YMMV / The Morning Show

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • There are a surprising number of viewers who believe Mitch is the true victim and that he didn't do anything wrong/simply made innocent mistakes (it doesn't help that the show initially implies that Mia actively tried to get Mitch fired- via reporting him to HR and leaking his indiscretions to the Times with the help of Chip- out of revenge for their affair going south).
  • Is Alex Levy a strained mother and co-host who has been looked down upon by others and acts aggressively to everyone or is she a narcissistic and power-hungry Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who only cares about herself and being in the spotlight? "Open Waters" only adds to the latter interpretation with Alex lashing out at her daughter when she sarcastically insults her career, which might even hint at the fact that Alex was and still is too focused on her career to be there for her daughter.
    • The third possibility, and the one the show seems to want viewers to take, is that she is both. She has neglected her daughter for her career and in spite of this she was never able to equal Mitch because the studio viewed her as his replacable sidekick instead of seeing her own inherent value.
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: Chip during the season 1 finale. After telling Mitch that Hannah fatally overdosed, he punches him in the face, pins him down, and reveals that he was the one who leaked his story to the Times to save Alex's job, which is how Mitch got fired in the first place. He then gets up and leaves without saying another word.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The final Show Within a Show broadcast of the first season begins with a story about a docked cruise ship under quarantine from a deadly virus onboard - which eerily reflects the story of the monthlong ordeal endured by the Diamond Princess following an outbreak of COVID-19 just a few months later.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Mitch in season 2. He's a straight-up sexual predator... and yet there are moments ("La Amara Vita" is rife with them) where it's really hard not to feel sorry for the guy.
  • Bradley Jackson might have a temper on her (which caused her to get fired at one point), but compared to her colleagues (barring Chip), she's possibly the only character who isn't narcissistic and actually does care. And on top of this, is her INCREDIBLY dysfunctional family and her regretful past.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Bradley is shipped with pretty much every character in the show. Her most popular is her canon with Laura, but she is also often paired with Alex, Cory, and Maggie, to name a few. This is helped by Reese Witherspoon having great chemistry with her co-stars.
• Love to Hate:
  • Cory Ellison. He clearly does and gets away with a lot of seedy things almost purely for his own personal enjoyment, but he’s clearly enjoying all the drama going on, and Billy Crudup gives him such a charismatic performance that’s it really hard not to enjoy the character.
  • There are more than a few people who have had this reaction to Mitch of all people. The fact that he's played by the extremely charismatic, likable Steve Carell might have a little something to do with that.
• Narm: Bradley’s mother screaming “YOU ARE RUINING DINNER!!!!”during an intense argument in episode 1.
• One-Scene Wonder: Martin Short as a Harvey Weinstein-esque unrepentantly lecherous producer (to the point that even Mitch ends up disgusted with him).
• So Okay, It's Average: The general sentiment. Not many think it's awful, but you won't find many calling it a stand-out or worth subscribing to Apple TV+ to watch. This is more of an issue than usual, however, because it was Apple TV+'s most hyped show at launch, with it getting the bulk of advertising and media attention, as well as its massive price tag ($15 million an episode) and big-name lead actors (Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, and Reese Witherspoon).
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Not only does this series focus on a #MeToo target (Mitch) who was accused of sexually assaulting his co-host and he is portrayed as a victim (it's strongly hinted that the co-host was making the whole thing up or at the very least greatly exaggerating the details of a drunken sleepover in order to make herself look good), but later on, it's revealed that he did it for real to Hannah, who ends up fatally overdosing on drugs. Most of the people are also incredibly narcissistic and unlikeable, including Alex, who is one of the main characters. Bradley is one of the major exceptions (alongside Chip) and even she is prone to starting screaming matches at people, swearing a lot (even on live TV- hence her nickname "two fucks Jackson"), and even going off-script without warning. It can get quite easy for viewers to tune out and to a point, even utter the Eight Deadly Words.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Alex Levy. Despite the fact that she's one of the main characters and was manipulated by UBA, the rest of the time she is shown as a career gal who isn't there for her family at all even when they need her the most, her relationship with her husband Jason is strained to the point where he divorces her for (among other things) having an affair with Mitch of all people, she screams at her daughter who is already hostile to her due to Alex's behavior and the divorce, screws over the person who helped her the most (Chip), and plans to trash Bradley and acts in a narcissistic manner that makes her hard to watch at times. All of the stuff mentioned does make her incredibly unlikeable as a result and to a degree, makes her just as bad as Mitch.
• The Woobie:
  • Hannah (especially in the last three episodes of season 1!). Oh, Hannah.
  • Chip also counts as this, seeing that he is one of the only characters who is genuinely a good person and having to deal with the massive conflicts of The Morning Show, of which he is the Executive Producer. No wonder he has many Oh, Crap! moments. There is also the fact that he leaked Mitch's story to the Times to save Alex's job, which got Mitch fired and kickstarted the plot in the first place.

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