine
• Maria Sharapova as Herself
• Hayes MacArthur as Marlon Tate

Episodes

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Season 1 (2019)

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|ShortSummary    = The Morning Show, a popular news and talk morning television show, is thrown into chaos when co-anchor Mitch Kessler is fired amid allegations of sexual harassments. Fellow anchor Alex Levy grows furious at Mitch and the network for keeping her in the dark and later meets with Mitch, who reveals the network plans on replacing her. Elsewhere, conservative reporter Bradley Jackson becomes a viral sensation after a video of her angrily fact-checking a coal mine protester is posted on social media. Bradley quits following a confrontation with her boss and, after an argument with her family, is asked to appear on The Morning Show for an interview. Alex, who is skeptical about Bradley's claim that she was unaware of being filmed, presses her during the interview, which Bradley manages to get through. Network head Cory Ellison later calls Bradley and asks to meet her so they can discuss her future.
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|ShortSummary    = Cory arranges a meeting for Bradley with the show's executive producer, Chip Black. His dismissive manner sets Bradley off, leaving her sure she has ruined her opportunity. In the middle of contract negotiations and knowing the network needs her to stabilize the show after Mitch's departure, Alex tries to leverage the situation to get all of her demands, including co-host approval. Cory invites an unwitting Bradley to an event honoring Alex, and seats the women next to each other. Cory scoffs at Alex's demand for co-host approval, and calls her bluff when she threatens to leave the show. During her speech, Alex announces a shocked Bradley as her new co-host.
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|ShortSummary    = The staff of The Morning Show are in turmoil over the announcement. Alex has told the press that Bradley will debut the following Monday, so as the team prepares to work all weekend to prep her, Alex arrives to assert some control over the proceedings. Meanwhile, a frustrated Bradley has not even decided if she will accept the job. Chip asks Mia Jordan to be Bradley's producer, and announces her in the position before he has offered it to her. Forced to go along with Alex's announcement or lose face, network head Fred Micklen is furious, but Cory sees Bradley as an opportunity to reinvent the show and eventually be rid of Alex. Bradley is unhappy with her initial wardrobe and camera tests, so she challenges the copy Mia is providing her, and dispenses with the clothing chosen for her by Alex. Fred summons Alex to browbeat her in front of a room of network executives, but she informs him that he lost power over the show long ago, and from now on they will be doing things her way.
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|ShortSummary    = Bradley makes her debut on The Morning Show but, chafing at the scripted persona the show has given her, ends up mentioning her personal struggles as a teen, including having an abortion. This revelation incites controversy and infuriates Fred, but it also galvanizes the younger, pro-choice audience. Alex is convinced to give Bradley the interview with one of Mitch's accusers, but Bradley goes off script and the accuser reveals more than the producers had planned. Meanwhile, an investigation is launched by human resources into Mitch's conduct, with most of the crew offering their support to Mitch and denying knowledge of his sexual misconduct. Alex begins to experience some professional jealousy as America embraces Bradley and ratings rise.
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|ShortSummary    = The Morning Show braces itself for a story from The New York Times on Mitch's behavior leading him to crash the studio and beg his former coworkers to speak on the record in his defense. When the weekend hits Alex hosts a charity fundraiser which seemingly goes well and she is nevertheless thrown by talk of Bradley's success and Cory's proposal that they collaborate leading her to seek out solace from Mitch. Bradley tries to bond with her coworkers by going out to celebrate Claire's birthday at a bar only for the night to get heated as talk eventually turns to Mitch and Bradley receives a call from her estranged father. As the Times story hits, Mitch is enraged that Fred has thrown him under the bus and vows to take him down. 
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|ShortSummary    = The Morning Show travels to California to cover the wildfires engulfing the state. Alex struggles on and off screen as she is still angry at Bradley for accusing her of covering for Mitch and is devastated by Jason's decision to officially divorce. After melting down on screen she is comforted by Bradley and the two later reconcile when Alex opens up about the divorce and Bradley talks about her alcoholic father. Fearing for his job, Chip suggests he could be an ally in helping Cory take over for Fred leading Cory to suggest that he only come to him when he has real dirt on Fred. Hannah gives Claire professional advice which leads to Claire successfully lobbying Bradley for a position as her assistant. Later, Hannah catches her sneaking into Yanko's room to celebrate.  
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|ShortSummary    = Alex and Jason announce to their daughter, Lizzy, that they are getting a divorce leading her to blame Alex for prioritizing her job over her family. Alex's PR team warns her that news of the divorce could damage her career causing her to lean on Bradley for support. Yanko and Claire are called to HR and decide to come clean about their relationship, a decision that relieves Yanko but leaves Claire wondering if her job is on the line. After an inappropriate remark about Mia leads to a member of the production team being fired by Chip, Mia has a meltdown and confirms to the entire studio that she was involved with Mitch. Bradley contemplates an offer from Mitch about interviewing him on air to reveal that the network was involved in covering for him. After he promises he can get a witness to corroborate his story he turns to Hannah, who he believes exchanged sexual favours for a promotion from him.
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|ShortSummary    = In 2017, Mitch stresses over turning 50. Now that his affair with Mia has recently ended, Mitch has Chip remove her from his team and place her with Alex, who the network is considering replacing due to tanking likability numbers. The cast and crew of The Morning Show surprise Mitch with a huge birthday party at the studio where Claire meets weatherman Yanko for the first time. As the party winds down Hannah begins to hear reports of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting breaking over Twitter. Mitch and Alex travel to Vegas to cover the shooting with Mitch asking Chip to bring Hannah, still only a junior booker, along with the team. Alex and Mitch struggle emotionally with the reporting. When Mitch cannot sleep he heads out to a memorial and runs into Hannah. Taking her to his hotel room, Mitch assaults Hannah, who is shocked and freeze in the scene. Back in New York, Hannah barges into Fred's office who stops her before she can report the incident and promotes her to head booker to buy her silence.
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|ShortSummary    = Bradley reveals to Alex that she wants to go forward with interviewing Mitch in order to take down Fred. After Alex takes the news badly both women begin to work behind the scenes to get what they want with Bradley going to Cory for backing while Alex secretly approaches Fred to work out a plan for getting rid of Bradley. Hannah revealed to Claire that she was the one who reported them to HR, causing them to fall out and Claire loudly declaring her love for Yanko. The strain of public scrutiny, however, prove to be too much for Claire and she breaks up with him. Hannah confronts Mitch about how powerless she felt during their sexual encounter only for him to berate her for her naivet. Hannah reluctantly agrees to corroborate how Fred enabled her promotion but anonymously. A heartbroken Chip who learned that Alex was willing to rid of him as part of a pact with Fred agrees to help Cory and Bradley in producing the Mitch interview.
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|ShortSummary    = After Mitch reveals that Hannah will corroborate his "side of the story", Bradley meets with Hannah. During this meeting, Hannah breaks down while trying to keep her composure. A reluctant Hannah tells Bradley to do whatever she'd like to do, just keep her anonymous seeing that UBA has offered her a producer job in Los Angeles. Aware that moves are being made behind the scenes expose his allowance of sexual misconduct, Fred grants Alex co-host approval in order to gain her support in firing Chip. Chip pressures Bradley to smuggle Mitch into The Morning Show to do the interview live and on air, letting her know that he has been fired and they need to act soon. Claire, trying to make amends with Hannah, shows up to her apartment and discovers that Hannah is dead from overdosing. News of her death shocks everyone, resulting in Bradley calling off the interview and a fight between Chip and Mitch. While on air, Alex snaps and along with Bradley, exposes Fred and UBA for their knowledge of sexual misconduct and creation of a toxic culture. The feed is cut off as Bradley encourages more people to speak out.

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Production

Development

On November 8, 2017, it was announced that Apple had given the production a series order consisting of two seasons of ten episodes apiece. The series was set to be executive produced by Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Jay Carson, and Michael Ellenberg. Carson was expected to act as a writer and showrunner for the series as well. Production companies involved with the series were slated to consist of Media Res, Echo Films, and Hello Sunshine. On April 4, 2018, it was announced that Carson had departed the production over creative differences. He was expected to be replaced as executive producer and showrunner by Kerry Ehrin. On July 11, 2018, it was reported that Mimi Leder would serve as a director and executive producer for the series. On October 23, 2018, it was reported that Kristin Hahn and Lauren Levy Neustadter would serve as additional executive producers for the series.

The show cost $15 million per episode, with Aniston and Witherspoon each earning $2 million per episode, not including producing fees and ownership points.

Casting

Alongside the initial series announcement, it was confirmed that Aniston and Witherspoon had been cast in the series' lead roles. In October 2018, it was announced that Steve Carell, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Billy Crudup, Nstor Carbonell and Mark Duplass had been cast in series regular roles. On November 7, 2018, it was reported that Bel Powley, Karen Pittman, and Desean Terry had joined the main cast of the series.

Filming

Principal photography for the first season commenced on October 31, 2018, at the James Oviatt Building in Los Angeles, California. Filming continued in Los Angeles until filming started in New York City on May 9, 2019. Filming of the first season also wrapped in May 2019, after seven months of filming.

Production on the second season began in November 2019 and will wrap up in February 2020.

Release

After the Apple Special Event of March 25, 2019, Witherspoon announced on Instagram that the series would premiere in the fall of 2019. It premiered on [[Apple TV+]] on November 1, 2019.

Marketing

During the Apple Special Event, a teaser trailer was released with footage from the series as well footage from other original series set to premiere on Apple TV+. Furthermore, Aniston, Witherspoon, and Carell were at the event to tease the series.

On August 12, 2019, Apple released a first look trailer for the series. It was also revealed that the series will be titled Morning Wars in Australia, in order to distinguish the series from the Australian morning talk show of the same name. On August 19, 2019, Apple released a full trailer for the series.

Critical response

The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 63% approval rating, based on 96 reviews, with an average rating of 5.66/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Flashy, but somewhat frivolous, The Morning Show often feels more like a vanity project than the hard-hitting drama it aspires to be"?but there is pleasure to be had in watching Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon give it their all." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 61 out of 100 based on reviews from 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave a positive review and wrote: "The Morning Show doesn't have the cinematic gravitas of the Showtime series The Loudest Voice or the Aaron Sorkin poetry of HBO's The Newsroom. It's more along the lines of the solid but underachieving Sports Night TV series from the late 1990s."

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
2020	Golden Globe Awards	Best Television Series - Drama	The Morning Show
		Best Actress - Television Series Drama	Jennifer Aniston
			Reese Witherspoon
	Critics' Choice Television Awards	Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Billy Crudup
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series	Jennifer Aniston
		Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series	Steve Carell
			Billy Crudup