Producers of Apple TV+'s 'The Morning Show' say early poor reviews were just 'haters wanting Apple to fail'

The Morning Show
The Morning Show (Image credit: Apple TV+)

What you need to know

  • The producers of Apple TV+'s The Morning Show say many of the initial poor reviews may have just been Apple haters.
  • Mimi Leder and Kerry Ehrin were speaking onstage at Recode's Code Media conference.
  • They also discussed how they'd been given more creative freedom than they'd ever had before.

The producers of Apple TV+'s The Morning Show, Mimi Leder and Kerry Ehrin, have said that many of the show's initial poor reviews may have just been Apple haters who want it to fail.

As reported by Vox, the pair were speaking at Recode's Code Media conference on the challenges and opportunities presented by Apple's new streaming service, Apple TV+.

According to the report:

"When those reviews came in, I didn't know what show they were watching. And I just kind of thought they were nuts," said Leder, director and executive producer of the show, who is known for her previous work on shows like ER and The West Wing. "I just felt there were a lot of Apple haters and wanting Apple to fail."

Many of the early initial reviews (including our own) were quite poor, with the first three episodes receiving an initial Metacritic rating of just 57. It was so bad in fact, Apple actually decided to push out the remainder of the series to reviewers just four days after the embargo on the first three episodes was lifted, a move many suggested was damage control.

Of course, as producers of the show, Leder and Ehrin are understandably quite fond of their own creation. However, right now, The Morning Show has an average audience score of 95%, which does seem to suggest that the overall feedback on the show is actually quite positive.

Away from reviews, the pair spoke more about how daunting it was having the fate of Apple's latest project in their hands:

"There are certain weak moments where I'm like, 'How did I get responsible for this?'" said Ehren. "It's slightly intimidating. I try not to think about it too much."

One of the coolest revelations to come out of the interview was the fact that both said that Apple had given them more creative freedom than they'd ever had before. In conclusion, Leder said that people "love the show", and so do they, and that was all that mattered.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9