[2][3] A lengthy excerpt appeared in The New York Times Magazine in the week before publication.

[4] In Top of the Morning, Stelter discusses several daytime television shows, their hosts, and events that he observed while working as a media reporter for The New York Times.

The book focuses heavily on Ann Curry's replacing Meredith Vieira on the Today show,[5] as well as covering other events such as the rivalry between Good Morning America and Today over morning television ratings.

[11] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Hollywood Reporter both panned the book, with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette criticizing it as reading "more like a dispatch from someone working at TMZ than a New York Times reporter".

The series stars and is executive produced by Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon for Apple TV+.