Michael Scott, Rachel Green and Elle Woods. The actors behind these iconic television and movie characters have come together in a project of their own. “The Morning Show” is a new television series through Apple TV’s streaming service Apple TV +. The show has been on the radar for many TV watchers due to its Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations, the first for Apple. While Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston both hold the main leads in the show, they are also credited with being executive producers of the series. Following the heels of the #MeToo movement, “The Morning Show” is the twisted reality of early morning news and sheds light on sexual abuse within the workplace.
While “The Morning Show” is a television drama, it takes content from history and incorporates it in the storyline. It allows the fictional characters to take on characteristics of controversial early morning television hosts. For example, Steve Carell’s character, Mitch Kessler, has some scenes which allude to former Today show host Matt Lauer’s sexual misconduct. It is clever to say the least, considering at first glance it seems to be a new morning show, not a TV drama.
Aniston’s character, Alex Levy, is far from her characters played in the past. She takes on a new challenge and has to portray a character who is engulfed in the inner workings of her job and finds herself hiding from her marriage issues and feelings for former co-star Mitch Kessler. Carell’s role is the driving force of social issues. He represents men in the media who have taken advantage of their title and used it to manipulate women. Kessler and Levy were the morning news’ power couple, until Kessler was suddenly fired for accusations of sexual harassment released by the New York Times. Witherspoon’s character, Bradely Jackson, has more depth than most of her past roles but also still contains the same spunk in a lot of Witherspoon’s films. Jackson is at first the perspective from the outside and then, once hired on “The Morning Show,” sees the ethical issues within a large TV platform. Levy and Jackson go toe to toe, more often than not, but find that they both have more flaws than let out to be; much like the television business they thought they knew.
“The Morning Show” is scandalous, entertaining, hard hitting and graphic. Some viewers may find scenes disturbing, but that is the point. The viewer must feel disturbed to understand the reality of the situation;of judgment, sexual misconduct and risk in telling the whole truth. While “The Morning Show” is still a full blown drama with crazy cliffhangers, the message of sexual violence in the workplace and misuse of authority pulls through the most. “The Morning Show” helps to uncover the masked over distortions in the world of news media, while also fighting for a world with less negligence.
