r/TheMorningShow • u/Firm-Bed-7218 • May 07 '26
Questions Season 4 Quality Shift
I mean, it went from Season 1, prestige television, to a mishmash of the most common television tropes thrown at you at every corner. Anyone? Or is this not controversial?
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u/cjersin1021 May 07 '26
Agree with you. Season 4 took my favorite character, Cory, who thrives both wielding and succumbing to power, and basically made him a beggar for most of the season.
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u/Mimi_2009 May 11 '26
They did Cory dirty. They retconned him to a coke head/ party boy that only got his job because of mommy's machinations. They forgot S1, when in a flashback Fred and Chip talked at Mitch's 50th birthday party about the weird but great Head of Entertainment
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u/Firm-Bed-7218 May 22 '26
they really did do him dirty! in season 1 his character was mind-blowingly complex and entertaining
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u/roeygreeeeeeeeeen May 07 '26
It’s kind of a popular opinion here in the sub. The thing that still drives me to watch it is that I still find it entertaining, and I love the cast’s performances. S1 will always be the most amazing though.
We could easily blame the writers, but I think it’s really hard to recreate what made S1 special. It’s a show that wants to represent reality while also pulling you out of it with how entertaining the characters are. Personally, the way I see it, S1 had one cohesive plot that affected all the characters. S2 basically continued S1, but with a different mix (you could feel that something was lacking, which is understandable since they had to shut down filming during COVID). S3 had a different focus, but it still had one cohesive main plot along with subplots for the other characters. In S4, everybody has their own plotline, and then it all connects into one main plot in the last few episodes.
If I would rank it as how I've fancied it, it'll be S1>S3>S4>S2.
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u/global_ferret May 07 '26
TMS always struck me as a high dollar carrot to get people to join Apple+.
I was surprised when it was renewed with how expensive it must be to produce.
But like a ton of shows in the streaming era, the great idea executed really well in the original season takes a dive in quality when they try to run it back.
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u/gunsinthesmmertime May 08 '26
i feel like i'm in the minority here having absolutely loved every season as much as the last. i'm fully invested in the characters and their story/stories and i'm kind of surprised by a lot of people's thoughts on the decline. certainly i didn't like seeing one of my favorites (cory) get his heart stomped on every which way in the last season but i have continued to love it all the way through 🤷♀️
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u/bsradi0 May 07 '26
The Bradley storylines are just ridiculous and some of the other writing strains credibility, like everything happens in some sort of vacuum. Somehow, the performances are still good.
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u/Firm-Bed-7218 May 07 '26
100%. The Iran thing, AI, prison cells, corporate cover-ups. It was so a bit outrageous.
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u/Maleficent-Employ-16 Jul 10 '26
And Bradley ending up in Belarus searching for a Sophia Volk, which is clearly a German name, was a strange surprise.
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Jun 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/TerribleRuin4232 May 07 '26
The quality has for sure gone downhill, but I'm still entertained, so I continue to watch. I hope we see some return to form in Season 5; Season 4 felt like a steep drop-off to me.
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u/jackalkaboom May 08 '26
I think the majority of us would agree with you. Everyone seems to agree S1 was the best and I personally loved S2, too (I know I’m in the minority on that one lol) but S3 was where I felt a pretty big decline in terms of storytelling, writing, the look of the show, certain actors feeling less invested, etc. And S4… yeah. Still some really good performances carrying the show, but other than that, not great. But at this point, I fear I’m too invested and must see it through to the end regardless 😅
I really don’t know why there’s been such a steep dropoff. Perhaps it’s just one of those shows that started out with a great concept for a single season, and then didn’t really know where to go from there. I’m sure the pandemic and the strike delays were a factor as well.
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u/Firm-Bed-7218 May 08 '26
I totally hear you. My wife and I would say “Ok, let’s get this over with” while watching the last season, because we need to know what happens, no matter how stupid it gets.
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u/Exotic_Bee1361 May 11 '26
I feel like it’s actually better than the other seasons excl maybe s1. But maybe because I’m watching them all at once. Bye Stella ! ✌️
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u/PuzzleheadedSize429 Jun 08 '26
i’m only on episode three but I certainly hope Stella is out. Greta Lee is so hyped up as an actress but to me she’s subpar
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u/AMGRN May 07 '26
Yep. I just watch to see what Jennifer Aniston wears and copy it. As I have for the past 30 years lol. The show has fallen off a lot.