How The Morning Show became TV’s most chaotic drama

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“I like it because it’s pacy and there is always a lot going on,” she adds. “It’s definitely a ‘no-scroll’ show. And this probably makes me a terrible person, but it just looks so nice. Everyone is beautiful and slick and smart and dressed like your dreams, and sometimes that’s exactly what you want in your one hour of free time between getting the kids to bed and passing out.”

Despite the show’s grounding in current affairs, this escapism is definitely key to the series’ appeal. Fans often talk about the Architectural Digest-type joy of seeing Alex’s penthouse (“Just excited for season 2 of The Morning Show to see Alex Levy’s New York apartment AGAIN,” one viewer said on X), while others are drawn to it for its absurdity. “This show is stupid and insane and laughable and I will watch every episode they give me,” one person commented on Reddit. 

Fans won’t be disappointed by season four, which continues with the show’s own chaotic brand of entertainment, and boasts even more star faces: Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, William Jackson Harper and Aaron Pierre have all joined, following in the footsteps of Jon Hamm and Greta Lee, who arrived in series three and two, respectively. Following last season’s merger between the UBA and NBN networks, there are more unhinged power grabs for the business, a plane crash unfolding live on air, unbelievable romantic liaisons, and a fantastical story involving false imprisonment, a Russian oligarch and a night at the opera, just to give a taste of some of the many plotlines it lurches between. One surreal episode even opens with presenter Yanko (Néstor Carbonell) doing a song-and-dance number, surrounded by doves, to Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up. 

At points, its melodramatic ludicrousness can jar with its mentions of real-life news events such as the Ukraine war, or the repealing of Roe v Wade. However, Kevin Taft, a US entertainment journalist and previous co-host of The Morning Show After Show podcast, believes it can be both timely and over-the-top all at once: “I actually like that they put in real-life events, because it really is more interesting to see how they work in what’s truly happening, whether it’s an election cycle or the [Covid-19] pandemic. Lots of shows and movies during the pandemic just ignored that it was happening and I’m thinking, ‘This isn’t just a small blip in daily life. This is a moment in history and has changed how we all live.’ When a show or movie ignores it, that just seems false to me.”