Apple TV's The Morning Show sounds great - but will it be enough to get viewers subscribing?
The first trailer for the on-demand service's new drama doesn't show us its stars Steve Carell, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston - but we do get to hear them
A cast featuring Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon and Emmy Award winners Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell immediately suggests two things: 1) that the show in question has the potential to be top quality and 2) that it's likely to be a comedy.
In fact, Apple TV+'s The Morning Show – which goes behind the scenes on a US breakfast series – has been billed as "a high-stakes drama", and the first teaser only seems to back that up.
As a camera tracks slowly down the dimly lit corridors and into the empty dressing rooms and production suite of a TV studio, accompanied by a sombre piano soundtrack, we hear the stars talking earnestly about delivering "sad and upsetting news", the importance of "truth" and "honesty" in journalism, and also hinting at some potential personality clashes.
So anyone hoping for the US version of This Week with Alan Partridge may be out of luck.
Having said that, the signs remain positive. While the three stars are all arguably best known for their comedy performances, they've also shown they can turn their hands to drama – Carrell most recently in big screen outings Last Flag Flying and true crime story Foxcatcher, Aniston in The Good Girl and Cake (which even received some Oscar buzz), and Witherspoon, of course, in HBO smash Big Little Lies, to name but one.
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And – as far as it's possible to tell without actually seeing anything – the conversations sound suitably dramatic and potentially gripping, so this could be a winner even if it probably won't leave you doubled over with laughter.
Another question however is will it, and the other big budget shows and big names Apple TV+ has teased – Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories, Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry's series about mental health, JJ Abrams' Little Voice – be enough to get viewers to sign up to the new TV streaming service when it launches around the world this autumn?
If the answer is no, that really won't be a laughing matter for Apple.
