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Published Jul 12, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT
Casey Duby is an avid TV writer, watcher, and reviewer. She graduated from Emerson College in 2021 with a focus in Writing for Film and Television, where she wrote several pilots and watched countless more. She's been working in television ever since.
Casey loves thoughtful content that makes her ponder our world and the people in it, and she's learned that any genre can surprise her. With favorites in every genre from horror to politics, family to action, nothing is off limits.
Casey has experience working in TV development and writing scripted shows. Currently working as a Writer/Critic in Los Angeles, with an AMC A-List membership to boot, she is always hunting for the next good story and great theme song.
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Over the years, Apple TV has repeatedly proven its commitment to quality. The streamer has become known for its selective, high-concept, high-budget programming featuring some of the most famous and highest-paid TV actors. Apple TV has gained a particular reputation for its sci-fi outings that consistently blend a visual spectacle with thought-provoking themes.
Vince Gilligan's Pluribus has dominated the contemporary sci-fi scene, even becoming the streamer's most-watched series of all time. Even more recently, the horror-comedy Widow's Bay has been one of the buzziest shows of 2026. Yet the caliber of Apple TV's streaming catalog has been evident long before these recent successes, and the streamer's strengths extend well beyond sci-fi.
Earnest, heartwarming shows like Ted Lasso and Shrinking have been soothing audiences since 2020, while the spy thriller Slow Horses has been an annual hit for the last five years. Even Apple TV's earliest productions quickly established that the platform was willing to take big risks that appealed to stars who rarely ventured into television.
November 1, 2019, marked the premiere date of Apple TV's first slate of original programming, including what is now its longest-running series, The Morning Show. The star-studded drama was a characteristically bold endeavor, and one that has the potential to stand the test of time for years to come.
The sci-fi drama For All Mankind is the only other current Apple TV series with a November 1, 2019 premiere, making it technically tied with The Morning Show for the streamer's longest-running series. However, For All Mankind has announced that it will be ending with its upcoming sixth season.
Relevance Is Built Into The Morning Show's Premise
The Morning Show has kept its finger on the pulse of societal developments with its fictional morning news broadcast addressing issues from the Me Too movement to the January 6th attack on the Capitol and everything in between. Its blending of fictional characters and reporting with real-world events was a bold endeavor, particularly after HBO's similar, yet comparatively short-lived, The Newsroom.
While the controversial Newsroom was set in the recent past, The Morning Show takes place in the present, right alongside its audience. This is an endeavor that requires an insightful perception of the world and a constant ability to keep the story nimble and flexible. For a series aiming to be a thoroughly serious exploration of modern issues, inaccurately reflecting them would be an instant miss.
Despite the precision this premise requires, The Morning Show has succeeded, reinventing itself every season as it pivots towards the real world's latest developments. Just as reality has shifted since 2019, so too has The Morning Show become something entirely different from what it was in season 1.
This is exactly what offers the series longevity, as it can remain fresh, with no shortage of story material, for years to come. In order to pull that off, though, the show needs to keep its sights set on the world around it.
The Morning Show Should Focus On Its World More Than Its Characters
The Morning Show is far from a procedural, but it's at its best when its characters show their true colors by how they react to the world around them, rather than being mired in personal struggles that threaten to veer the show into melodrama.
The personal connection that Reese Witherspoon's Bradley Jackson had to the January 6 riot was compelling, and the way she chose to handle it spoke volumes about her personal integrity and priorities as a character. However, this plot line set her character on a trajectory that, most recently, led to her being held in inhumane conditions in Belarus.
While this did draw poignant comparisons to WNBA star Brittney Griner's recent imprisonment, The Morning Show's treatment of the story revealed the biggest potential pitfalls of its premise. The Morning Show's scope in acknowledging a wide array of real-world issues is its biggest selling point, but making a handful of characters experience them all firsthand would erode the show's realism.
The Morning Show is in its element as a workplace drama and a thoughtful observation of the world's struggles, not when it attempts to condense those struggles into a series of personal tragedies experienced by the same few people. If it can, in true journalistic fashion, keep its characters from becoming the story, there's no reason The Morning Show can't remain a cultural touchstone for years to come.
The Morning Show Has No End In Sight
Even as television increasingly continues to attract major stars and launch new ones, The Morning Show boasts one of TV's most impressive casts. The show stars Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and, in the early seasons, Steve Carell. However, the show soon made the surprising and narratively strong choice to kill off Carell's character, and new celebrities quickly joined in his place.
Over the years, Julianna Margulies, Jon Hamm, Holland Taylor, Tig Notaro, Will Arnett, and Mindy Kaling have all stepped into the show as recurring characters. As The Morning Show moves into its fifth season, it continues to bring new, massive names into the fold. Jeff Daniels, Renee Rapp, and Sean Hayes will be joining the cast in the show's upcoming season.
While other Apple TV shows have announced that they will be concluding with their upcoming season, the topical media drama has been given no such caveat, and if its ever-growing cast is any indication, The Morning Show is still very much in its prime.
Release Date November 1, 2019
Network Apple TV
Showrunner Kerry Ehrin
Directors Stacie Passon, Miguel Arteta, Millicent Shelton, Tucker Gates, David Frankel, Jennifer Getzinger, Jessica Yu, Kevin Bray, Lesli Linka Glatter, Michelle MacLaren, Roxann Dawson, Thomas Carter, Victoria Mahoney, Lynn Shelton
Writers Micah Schraft, Zander Lehmann, Billy Kennedy, Vanessa Baden Kelly, J.C. Lee, Joshua Allen, Jiehae Park, Sharon Hoffman, Jay Carson, Christiana Mbakwe, Kerry Ehrin
English (US) ·