Blu-ray Review: The Morning Show Seasons 1 & 2

SEASON 1

Alex Levy anchors The Morning Show, a popular news program broadcast from Manhattan that has excellent TV ratings and is perceived to have changed the face of American television. After her partner of 15 years, Mitch Kessler, is fired amidst a sensual misconduct scandal, Alex fights to retain her job as top news anchor while sparking a rivalry with Bradley Jackson, a haphazard field reporter whose series of impulsive decisions bring her into a new world of TV journalism.

SEASON 2

After the explosive on-air episode, Alex retreats from the spotlight, while Bradley continues at The Morning Show with new co-host Laura Peterson. As the network faces major changes and power struggles, both women are forced to navigate shifting loyalties, personal truths, and professional ambition. With new rivals, big risks, and a newsroom in flux, Season 2 dives deeper into the high-stakes world behind the headlines.

What We Thought:

There is a lot I liked about The Morning Show Seasons 1 & 2 and a lot I didn’t like. The cast is stellar. The writing is solid. Despite each episode being close to an hour (or sometimes longer) the episodes are very ease to binge. But it’s also very political and very self-aware and a lot of that I find a bit too convenient.

What I mean by that is, it feels like the show is an apology from Hollywood for their own behavior. Season 1 is clearly a shot at Matt Lauer, Katie Couric and The Today Show. They use Harvey Weinstein and other #MeToo names to tie in their storyline that takes down Steve Carell’s character. Carell’s Mitch was a long time co-chair with Jennifer Aniston’s Alex of The Morning Show and his career is taken down by sexual harassment allegations. Enter Reese Witherspoon’s Bradley who now gives the show two female chairs because of Girl Boss Power and all the other buzzwords we’ve heard for 5-10 years. The show is going to be done differently and the workplace environment will be safer. The funniest part is, my favorite performance was from Billy Crudup as the network exec. I thought he was brilliant. I enjoyed Witherspoon’s initial take on wanting journalism to be truth telling and who seemed to lean a bit more right than the average reporter. She doesn’t care about the fame or lifestyle and wants to report on real news. Aniston’s Alex is the veteran who is all about keeping her job, letting things slide if it benefits the show until the end when she realizes what years of that behavior has done to other women.

Season 2 opens with the fallout of the final episode of Season 1. Alex heads to Maine to escape everything while Bradley gets a new co-chair. She wants to do evenings news and the ratings slide. The season gets into the COVID pandemic which again, seeing Hollywood tackle something like that is a bit funny seeing how they acted and tried to tell people how to live their lives. Anything COVID is instantly outdated to me especially with what we know now and how bad everything was run. It being based in 2020 there’s also the Presidential election and this being Hollywood, the network is hosting the Democratic debate. There was a surprise death and again the show is well acted and written.

Series like The Morning Show aren’t for me. I am glad to see Apple TV+ releasing their projects on physical media though. People without Apple TV+ will be able to catch up on their shows and movies now. If you are a fan of The Morning Show, this new Blu-ray collection is good though.