Must see TV
October 18, 2024
By Gonzalo López Martí- Creative Director
https://www.LopezMartiMiami.com/
- If you happen to be gainfully employed in a multiethnic workplace in the fields of entertainment, media, advertising, marketing, streaming and the like, trust me: you gotta see The Morning Show on Apple TV+.
- See, when Apple TV+ released it with big fanfare circa 2019, I brushed it off.
- I was reluctant to sacrifice sleep over what appeared to be a soapy ensemble sitcom.
- The cast telegraphed toothless comedy with carefully focus grouped gender, racial and sexual representation.
Cut to 2024. - A friend whose pop culture taste I happen to trust suggested I give it a try.
- I did I and I must say that I am pleasantly surprised.
- Boy I was wrong.
- Pardon me oh gods of entertainment for I was prejudiced.
- Not sure I would call it a masterpiece, but it is a very very good show.
- To their credit, I don’t think they are trying to make history here.
- They are not trying to reach for the stars.
- It simply is a well thought out, flawlessly executed pastime for grownup audiences.
- Quite refreshing coming from self-important Hollywood types.
- Despite some tropes here & there the storyline is quick on its feet yet pretty plausible.
- Airtight script, no facile plot shortcuts, no shark jumps.
- It manages to deal with the zeitgeist in a fair and balanced fashion.
- There’s a leettle lecturing and some exposition, but it is subtle and totally passable.
- It stays healthily away from virtue signaling and grandstanding.
- No faux true crime, no serial killers, no glamourized cartel kingpins.
- Nobody is totally innocent or totally guilty.
- Add a generous budget, flawless realistic settings, great camera work sans unnecessary affectation.
- No gratuitous drug use.
- Awkward sex scenes kept to a bare minimum.
- Quite kosher and perhaps even educational for older teens.
- Billy Crudup steals every scene.
- It certainly helps that he got the best role and the best lines, but still.
- His recent Emmy award is well deserved.
- Kudos.
- Mark Duplass is great too.
- Our man Néstor Carbonell initially looks like the token Latino in the room.
- The proverbial DEI hire.
- But his character, Yanko Flores, evolves nicely, becomes fully fleshed out and highly relatable.
- Spoiler alert: he seems to be the only decent dude in the lineup without an agenda or an axe to grind.
- He’s just a romantic who happens to love his job.
- The two main stars, Aniston & Witherspoon, display good range and chemistry, but I am not sure these are career
- defining roles.
- Problem is, it is extremely hard to not remember Rachel and Legally Blonde when they appear on screen.
- They deliver the dramatic goods though.
- Oddly enough, Steve Carell is the weakest link.
- He is OBVIOUSLY channeling Matt Lauer.
- Carell is arguably one of the top ten big & small screen comedians alive.
- He rarely misses the thespian mark, but something’s not fully clicking here.
- Maybe he’s too much of a nice guy to play such a first-rate a**hole.
- Spoiler alert: I finished binging on the first season and am already two episodes into Season 2, the plot becomes a little far-fetched but it’s still worth it.