“The Morning Show” is the kind of TV time travel that’s sometimes hard to stomach. Season 4, which debuts Wednesday on Apple TV+, is set in early 2024, ahead of the Paris Olympics and the chaotic presidential election that has yet to fully wreak all of its havoc. We don’t yet know the ramifications of all the decisions made by the media last year, or at the very least, we’re living in them as they play out.
2024 is too recent, too raw — and in a lot of ways, too stupid — to really reflect back on with any great insight, but that doesn’t stop “The Morning Show” from trying, with its usual soapy flair.
When we last checked in at UBA, it was on the verge of merging with rival network NBN. Alex (Jennifer Aniston) finally got some of the power she’d been craving after spearheading that merger, but she was heading to the front of a ship that was navigating some rocky waters. In the final scenes of Season 3, she was supporting Bradley (Reese Witherspoon) as she turned herself into the FBI for covering up her brother’s involvement in Jan. 6. Cory (Billy Crudup) was being forced out of the network completely and a new regime was taking over.
Season 4 is set two years after that finale and things at the newly crowned UBN are very different, yet much the same, which is part of the point. Now that the former underdogs have the power, they find themselves forced to make the same kinds of decisions as their predecessors. People like Stella (the stellar Greta Lee) and Alex keep saying they want things to change, but then they come to realize how much power hinges on negotiation. Every hire, every firing, every interview, every pivot, every headline is a tradeoff over who gets hurt and who gets less hurt.
In that vein, Season 4 is great fun. It’s thrilling and devastating to watch these women — Stella, in particular — discover that they can’t make the difference they wanted to make just because they’re now in charge. The problem is that while the faces at the top have changed, the structure hasn’t. The characters can now see how things actually work, and they have little choice but to keep it all going or let it all burn to the ground. In the meantime, people like Mia (Karen Pittman) get screwed, then have to rise back up with the help of a chic makeover (but no makeover montage, unfortunately).
This is “The Morning Show,” so all that has to play out amidst ridiculous melodrama that eventually gets exhausting. They throw everything at the wall this season: AI deepfakes, Olympics politics, doping scandals, asylum seekers, planes deteriorating, climate change protesters, massive corruption coverups, secret affairs, daddy issues, mommy issues, chemical spills, cocaine and so much more.
AI plays a major role in the season, and it’s probably the most fun. One of Stella’s big projects at UBN is an AI program that will allow people to watch UBN’s anchors report on the Olympics in any language. This leads talent like Alex to discover, apparently for the first time, the concept of deepfakes, and inspires questions that are still plaguing us now about whether the technology is worth the ethical grey areas. Somehow, their AI looks both better and worse than real AI, making it feel less sinister and more goofy, but the idea is there.
Other attempts at tackling real topics are less effective. Bradley is one of the most consistent weak spots on this show, which is not necessarily Witherspoon’s fault. The character is confusing, like no one wants to commit fully to any side of her. She sees herself as a serious journalist. UBN sees her as the “Morning Show” anchor who appeals to the right, but it’s become harder to see her appeal on either side. She’s digging for dirt on a story that might implicate the network in a cover-up, and she’s still reeling from her brother’s treason (and her part in it) and she’s making personal choices that are questionable at best. Someone like Chip (Mark Duplass) will tell her how good and watchable and moral she is and how much people love watching her, but it’s hard to believe him. When people talk about Bradley, they seem to be talking about someone other than the Bradley we actually see.
The season does have some tricks up its sleeve. Jeremy Irons gives Alex some backstory as her professor father, and Marion Cotillard plays Celine, the savvy French board president who may be friend or may be foe. Either way, she’s not like other executives, and she’s got an agenda at UBN. She’s also so alluring that it’s hard to go against her, so she may just get exactly what she wants with very little effort. Aaron Pierre plays her sexy artist husband, who gets a little more involved in her work life than he probably should.
Also new this season is Boyd Holbrook as Brodie, the host of a podcast and radio show that makes great use of the “bro” part of his name. He’s perfectly positioned as the antithesis of everything Alex stands for, therefore making him a great thorn in her side. He’s also part of the network’s ongoing attempts to capture that elusive conservative masculine portion of the American audience, and so he’s everything Alex should never even go near.
Season 3’s best addition, Paul Marks (Jon Hamm), is also returning, despite his failed attempts to buy and gut UBA and the end of his relationship with Alex. He’s used sparingly in Season 4, but it’s just the right amount, and watching Hamm go up against Aniston is still a treat.
That’s really the magic of “The Morning Show.” It’s packed with big stars doing occasionally good work, playing characters who exist in the same world they do but with more important jobs than they have. You can almost imagine Aniston dreaming of negotiating political asylum for deserving refugees. Witherspoon can’t chase a story into dangerous corners of the world but Bradley Jackson can, and while Hamm might not be able to use money and power to affect world politics, the billionaire Paul Marks definitely can. Maybe they feel just as helpless as the rest of us do in this world, and this is their way of feeling better. Maybe if they keep “making a difference” on screen, it will feel like they made one in real life too. And I guess as long as they’re doing it, we’ll keep watching it.
“The Morning Show” premieres Wednesday on Apple TV+.