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Sep 16, 2021 By Lily Moayeri Photography by Apple TV+ Web Exclusive

The multiple award-winning first season of The Morning Show, one of Apple TV+’s flagship series, which helped launch the streaming service, is addictive and edgy. The 10-episode season ended on a triumphant note that resolved all of its conflicts, which revolved around the #metoo scenario of the titular program’s co-host, Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell). So the fact that the series even has a second season is entirely unnecessary.

The second season starts three months after where we left off, but it might as well be years because The Morning Show is unrecognizable. The whistle-blowing co-host of The Morning Show, Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon), is performing a musical number on the show inside the show. Meanwhile, Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) is downright embarrassing in her distress about what is in journalist Maggie Brener’s (Marcia Gay Harden) tell-all book. Network executive Corey Ellison (Billy Crudup) is frantic and comical rather than the cool crusader we’ve come to know him has, making statements like “This is a battle for the soul of the universe.” Oh brother.

Clearly the original cast isn’t enough to carry the second season, hence the introduction of many new characters. Most notably news anchor Laura Peterson (Juliana Margulies) and president of the network’s news Stella Bak (Greta Lee) and a potpourri of on-air personalities culled from, among other places, YouTube influencers such as Ty Fitzgerald (Ruairi O’Connor). None of these new additions bring anything to the flailing storylines.

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.

The only elements that are consistent and strong are the unflappable Maggie, network president Fred Micklen, masterfully portrayed by Tom Irwin and the terrifying chairwoman of the network’s board, Cybil Richards, played by the always reliable Holland Taylor—new to this season. Unfortunately, these three have the least airtime of any of The Morning Show’s characters and therefore are not present enough to justify tuning in. It’s best to re-watch the first season and re-live its non-stop actual drama. (www.tv.apple.com/us/show/the-morning-show)

Author rating: 4/10