The Morning Show is a triumph of bad taste and a rich text for Jennifer Aniston scholars

Slate

"It’s not great, but oh, God, is it interesting. It’s not perfect, but oh, Lord, is it watchable. It’s not very good, but hurry up, sit by me, it’s starting," Willa Paskin says of Apple TV+'s flagship series. What makes it so watchable is Aniston, who makes it a great show for studying "Anistology," as Paskin put it. While Reese Witherspoon is the co-lead of the show, Aniston plays the most compelling character as Witherspoon "recedes into the background even as she keeps her screen time," says Paskin. "Aniston DGAF about likability in this role; she’s ready to rip it up, stomp on it, and throw it in the toilet, which isn’t to say she is not intermittently very likable," says Paskin. "Much of this is a credit to Aniston’s performance, the way she conveys Alex’s intense loneliness by bringing forward and holding back different pieces of herself with everyone she knows—her public, the press, her colleagues, her estranged husband, her daughter—except for her now-disgraced co-anchor, the only person intimately familiar with her grueling isolation. But anyone familiar with her story can recognize her gung-ho embrace of this role as an escape attempt: Let her out of the box! There’s so much will in this performance, so much mighty vim, and it all comes from Aniston’s gameness to do whatever is required—and to do it, mostly, very well. She’ll shoot daggers at hair and makeup, curse out her teenager, cry, panic, puke, lose her cool, jockey, scheme, manipulate, backstab. She’ll even play the enabler of a sex pest." Paskin adds: "We’ve forgotten how to have bad taste with dignity, with humility, with any sense of proportion. Bad taste, like a bellybutton, is something everyone has. To be human is to love unwisely but too well, to be thrilled, satisfied by the middling thing that hits the spot, whether it’s a movie or a partner. It’s bad taste, fine taste, whatever taste, not good taste, that makes us singular, particular, human. (Who only loves good things? It’s too boring to contemplate!) While we could hardly be accused of living in an era of good taste, we are living in a moment where we have elevated bad taste to the point that it no longer functions with any self-effacement. Bad taste no longer knows that it’s not that good. No one should feel bad about the things they love or feel guilty about their pleasures, wherever they find them—but I do think we should try to remain aware that personal pleasure is not an exact equivalent to quality. Love what you love, but try to see it clear."

ALSO:

• The Morning Show makes it clear Jennifer Aniston is a great actor: "Aniston has played a whirlwind before (ahem, Along Came Polly), but with The Morning Show there are stakes, which makes all the difference," says Hillary Kelly. "She deploys all the best bits of her comedic training when she’s playing Levy backstage — the faces she makes while she’s stuck on a speakerphone chat, a forceful yank of her extensions when she’s off-air, a cell-phone-smashing bit that nearly careens into a Three Stooges routine — but zips herself up into a controlled glide the second she steps on set. Alex Levy seemingly gets no special joy from sitting Plasticine-like in front of the camera and offering the world what it wants from her. Aniston flicks that on-off switch like a pro, not just because she knows what it’s like to live in front of cameras, but because she knows what it’s like to live as a persona — the ray of sunshine, the good girl, the woman who causes no trouble. It’s the knowingness behind Aniston’s performance that lends it such weight: Some moments feel so personal, like that face-pulling moment, that it’s almost as if camera operators just waited for her to forget they were there."
• Watch Aniston sing Sondheim on The Morning Show
• The Morning Show boss Kerry Ehrin says scripts weren't tweaked by the news, and Season 2 won't be influenced by the real world