Director of 'The Morning Show' series blames 'Apple haters' for poor response

The Morning Show, one of the flagship launch shows on Apple's new streaming platform Apple TV+, has not gone down spectacularly well with critics.

Based on the world of morning TV, it lured in top talent like Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell, with Aniston and Witherspoon reportedly earning $2 million per episode.

But director Mimi Leder has now said that she reckons some of the criticism is being levelled at Apple rather than the show.

“When those reviews came in, I didn't know what show they were watching. I thought they were kinda nuts. I just felt there were a lot of Apple haters and wanting Apple to fail,” she said at the Code Media event in Los Angeles.

Read more: Awkward Witherspoon and Aniston interview

“Not everyone is going to love one show. The reviews very much felt like an attack on Apple.”

Showrunner Kerry Ehrin added: “When you see reviews that are very much looking at from the whole business aspect, like 'what are Apple doing?' and 'they spent this much money on it', it's kind of separate from us. With reviews, you read them, and you let them go.

“They were pretty attack-ish. There were a lot of well tuned Apple jokes.”

Inspired by journalist Brian Stetler's 2013 book Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV, it also lured House of Cards consultant and former high level political press man Jay Carson as the show's creator.

But following a high stakes premiere on the day Apple TV+ launched at the beginning of this month, the reviews have been a little tepid.

“The Morning Show is okay so far... There's a good show in there, even if it's not all on the screen yet,” reckoned Uproxx.

Added The Times' Hugo Rifkind: “After a while I found myself wondering whether everybody involved in this project was simply too rich and powerful to comprehend how hard the average viewer may find it to sympathise.”

It's worth noting that the audience review score for The Morning Show on Rotten Tomatoes was much more favourable, at 95 percent approval, compared to 63 percent approval from critics.