Ranker Spotlight:

The Morning Show

In 2019, Apple TV+, the new streamer on the block, found a hit right away — The Morning Show, combining the star power of Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell with peaking interest in the #MeToo movement. The show is loosely based on the real-life scandal that roiled The Today Show and led to the 2017 ousting of longtime anchor Matt Lauer (Carell plays a fictional version of Lauer). Just as Apple had hoped, fans have responded to the show’s timely social commentary, which is set to continue with its second season on September 17.

So who are the fans of The Morning Show — and does this zeitgeisty dramedy have the staying power to continue for several seasons? Let’s look at how the show and its high-profile cast rank on our most popular TV lists, as well as at the tastes and preferences of its fans.

Signs are good for the season premiere, with Ranker data showing fan sentiment gradually rising over the last three months, reaching as high as 84.6% in July — although it should be noted that voting volume is much lower now than it was when the show first premiered. But interestingly, sentiment has turned around completely since the debut, when it was down at 28%. It seems this series has improved its reputation with viewers over time.

How The Morning Show Ranks on Ranker

While The Morning Show may not be the kind of series that brings out droves of fans at Comic-Con, its under-the-radar nature has landed it on a few prestigious Ranker lists. It’s ranked in the top 20% of The Best New Series That Have Premiered In The Last Few Years (37K votes), and even took the #1 slot on The Best Shows Starring Movie Stars On TV In 2020, where it competes with a number of high-profile shows that are increasingly attracting big stars to streaming and TV.

In fact, the star power of the show’s cast may be its secret weapon — assuming Apple TV+ can keep them happy. Aniston, Witherspoon, and Carell all enjoy positive sentiment in every region of the country, although Carell is by far the most popular, with positive sentiment reaching as high as 75% in the Midwest and 74% in the South. That compares with Aniston and Witherspoon, who hover at 50% in most regions.

Still, the enduring popularity of all three stars is perhaps one reason The Morning Show can command fan and press attention. For example, people in the Northeast are 3X more likely to rank Aniston high on our list of The Best American Actresses Working Today (213K votes), where she ranks #18 out of 253 actresses. And people under 30 are 2X more likely to rank her high on The Most Trustworthy Celebrities In The World (1.2 million votes), where she ranks #54 out of 243. 

Meanwhile, Witherspoon ranks #15 out of 187 of The Best Living American Actresses (155K votes), and #21 out of 201 of The Best Actresses Working Today (390K votes). Witherspoon is also apparently easy on young fans’ eyes, with people under 30 being 2X more likely to rank her high on The Most Beautiful Women Of All Time list (137 million votes), where she is ranked #132 out of 2,795 women. 

As for Carell, fans seem to appreciate both his comedic and dramatic acting chops. While people under 30 are 2X more likely to rank Carell as one of the 100+ Funniest People Of All-Time (1.1 million votes), where he ranks #74 out of 391, he also ranks #47 out of 264 of The Best (Male) Actors Working Today (1.6 million votes) — not bad placement for someone mostly known for comedy who’s up against some of the top dramatic actors in the world.

What Do The Morning Show Fans Love?

It may come as no surprise that people who consider The Morning Show a high-quality series are 10X more likely to gravitate toward Big Little Lies (HBO), another Witherspoon vehicle, and 9X more likely to love the Witherspoon-fronted Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu). The Newsroom (HBO) is also 9X more likely to be beloved by The Morning Show fans, which makes sense, considering it’s also a ripped-from-the-headlines drama about a news operation. 

But other correlations are less obvious. For example, besides Big Little Lies, the series The Morning Show fans are statistically most likely to also enjoy is The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon), a period comedy featuring no major movie stars. It does, however, touch on similar themes of female empowerment. Morning Show fans are also 9X more likely to love the crime drama Unbelievable (Netflix) and political thriller House of Cards (Netflix), as well as 8X more likely to be drawn to the dark character drama Sharp Objects (HBO). Netflix’s Dead to Me is also 8X more likely to appeal to Morning Show fans — Dead to Me has received a lot of buzz for the performances of Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini. 

The results become even more surprising when we isolate Watchworthy app users, who also give high scores to shows like the crime thriller Ozark and Wall Street drama Billions, but show the highest affinity for HBO’s Entourage — perhaps thematically the bro-driven antithesis of a #MeToo-era series like The Morning Show.

Ultimately, fans will determine whether the series has staying power, but with sentiment rising and promo campaigns expected to start ramping up, The Morning Show has a good chance of building on early buzz with its second season. And it never hurts to have star power.

These stories are crafted using Ranker Insights, which takes over one billion votes cast on Ranker.com and converts them into actionable psychographics about pop culture fans across the world. To learn more about how our Ranker Insights can be customized to serve your business needs, visit insights.ranker.com, or email us at insights@ranker.com.

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