Apple TV+
In the first episode of The Morning Show, the Apple TV+ original series starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carrell, there’s a monologue that might as well be the guiding philosophy for Apple’s entire television endeavor: “People get their horrible news delivered to the palm of their hand, 24/7. And they get it the way they like it, colored the way they want it. ...That’s why what we really need on television right now, it’s not news...it’s entertainment."
And while the character is clearly talking about the shifting mores of television news culture in America, it’s also clear that the statement is a wink and a nod to the experiment that’s going on in Cupertino right now.
What Is Apple TV+?
Apple TV+ is a shift away from the news and magazine content that Apple has been curating and producing over the past few years. Instead of focusing on the real world, Apple is making worlds of their own with a library of big-budget original series, available for $4.99 a month to those who have an iPhone, iPad or Apple TV (or have one of the Amazon Fire TV devices on which you can install the app).
How Do I Get It?
You can sign up for a 7-day free trial right now on the official Apple website. But if you bought a new iPhone or iPad in the past month or so, you’ve already got it.
Apple knows that it’s hard to hook an audience, so they gave every new device owner a free 1-year subscription. The bold move gives them lots of room to figure out what’s going to hit big and what needs to be reworked before people have to make the real decision next fall whether or not to continue their subscriptions.
What's On Right Now?
There are a handful of launch shows, each with a few episodes.
- The aforementioned The Morning Show is an examination of the #MeToo era as it wreaks havoc on the stars and staff of a popular daytime news show.
- See stars Jason Momoa as the leader of a tribe in a far future where humanity has lost their sense of sight after a viral apocalypse nearly decimated the human race.
- The alt-history show For All Mankind imagines a world where the Soviets beat the U.S. to the moon.
- Dickinson is a somewhat hard to categorize show starring Hailee Steinfeld as the titular character, Emily Dickinson, but played with modern teen edge.
As a whole, the shows mostly work. Despite some scathing critical reviews, there’s no denying that the production values for every title is extremely high.
See is trying hard to be the network’s Game of Thrones, even if it requires an even bigger suspension of disbelief than usually required for a fantasy show. The Morning Show starts slow, spending far too much time focusing on Jennifer Aniston’s “about to cry” face in the first episode. But the crackling energy between Aniston and Witherspoon's characters has the potential to resolve itself into something truly entertaining. If Dickinson can keep up the energy promised in the cold open of the first episode, then it’ll be a fun, worthwhile ride.
My favorite so far is For All Mankind. As a space junkie and alt-history enthusiast, this show might as well have been scratch built for me. There is a surfeit of characters in the first episode, and the success of the series will hinge on being able to pick a few to develop and make shine among such a prodigious ensemble.
Is Apple TV+ Worth It?
Right now, my answer is mixed. While I'm enjoying the first few episodes of the shows available on Apple’s newest subscription service, I’m very aware that there are only a few episodes. We watch television differently nowadays. Gone is the “sticking around to see if it improves” mentality of entertainment. Now we want to know if it’s worthwhile before we hit the Play button.
But in typical Apple fashion, they’re trying to spin their paucity of content as a boon instead of a bane. They argue that in a landscape that has hundreds if not thousands of shows ready for binging, there’s a place for high-quality, weekly-format content. That they don’t need a sitcom backlog just to keep viewers tuning in. That viewers need to rediscover their sense of discovery.
That gamble will be tested later this month when Disney+ launches with its own original weekly content and a prodigious backlog of shows and movies, all for a dollar less than Apple's offering.
Personally, if I didn’t already get a free year of the service with my latest iPhone purchase, I don’t know that I'd stick around past the seven-day trial. I’m one of the broken viewers that Apple is trying to reform. In my mind, it’s better to wait six months to a year, then sign up and binge the backlog.
But if you’ve got a new Apple device, there’s no time like the present. With a fair amount of thematic diversity amongst the handful of available shows, there’s bound to be something that will keep you watching.
