The Morning Show is a behind-the-scenes take on a regular daytime television show. Starting in 2019, the show has had a significant amount of praise for its acting, realism and its unpredictability. With the show entering its fourth season, here are 4 reasons why it’s received positive reception.
The characters
A drama is a lot different than a regular sitcom. Obviously, you have the characters’ friends and enemies in both, but their interactions tell you which direction the show is going. Sitcoms are lighthearted while dramas have more of a serious tone. It almost shows the message that even the closest friends can sometimes be your worst enemies. This element is what really completes The Morning Show. No one trusts the other person.
It begins with the very first episode when, after 15 years, former co-anchor, Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) gets fired from the show. To replace him, Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) hires journalist Bradley Johnson (Reese Witherspoon). However, because of their rather heated interview, there is quickly conflict between them. Bradley is known for her bluntness and no-nonsense personality and always looks for the truth behind the story. To challenge this, at first, Alex is more focused on the image of the show which causes a clash between them.
What’s really effective is what The Morning Show really means by ‘behind the scenes’. It goes way beyond just the hair, makeup and the dressing rooms. The show dives into the logistics – using a teleprompter for the hosts’ speech, hair and makeup and everyone going against one another. Bradley starts to challenge the usual ‘glamourised’ life of a daytime show by slowly incorporating her own ideas and stories. This helps her to bond with most of the people on set, even Alex. Despite this, there is still a constant back and forth between the two. Their relationship isn’t natural, especially with both of them having different ideas and opinions. In the end, they turn out to be each other’s nemesis rather than immediate friends.
How they all started over
Premiering a year after the COVID-19 pandemic, Season 2 is a jump-start to a new era. Surprisingly, it doesn’t even start with the spread of COVID, but creates a platform for the situation to get even worse. To have more of a realistic transition, the first episode of the season takes place 8 months after the previous one.
The Morning Show does an amazing job trying to show how much time has passed with the appearances and the dialogue. Alex left the show after she and Bradley revealed the truth about Mitch Kessler and one of the workers in the studio. From this point, almost everything changes for the studio with new characters and old characters all trying to deal with the new circumstances.
It could be argued that Alex has changed the most. When she briefly returns, she comes mainly for the publicity rather than for the significant events. Instead, she flies to Italy to see Mitch again and gets COVID. Rather than showing the entire cast and crew in lockdown trying to do the show virtually, the season ends with Alex presenting the show from her bedroom, having been advised by her assistant, Charlie ‘Chip’ Black (Mark Duplass). This enhances how much pressure celebrities may face to try to perform, despite their own challenges. During lockdown, when all we could do was just stay inside, entertainment felt like a way to switch off. Because of this, some people were just so used to turning on the TV for the daytime news.
No one is in control
Season 3 is an interesting way to show both the power of people and the power of technology. There is then a 2 year jump between Season 2 and this season. After the COVID pandemic, there’s been more of a slow transition of trying to get things back to normal.
Things really take a turn after the studio gets hacked and someone even leaks personal information. It’s a great way of showing that the internet is just as much of a cause as the people behind it. The Morning Show goes beyond just people challenging the daytime show itself but use their resources to manipulate them. Because of this, it causes even more opposition for the people’s personal lives and their work lives. It’s a really effective way to gradually reveal secrets that each person was hiding, helping the audience engage in the drama.
Not only is the system out of control but the people aren’t in the best circumstances either. With the show already having conflict between the characters, they slowly start to turn on one another.
Appearance vs reality
Season 4 is being released on 17th September 2025. While the details have been more discreet, there’s been more of a focus on the use of AI and deepfakes. A common theme of the series overall has been trying to uncover the truth but this takes an interesting turn. With the rise of AI in everyday life, it’s caused panic and started to take over our everyday thinking.
It’s possible for the show to explore how these apps start to take on more control for other people and even how they dominate journalism. It questions whether there is a real thing as freedom of the press or freedom from everyone but the press. This is the breaking point where real-life events can influence the events on the show. It helps to make the show feel more relatable. Not in a ‘wow, this is so me’ way but in a way for them to understand how the world collectively goes through these events.
What happens next?
It could be possible for a comparison between fake news and real news. I’m personally looking forward to seeing how the season handles this contrast and the message they try to promote with it. It allows the perfect opportunity for Bradley and Alex to decide how they manage the situation. More importantly, we get to see who wins the spotlight after all these years.
If you need a catch-up, you can watch The Morning Show on Apple TV.
