MORNING WARS

STARRING: Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon

The flagship show of new streaming service Apple TV+ just happens to be about … a flagship show on a fictional TV network. The Morning Show is stock-standard breakfast TV – one male host, one female host, a lightweight approach to the news and plenty of feelgood fare to appeal to viewers across the nation. But when a sex scandal results in the immediate dismissal of her co-host, veteran presenter Alex Levy (Aniston) is left holding the fort on her own.

Also titled The Morning Show in the US, but renamed Morning Wars in Australia to avoid confusion with Channel Seven’s The Morning Show, this drama series deftly captures the cutthroat world of morning television, where stars are created overnight and torn down just as quickly. Indeed, were it not for her program’s #MeToo moment, Alex may well have been on her way out, with her critics claiming she’s lost her spark over the years. Will she be able to rise to the challenges created by the on-air upheaval?

She’ll be kept on her toes by Bradley Jackson (Witherspoon), an outspoken small-town reporter whose career has never taken off, but whose fiery confrontation with a protestor goes viral, prompting her to be booked to appear on The Morning Show. While much of Morning Wars’ first episode feels like stage-setting, we get a glimpse of where things could go when Alex sits down with Bradley for what becomes a heated live interview.

The interaction between Aniston and Witherspoon injects some much needed oomph into a solid but not sensational first episode, and even though it’s obvious this won’t be the last the two women will see of each other, it’s their chemistry that drives excitement as the series unfolds. Will Alex and Bradley end up working together? Will they form a bond or be competitors? Morning Wars feels like it might snowball into must-see TV – if nothing else, it’s a great opportunity to watch two of the world’s most famous actresses go head to head.

(On Apple TV+ from Sat., Nov. 2)

“There’s something sort of bulletproof about morning shows,” Witherspoon (left, with Aniston) says. “They’re a stalwart part of American culture.”

“We don’t take sides in any of it. It’s about the humanity of these issues,” Witherspoon says.

“When #MeToo happened … it’s like, we can’t not address it,” Aniston says.