It would be an understatement to describe Apple TV Plus’s first few original shows as disappointing.
To add to the company’s woes, a top manager in the programming division has departed from Apple a few days after the service was launched.
According to several reports, Kim Rozenfeld is departing from his job as manager of scripted programming, unscripted content and documentaries.
No additional detail is available, but it appears to be an amicable split.
He was one of the first appointments made by Apple TV Plus executives Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht.
Before he moved to Apple, he was an executive at Sony TV for years.
What this means for Apple’s original shows remains to be seen.
Despite heavy promotion, the firm’s first four original shows, See, The Morning Show, For All Mankind and Dickinson, were not favourably received by critics.
The New York Times’ James Poniewozik wrote: “It’s like something assembled in a cleanroom out of good-show parts from incompatible suppliers.”
He also called it a “kludge”.
Although the first four original shows were all renewed, the departure of Rozenfeld could be an indication that Apple wants to head in a different direction with its scripted shows.
The critics don’t have the final say though: most of these shows received much better ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Morning Show, which critics hated, has a 92% audience rating on the site.
The science fiction series See, which plays off in a post-apocalyptic world where everybody is blind, has the lowest critics’ rating but an audience rating of 88%.
eMarketer’s Eric Haggstrom reminded The Verge earlier in November that viewers are not critics.
He added that ordinary people will keep on watching these shows if they perceived them as high quality.
Perhaps Rozenfeld’s departure has something to do with the negative reviews impacting on subscriptions, though Apple’s top management were apparently very happy with the first few days’ sign-ups.