Trivia / The Morning Show

• Actor-Inspired Element: It was Steve Carell's idea that Mitch be clearly shown to deliberately cause his fatal car crash (or at least not attempt to stop it), rather than the ambiguous way it was scripted.
• The Cast Showoff: A charity karaoke event lets several cast members show their singing skills, including Tony winner Billy Crudup.
• California Doubling:
  • The bulk of the show takes place in New York City, but most of the filming took place in Los Angeles.
  • In season 2, Italy (specifically the Lombardy/Lake Como region) became a secondary location. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, those scenes also had to be shot in Los Angeles (Mitch's villa is actually an event space for a private Catholic High School!).
• Dawson Casting:
  • Oona Roche was 23 when she started playing high school student Lizzy Craig (Alex's daughter).
  • A milder version with Hannah. Her age is never explicitly stated, but it is heavily implied that she is somewhere in her mid-twenties. Gugu Mbatha Raw turned 36 during filming.
• Dear Negative Reader: The director of the show has blamed "Apple haters" for the show's middling reviews.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Reese Witherspoon, who is famously blonde in real life, wears a brown wig for the first season of TMS- which is given a coy nod when she says she'll probably be asked to go blonde to make her more attractive to viewers. Come season 2, Reese is rocking her natural locks.
• Fake Nationality:
  • Played straight in season 1 with Hannah, who is portrayed by English actress Gugu Mbatha Raw.
  • Averted in season 2 with Mitch's Italian documentarian friend Paola, who is played by Italian actress Valeria Golino.
• Playing Against Type: All three of the lead actors- Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell- are primarily known for their comedic roles (ironically, this is perhaps most true of Carell, who also typically plays "nice guys"). There's actually a very good reason for this: Originally, the show was meant to be a more comedic, light-hearted look at the inner workings of morning news shows (like the book that served as it's inspiration). It was only when the Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose scandals occurred about midway through pre-production that the show runners decided to focus on the #MeToo movement (and thus give the series a much more serious tone).
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Chip's fianceé Madeleine is played by Katie Aselton, Mark Duplass's real wife.
  • Teddy and Jeff Kessler (Mitch's sons) are played by real-life brothers Judah and Benjamin Mackey.
• What Could Have Been:
  • As mentioned above, the show was originally going to be a comedy before changing gears to a drama midway through production.
  • Jay Carson (House of Cards) was originally going to be the showrunner but was fired by Apple for creative differences and replaced by Kerry Ehrin.

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