While watching season 3, episode 3 of THE MORING SHOW, I found myself thinking of Senator Lloyd Bentsen's famous 1988 VP debate quip to Dan Quayle, "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." This season thus far, and much of episode 3, lead to to make this comparison between the THE MORNING SHOW, playing the role of future VP, spelling challenged, Dan Quayle, and the far superior SUCCESSION in the role of JFK.
THE MORNING SHOW, has all the ingredients to be a great drama on it's own. Show biz, news, money, human drama, palace intrigue all abound, and should be able to mix into an engrossing story. However, THE MORNING SHOW seems to keeps throwing itself in the trash to keep apace with real world events. While this tactic makes sense given that the show is about a morning breakfast TV show, the reality is that the shifts in the story, and season three's odd insistence on copying plot points from a far superior show (SUCCESSION) leave the viewer with detached story lines with little to no emotional connection for the audience.
This episode is elevated by the excellent Nicole Beharie, who does heavy lifting on behalf of her writers who have asked her character to both confront and solve racism.
As a viewer, "show within a show" is always a favorite, juicy device, unfortunately, this show continues to fall short of hitting the mark as it tries very, very hard to stay a pace with current events making them, and their statement on it the main character.