Apple TV Plus joins streaming wars, has Oprah but no catalog

LOS ANGELES (AP) — As the streaming wars near a fever pitch and viewers are targeted from every vantage point — Disney Plus has the Marvel and Star Wars brands! HBO Max counters with "Game of Thrones" and DC superheroes! — Apple TV Plus could be cast as the highly pedigreed and improbable underdog.

While the venture counts Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg among its first wave of talent, Apple TV Plus launches Friday with just a handful of original programs. It also lacks a warehouse of old shows and franchise films that can reliably draw nostalgic viewers and produce spinoffs, such as "The Mandalorian" for Disney Plus and HBO Max's newly announced "Game of Thrones" prequel, "House of the Dragon."

Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, the former Sony Pictures Television presidents who are heads of worldwide video for Apple, say they are undaunted by the comparisons and optimistic about the streamer's future.

"We are working with some of the most tremendously talented people we've ever met working in entertainment today," Van Amburg said, and he sees them rising to the challenge of building an enterprise in general and for tech giant Apple in particular. "There's an expression that we use here across the board at Apple: 'Come to Apple and do the best work of your life.' That's actually what we ask of everyone who comes here."

There's both opportunity and anxiety in being part of such a launch, said Kerry Ehrin, showrunner for the Jennifer Aniston-Reese Witherspoon drama "The Morning Show."

"It's a huge amount of pressure, but you can't really live in that space," Ehrin said. "You drive yourself crazy ... because you start creating for, 'Oh, is this right, or is that gonna work?' instead of just creating what you find compelling and entertaining."

Aniston, who's...