Apple TV+ made a few crucial mistakes in making and promoting The Morning Show

Eric Deggans

Apple only let TV critics watch the first three episodes of The Morning Show when the series is reportedly much improved in Episodes 7 though 10. After days of bad buzz following early reviews early last week, Apple let critics watch the remaining episodes last Thursday on the eve of Apple TV+'s launch. "Apple didn’t release all the episodes to critics until right before the launch — after an avalanche of bad reviews — and viewing those remaining episodes reveals a lot," says Eric Deggans. "The show asks persistent questions about the nature of consent. When a woman who is in a junior position has an affair with a man at the top of the workplace hierarchy, can that relationship truly be free from coercion?" He adds that The Morning Show has some troubling racial issues. "Depicting a morning show newsroom where the top anchor ranks are devoid of diversity is seriously unrealistic and relegates actors of color to supporting roles," he says, pointing out how diverse network morning TV is in real life. A third big mistake was making The Morning Show episodes overly long. "The Morning Show also commits the cardinal sin of streaming TV; its episodes are too long," he says. 'When I watched the pilot, I asked Apple’s PR people if they had connected the first two episodes into one long presentation — that’s how long it felt."