Two TV shows to watch this fall: The Other Black Girl and The Morning Show

25:00How the Hollywood strikes are affecting this fall’s TV lineup

As the Hollywood actors' and writers' strikes continue, viewers at home will soon feel the impact of the ongoing labour disruption in a whole new way: namely, the lack of a return from their favourite TV shows.

With hits like True Detective, Abbott Elementary, Stranger Things and more delaying release schedules for their latest seasons, TV experts Kathryn VanArendonk, Nina Metz and Emily Longeretta join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to look ahead at what is on the fall television schedule — and how the strikes will affect what's available on the small screen.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast, on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Let's get into some personal picks that you're really excited about. Nina, tell us about The Other Black Girl.

Nina: The Other Black Girl is adapted from a novel of the same name. It's set in the world of publishing. It is about a young Black woman who is an editorial assistant; she is the only Black person in the office. And then one day, another Black woman is hired — she's the other Black girl of the title. She's thrilled and excited … and then it's like, is she friend or foe? It's sort of unclear. There's this magical realism element that's folded into it; there's some sinister things happening in the office, in addition to the sinister things like microaggressions, office politics, all of that kind of stuff. So it's a workplace drama with a satirical edge to it. The performances are really interesting. I have some critiques of the show. I think the magical realism element isn't fully thought through and doesn't always make sense, but you're not seeing very many shows tackle these topics. I think it's really worth checking out. It's on Hulu. What do you guys think so far?

WATCH | Official trailer for The Other Black Girl:

Emily: I absolutely loved it.

Elamin: I was going to say, Emily — it's one of your picks, right?

Emily: Yeah, it was one of my picks for sure. I haven't gotten fully through it…. I think it took on an angle of, like you said, microaggressions and racism in the workplace in a fresh way that we haven't seen, which I was really impressed with. From someone who's read the book, I was very, very impressed with the adaptation from the book to the screen, which is usually not the case with me because I'm very picky about it. I think it's going to be a big hit. I think it's something people are really going to talk about. The stars in it are very, very good.

Elamin: Emily, the other show that is one of your picks is Season 3 of The Morning Show, which comes back to Apple TV+ on September 13th. Dude, this is a show that people love or hate. What's your vibe on The Morning Show?

Emily: I love to hate it. I think that's what it is. I don't think I'm sitting here saying, "It's the greatest show of the year," because it's not. But it is a show that makes me laugh/smile/get emotional every episode. I'm excited to see what they're doing because they can go completely off the rails — and trust me, they do this season — but I'm still going to continue to watch it. Also, I love Jennifer Aniston, so I'll watch anything she does. That's my disclaimer.

WATCH | Official trailer for The Morning Show Season 3:

Kathryn: There is really no better measure, for me, of if a show is good or bad than how often I feel like I need to Slack my coworkers about it  — and The Morning Show Season 3 is way up there on this list.

Emily: The same. The same.

Nina: I've watched the first episode, and I just hope I can keep going with the rest of the season. I don't think it's a spoiler to say Reese Witherspoon, now she's the nighttime news anchor and she gets an award for bravely being the one reporter reporting inside the Capitol on January 6th. And it's just so absurd.

Elamin: I have no further questions. I'm sold. That's how you sell me on a show. I don't think that was what you were trying to do, but I'm in. I'm completely in on this.

Kathryn: Yes! You get it.

Nina: The most banal observations about our current media world and TV world imaginable.… The Morning Show feels like it was set five years ago — the network goes into streaming late, and now there's like a billionaire who's going to buy it. None of it feels relevant to what's actually happening in television news.

Emily: Oh, completely not.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Stuart Berman.