Everything to Know About 'The Morning Show' Before It Hits Apple TV+
Oct. 9 2019, Updated 4:50 p.m. ET
Jennifer Aniston is making her way back to television in her first long-term TV role since the end of Friends. But if you're expecting Rachel Green, you may be in for a rude awakening. In The Morning Show, Jennifer plays Alex Levy, who takes over as head anchor of her morning news show after her coanchor, Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell), is fired over sexual misconduct allegations. That is, before the show finds a new co-anchor to join her.
While Alex is stepping into the starring role, she quickly learns that the show is looking to replace her with her new coanchor, Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon). But what the big brass don't know is that Alex isn't looking to go out without a fight. Wondering how to watch The Morning Show and Jennifer's big return to TV? We've got you covered!
How to watch The Morning Show:
The good news is that we don't have much longer to wait to watch The Morning Show. It appears that the show will launch on the same day as Apple's new streaming service, Apple TV+. The new platform is set to launch on November 1.
Unfortunately, the bad news is that the only way to watch the new show is on the streaming service, which is launching at a cost of $4.99 per month.
The Morning Show is billed as one of the top shows on the new platform. Other big titles include Dickinson, a dark comedy that focuses on young Emily Dickinson, and See, a dystopian story set 600 years in the future where a catastrophic virus has rendered all humans blind.
So how did Apple TV+ end up with The Morning Show?
Jennifer and Reese have actually been working on the show with Apple TV since 2017. As it turns out, The Morning Show was actually created before the allegations against Matt Lauer and the show initially only focused on the cutthroat world of morning news. But when the allegations came out, the show was completely rewritten. Which may be why many have pointed out that Mitch Kessler's story sounds very much like Matt Lauer.
Jennifer spoke to Variety to address the connections and how the show was rewritten. When asked about starting the show before the allegations and before the #MeToo movement, Jennifer said, "The show got picked up. We sold it to Apple with an outline. Then, about four months later, the whole shit hit the fan and, basically, we had to start from scratch."
She went on to explain how the #MeToo movement inspired the show and the character of Mitch Kessler. She stated that, while Mitch is "all fictional," he also highlights "aspects of the archetype of a charming narcissist, of a generation of men that didn’t think that was bad behavior."
Reese stated in her own interview with Harper's Bazaar that the show really felt the need to show people being held accountable in the wake of the #MeToo movement. "When we started, the show was just a book...Then, in October 2017, all those stories started to break about the way women in media were treated. We decided we needed to start from square one and redevelop everything with more of a slant about the truth coming out in media and people being held accountable for their behavior."
Just how Mitch will be held accountable isn't fully revealed just yet and The Morning Show's trailer only hints at the fallout. We'll have to wait until AppleTV+'s launch to find out more.
