6 TV Shows Like The Morning Show

There's nothing else on TV quite like The Morning Show, Apple TV+'s star-studded morning news drama. The series follows a morning news program at the fictional UBA network in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against the longtime male anchor (Steve Carell). When his co-anchor, Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston), is left to helm the show, UBA attempts to bring in a fresh and unexpected partner in the form of field reporter Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon). The new hire quickly shakes up the show and proves to be an accidental driving force in a network-wide reckoning. 

While the first season mainly deals with the #MeToo movement, later installments focus on other real-life headlines, like the Covid-19 pandemic and overreaching tech billionaires. Eccentric and unruly, the show has refused to adhere to one genre or archetype since it first premiered in 2019.

Although the show was already renewed for a fourth season before the third even started airing, past hiatuses indicate that it will probably be a couple of years before new episodes hit Apple TV+. For fans who can't bear the wait, we've picked out six similar shows to help pass the time before The Morning Show returns to TV.

The Morning Show Watch on Apple TV+

More recommendations:

• The Best Shows to Watch Based on Shows You Already Love
• The Best Shows and Movies on Apple TV

The Newsroom

The most obvious comparison to The Morning Show is The Newsroom, Aaron Sorkin's ripped-from-the-headlines take on cable news. The show follows the team at the fictional Atlantis Cable News (ACN) network, helmed by veteran anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels), who hosts News Night. The ACN staff — which is made up of producers, journalists, and opinionated network executives — faces daily obstacles as they attempt to deliver honest news under the pressures of corporate mismanagement and greed. When McAvoy's ex, journalist MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer), returns to executive produce the show after a lengthy stint embedded overseas, everything changes as she attempts to return the network to its glory days.

Big Little Lies

The Morning Show in its current form probably wouldn't exist if Reese Witherspoon (and her production company) hadn't made the jump to prestige TV in 2017 with Big Little Lies. Based on Liane Moriarty's bestselling book of the same name, the show follows a group of mothers in an affluent California beach town whose lives intertwine beyond just their children (and maybe into murder). Although the series doesn't focus on a workplace, it shares The Morning Show's penchant for melodrama, gossip, and stunt casting (make sure to stick around for Meryl Streep in Season 2). It also grapples with similar themes of sexual assault and its community-wide repercussions.

Murphy Brown

One of the original fictional news programs came in the form of sitcom Murphy Brown, which followed an ace news anchor and investigative reporter fresh off a stint at the Betty Ford clinic. The series picks up just as Murphy (Candice Bergen) returns to work and attempts to re-embed herself among her colleagues while maintaining her sobriety. Although the show is a sitcom, it deals with heavy and groundbreaking topics throughout its 10-year-long original run, including Murphy's battle with breast cancer. Most notably, the show paved the way for single motherhood representation on TV.

Call My Agent!

If you don't mind the subtitles (or are fluent in French), you'll find lots to love in Call My Agent!. The quick-paced, Paris-set show follows a group of agents whose successful business is thrown into disarray after the unsavory death of their founder. The show is just as much about its agents as it is about its assistants and underlings, and an impressive rolodex of celebrity clientele cameos help round out the cast. Already a star in France, the show served as Camille Cottin's introduction to the rest of the world and helped catapult her to her current level of fame. While Call My Agent! leans more into its comedic side than The Morning Show ever does, both series show what happens when a changing of the guard allows a workplace to redefine itself.

The Good Wife

In The Good Wife, Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) must return to work as a lawyer after a cheating scandal lands her politician husband in prison. She joins an old law school friend's Chicago firm, where she finds herself competing with first-year associates a decade younger than her and balancing her family life, all while navigating her complicated feelings towards both her husband and former classmate. Smart, funny, and occasionally heartbreaking, the series has more in common with The Morning Show than just Margulies. The two shows share a penchant for highlighting plots reflecting ridiculous real-life events, although The Good Wife has a much firmer throughline.

Sports Night

Before there was The Newsroom (or even The West Wing), there was Sports Night, Sorkin's first venture into television. The show puts a fictional spin on the staff of a nightly sports news show like ESPN's SportsCenter, focusing on co-anchors Dan Rydell (Josh Charles) and Casey McCall (Peter Krause). Like The Newsroom, the team at Sports Night struggles to put on a good show in the face of corporate network tensions. Also like Sorkin's other shows, Sports Night ultimately focuses on the interpersonal relationships between the characters (namely, the romantic ties between recently divorced Casey and Felicity Huffman's Dana Whitaker), with the high-stakes work environment as a powerful secondary. Much more comedic than its HBO counterpart, the series aired in a half-hour slot on ABC and ultimately ended after two seasons despite critical acclaim.