Everything We Know About The Morning Show

In the wake of sexual harassment allegations being made against her co-host Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell), Jennifer Aniston’s Alex Levy fights to keep her morning show relevant, successful, and honest as she navigates conflicting motives from the producers, the public, and—above all—her scrappy new co-worker Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon). Aniston and Witherspoon also serve as executive producers on the series.

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell, Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Gugu Mbatha-Raw

TV Facts

• When Matt Lauer was fired from The Today Show in November 2017, the producers of The Morning Show scrapped their original script and started from scratch with new showrunner Kerry Ehrin in order to factor a sexual harassment angle into the story and make it more topical. (The previous writer, House of Cards’ Jay Carson, apparently left amicably.)
• The series draws source material from CNN correspondent Brian Stelter’s book Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV, which reveals behind-the-scenes secrets of top programs like Good Morning America and The Today Show. Stelter is credited as a consulting writer.
• Aniston and Witherspoon, who are both executive producing and starring in the series, have both signed on for two 10-episode seasons.
• The Morning Show is not the first time Aniston and Witherspoon are sharing the small screen; Witherspoon previously guest-starred as Rachel Green’s sister Jill on Friends. According to Witherspoon, they’ve been friends ever since.
• Real-life news anchors including Katie Couric, Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, and Meredith Vieira shared insight and advice with the show’s stars to help them form their characters. Aniston also spent time with Diane Sawyer, who was one of her main character inspirations.
• At this point, it’s unclear if the series will continue after Season 2. When asked in an interview if there’d be more, Aniston said “If there’s stuff to talk about and if we’re not dead tired from it.”

The first three episodes of The Morning Show will be available to stream on Apple TV+ beginning on November 1, 2019, with weekly episode releases after that.