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Watch Apple’s trailer for its original programming from its ‘show time’ event

Watch Apple’s trailer for its original programming from its ‘show time’ event

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‘We feel we can contribute something important to culture and to society with great storytelling’

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At Apple’s “show time” event today, it offered an extremely brief look at a number of the shows it’s producing for its original programming lineup. Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell, Big Bird, and Oprah all came onstage to introduce a handful of the programs.

The shows Apple revealed onstage are a range of science fiction, drama, and children’s programming. The company didn’t unveil individual trailers for each show, but it put together a teaser of its entire lineup, highlighting brief glimpses of the shows it introduced.

Those shows include:

  • Amazing Stories, helmed by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, a science fiction anthology series based on the 1985 NBC show.
  • Little America, from Big Sick writers Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon. It’ll be an “anthology series inspired by immigrants in the US.” Nanjiani noted that the series will feature real-life stories like one about a 10-year-old Indian child who ran his parents’ hotel in Ohio after they were deported. It will “cover the whole range of human emotions.”
  • Little Voice, from J.J. Abrams and Sara Bareilles, “a funny, romantic show about what is hard and wonderful and transformative” about finding a voice through music. It’s set in New York City. Bareilles and Abrams introduced the series, with Bareilles singing the theme song live onstage.
  • The Morning Show, a drama about the dynamics of the inner workings of a morning television show starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell. It’s loosely based on the book Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV by CNN reporter Brian Stelter.
  • Two documentaries from Oprah, Oprah’s Book Club, a revival of Oprah’s famous project, a “meeting of the minds connecting us through books,” and Toxic Labor, about workplace harassment.
  • See, a series from Steven Knight, starring Jason Momoa, which “takes place in a world devastated by a virus that left only a few million survivors, who emerged blind.” The series takes place “centuries later,” where it’s disputed whether people could actually see in the first place.
  • Apple is partnering with the Sesame Workshop to develop a slate of children’s programming for Apple TV Plus. The series will be a preschool show called The Helpsters, which will teach basic problem-solving through coding.

In addition to those announced shows, there’s glimpses of For All Mankind, Ronald D. Moore’s alternate history space series and Dickinson, about the famous poet, as well as clips from The Morning Show, Amazing Stories, Little America, and See.

Apple has many other shows greenlit or in development, including an adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation. Apple did say it’s working with the best storytellers in the world, and teased involvement from a number of other actors, directors, and characters.

These shows mark Apple’s big push into original content (it already produced shows like Carpool Karaoke and Planet of the Apps) as the company works to diversify its offerings beyond iPhones and computers and into services alongside those devices. The company has already seen success with Apple Music as well as things like iCloud and AppleCare.

Apple will begin rolling out its shows this fall.