Apple’s ‘The Morning Show’ is Taking the Matt Lauer Scandal Head On

Apple dropped the first full-length trailer for their upcoming original series, The Morning Show, starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carrell. The series might unite some of the biggest sitcom stars ever, but as this first look proves, the tone of The Morning Show is going to be anything but light and bright. The trailer confirms that The Morning Show will delve right into the most contentious story that has ever hit morning news television: when The Today Show fired Matt Lauer and CBS This Morning canned Charlie Rose when news of their respective histories of sexual harassment hit.

The Morning Show stars Jennifer Aniston as Alex Levy, an aging morning news host who must help her show reset after she reports that her long-time co-host Mitch Kessler (Steve Carrell) has been accused of sexual harassment. Behind-the-scenes, producers are grooming a new reporter, played by Reese Witherspoon, to take a hosting position on the show. The latter storyline echoes another major scandal that affected NBC’s The Today Show. As detailed in Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV, before Lauer was fired for his illicit behavior, he angled to have co-host Ann Curry ousted and replaced with Savannah Guthrie. Top of the Morning’s writer, Brian Stelter, is a producer on The Morning Show, and the book is said to provide inspiration for the series.

The Morning Show is set to be Apple TV+’s first major original series, thanks to the show’s tremendous star-power. It will mark Jennifer Aniston’s return to television, and is Reese Witherspoon’s first major role after the success of HBO’s Big Little Lies. However, the bigger story might be that Steve Carrell is tackling the tricky role of a Matt Lauer-esque character. Lauer’s fall from grace was swift and brutal, and Carrell is a well-beloved actor. Slotting him in that kind of role could be genius, or it could backfire big time. It will all come down to whether or not Carrell can sell the audience on Mitch’s sins, while still holding their attention. The series also is already drawing comparisons to The Newsroom on social media, which is again a good or bad thing depending on how devoted you were to The Newsroom. 

The Morning Show will debut on Apple TV+ this fall.