Apple has announced a major scripted series, winning a bidding war for an untitled drama starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston.
The show will focus on the lives of people working in the world of morning television. Apple has given the go-ahead to a two-season order, 20 episodes in total. Witherspoon and Aniston will also produce the show.
It is based on an original concept by Michael Ellenberg, who previously worked as the head of drama at HBO, and will also take inspiration from Brian Stelter’s book Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV.
Apple has also given the green light to a reboot of the mid-80s drama Amazing Stories from Steven Spielberg and Bryan Fuller, whose credits include Hannibal and Star Trek: Discovery. The show is an anthology of various stories from horror to science fiction.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Apple would be spending $1bn on original content over the next year, including series and movies. That is less than Netflix, which plans to spend $7bn over the next 12 months, and Amazon with $4.5bn. It is still unclear how Apple will roll out its scripted shows and on what platforms they will be available.
Its first show was the reality competition Planet of the Apps, featuring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Alba, which was met with largely negative reviews. Variety’s Maureen Ryan wrote that it “feels like something that was developed at a cocktail party”. It was followed by an expansion of James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke set-up.
The untitled morning television drama marks Witherspoon’s first small screen follow-up to HBO’s Emmy-winning Big Little Lies, while it will be Aniston’s first leading role in a TV series since Friends.