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Apple TV+ streaming service debuts Friday
Having a tough time deciding which streaming service(s) to subscribe to? It’s not about to get any easier. Several newcomers are on the way, including Disney+ (very soon, in fact), HBO Max and NBC Universal’s Peacock. First up, though, is Apple TV+ — which makes its debut Friday, with an ambitious slate of original programming that features some very familiar faces in certain cases. Beyond the series available for starters, the plan is to add more shows each month (coming Nov. 28: M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller “Servant”).
Arguably the most launch attention is trained on “The Morning Show,” if only for its stars … Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, who previously played sisters on “Friends” (and also are executive producers of the new drama). Aniston portrays a morning-TV veteran who loses her co-host (Steve Carell) over accusations of inappropriate behavior, with Witherspoon as an ambitious reporter whose forceful coverage of one story boosts her profile. Billy Crudup also appears as a network executive with much to say about what happens on “The Morning Show” (also the name of the show within the show).
The other series making their debuts as Apple TV+ itself premieres are the following:
The seriocomic “Dickinson” casts Hailee Steinfeld (“Bumblebee,” “True Grit”) as the legendary poet Emily Dickinson, whose rebellion against the constraints of 1800s society may have limited her in her own time but made and kept her famous long afterward.
“See” is the ironic title of a futuristic drama in which the survivors of a virus have been rendered blind and have to learn to cope without sight. Recent movie “Aquaman” Jason Momoa and multiple Emmy winner Alfre Woodard are among the stars.
“For All Mankind” projects what might have happened if the space race had continued. Ronald D. Moore (“Outlander”) is among the executive producers of the drama, which features Joel Kinnaman (“The Killing”) and Shantel VanSanten (“Shooter”).
Oprah Winfrey is slated to take her Book Club concept into its next iteration as she interviews authors, attempting to generate a base of positivity that also will involve other projects being carried out around the world.
“The Elephant Queen” is a documentary following a pachyderm’s struggle against extinction as she tries to protect and inspire her herd.
Several children’s shows also will be on the Apple TV+ menu from the outset: “Snoopy in Space,” which is exactly what it suggests about the animated “Peanuts” gang; a reboot of “Ghostwriter”; and “Helpsters,” from the team behind “Sesame Street.”
Apple TV+ is poised to take a bite out of the streaming pie, then. As with all other comers in that market, whether consumers take their own bites of it remains to be seen.