The Morning Show

The Morning Show sprinkles wit amid overheated cascades of high melodrama. [27 Sep - 10 Oct 2021, p.6]

While the first two episodes of season two are too enamored with getting players in place (particularly since season one ended with a house cleaning), “The Morning Show” does pick up steam and gets everything from the Iowa Caucuses to a visit to Wuhan in the picture. ... Crudup, though, is the heart of this world. As corrupt as he may be, he’s worth following.

Far from suffering difficult-second-series syndrome, the new run of this massively fun takedown of seething rivalries in the American TV business is even more ambitious and edgy than the first.

About four episodes into the new season of Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, I stopped expecting it to have the qualities of a prestige television series—narrative complexity, emotional resonance, logic—and began simply appreciating it for what it is: one of the most batshit-expensive soap operas ever made. ... If you can meet The Morning Show on those terms, its second season is quite a ride. ... The Morning Show is camp: earnest, schlocky, nonsensical drama that’s not ruined by its excess and ridiculousness, but redeemed by it.

It's fun, all this chaos — but it also takes time away from one intriguing, ultimately underdeveloped subplot. Daniel, the only Black anchor on TMS, feels sidelined by the network. ... Still, if The Morning Show is going to pick a lane, perhaps "freeway to Crazy Town" is the best choice — because that's the show Billy Crudup has been starring in since season 1.

It takes some soapy turns in season two, and Carell’s character can seem stranded in limbo, but this is big starry television about big starry television that dares you to look away. Tune in.

The writers also seem unsure about what to do with the massive, glamor-crammed world they created. Not terminally so; the show remains highly watchable — as much for its good performances (including Billy Crudup) as for its amped-up absurdities.

The Morning Show Season 2 is a thrilling melange of ridiculous drama. There are hookups that had me gasping, plot developments that gave me whiplash, and a few moments where I had second-hand embarrassment for all involved. ... The Morning Show will never be a perfect show. It’s too boldly outspoken, too shockingly self-indulgent, and too obsessed with speaking first about a moment in time instead of speaking wisely. Still, I can’t help but find its brand of backstabbing elites terribly fun to watch.

Season 2 again enters territory that is frequently too fraught to dissect in public without triggering knee-jerk responses — with all the risks that entails. And whether it holds together as the world falls apart is an open question. But “The Morning Show” most definitely succeeds at striking the balance between advancing its own personality-driven narrative and tackling topical issues in one entertaining drama.

The laughs are fewer but sharper in this pandemic season of a dramedy series that takes on too much (bless it) but allows MVP’s Aniston, Witherspoon, Carell and the sensationally soulless Crudup to create an irresistible chaos that’s a pleasure to watch.

It is captivating in its stilted strangeness; almost arresting in its capacity to identify the least recognizably human direction for any story to go and then head unerringly toward it. “Bad” isn’t the right word, because it doesn’t capture how hilarious and striking the show can be. “Good” isn’t a great fit, either. ... This season of The Morning Show is just plain weird. Characters make choices that make no sense whatsoever, and they do it with a regularity that’s half the show’s appeal.

None of it feels real. Without the storyline that gave The Morning Show all its power and nuance, we are left with the old luxury fluff, reacquainting ourselves with characters who aren’t substantial enough to merely hang out with. ... This is a drama that demands we take it seriously – it needs to earn that right anew.

Two seasons in, though, The Morning Show is still something of a luxurious mess. It’s stronger when its characters guide the narrative – even Bradley becoming more textured as the season goes on – but feels trapped by its own fixation on real-world relevance, or plundering recent headlines for story ideas.

The Morning Show sails very close to being quite interesting.

The show continues to have the vibe of a network drama that would have been controversial in, say, 2003. The things The Morning Show thinks it is being groundbreaking about aren’t groundbreaking at all. It just has a very false sense of self-importance.

Compelling performers and their interpersonal storylines make The Morning Show watchable, even as the series’ lecturing threatens to push the audience out of reach.

The second season of “The Morning Show” largely segments its cast into individual subplots (perhaps because of pandemic filming) and the result is a season that feels fragmented and lacks the confidence of the best of the first.

Ultimately “The Morning Show” suffers from haphazard storytelling and an emphasis on the least compelling corners of this show-bizzy side of TV news.

It wants us to be content to marvel at its framework of aspiration and drive, along with loving its two co-stars. After a point, though, the performances aren't enough of a reason to continue ignoring the story's lack of substance, guts and a soul.

The Morning Show isn’t awful, but it does awful things. The second season, through eight episodes — all 10 were sent to critics, but I ran out of either time or interest— hasn’t improved from an already inconsistent first season.

To give the second season of The Morning Show something, anything, to propel it forward, there are a variety of soapy dramas, many of them pinned to the new characters. These cobbled together histrionic dramatics are offensive compared to the gravity of the issues of the first season. Even combined, the desperate scrambles of the second season don’t have enough bite, or credibility, for the viewer to invest in.

A series with too much story seems to have lost the plot. ... Too often, “The Morning Show’s” second season is satisfied with the easiness of shock — of announcing itself, though not communicating much of note, in a blare. But the show it might have been, or might still be, is there, just barely avoiding being drowned out.

The Apple TV+ drama that remains creatively and dramatically inept throughout its 10-episode second season.