Apple’s streaming service is out, and with it comes a host of original content for everyone to enjoy, or not enjoy. The new service recieved a mixed reception to Apple’s dive into film and television.
November 1, 2019 marked the official release date for Apple’s eponymous streaming service. Setting itself apart from the competition, Apple TV+ deals almost entirely with brand-new, original content. The first few episodes of each of these shows have trickled out, so what do people have to say? Is it the Netflix-killer?
Apple is taking its entry into the Netflix-dominated stream game very, very seriously. The tech giant is reportedly coughing up upwards of US $6 billion for all of its original content.
This massive number includes funding Oscar-worthy films costing near US $30 million each, as well as Jason Momoa’s SEE which is said to cost US $15 million per episode.
Still, since reports this year peg Apple’s worth to be over US $300 billion, the company has some capital to play around with. But has the experiment paid off though?
Apple has unveiled an exhaustive list of content to expect in the coming months, though there’s still an exciting amount to chow down on in the present. Shows like Dickinson, SEE, The Morning Show, and For All Mankind were among the most anticipated and are all releasing episodes right now.
The #AppleTVPlus scorecard:#TheMorningShow – Fresh at 60%#SEEatv – Rotten at 39%#Dickinson – Fresh at 73%#ForAllMankind – Fresh at 74% https://t.co/WrbxmAAGZL
— Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) November 1, 2019
Here’s what critics have to say on the US $4.99 a month service:
The Morning Show
Rolling Stone’s Alan Sepinwall says the show comes across as a faithful and accurate newsroom show, explaining it “feels like it could have aired on broadcast TV anytime in the last 15 to 20 years, so long as the profanity got cut,” referencing all the F-bombs that some people say are overboard. Sepinwall isn’t too fond of The Morning Show saying it lacks “soaring rhetoric” compared to other established newsroom dramas. He makes a comparison to The Newsroom, a show with a similar concept that has “the snappy dialogue” he feels The Morning Show is missing.
Vulture’s Jen Chaney praises The Morning Show, saying that it is indeed a “well-executed work of television”. Howver Chansey points out that the show in their opinion tries to hard to have the audience take it seriously, explaning that “[it] never lets you forget you’re working a work of television”.
SEE
The Hollywood Reporter said that “…no hour went by without a concept or two that I found intriguing, a shot or two that I found breathtaking or an action scene that I found ambitious.” At US $15 million per epsiode, SEE was bound to be able to produce some stellar shots and scenes. To The Hollywood Reporter, the beauty of the show has not gone unnoticed, nor the ambition of a show around magic, hunting, and blindess.
However the article also expresses that “No hour went by without my checking my watch, giggling at several ridiculous performance choices and writing down multiple nonsensical plot points in my notes.” To The Hollywood Reporter, SEE has a lot of impressive moments, but these are intertwined with ridiculous moments which fall flat.
Dickinson
The Verge says “…It’s one of the only Apple TV Plus shows that I wanted to revisit after watching the first three episodes provided to critics. More importantly, it’s the show I can’t wait to see start popping up on Tumblr.” To The Verge, the whimsical nature of Dickinson, an artistic girl growing against the grain, lends itself for auidences connecting to the character on a personal level.
As The Verge puts it, “It’s for people trying to find something they can have a silly time with, and Dickinson does that in an undeniably enchanting way.” To The Verge then Dickinson is a fun show, nothing to serious, though that is not in any way a bad thing.
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