‘Morning Joe’ celebrates 10 years of coffee-hour talk on MSNBC

Sticking to its look

After MSNBC updated Studio 3A to eliminate the tower of “windows” created using multiple flat panels in exchange for seamless LED walls in one corner, “Morning Joe” initially kept using the same background for its anchors, with wide shots and guest one shots showing a mix of the newsroom and video walls, which showed a cityscape background.

While the look of the blue and faux-window background remained the same, an LED wall was used instead of the rear projection screen when MSNBC swapped out the screens during the update.

“Morning Joe” in Studio 3A. All images courtesy of NBC.

Changing corners

Eventually “Morning Joe” was sent to the other corner of the studio, using the seamless video walls as its primary background where it went through a period of different backgrounds, a change made easy thanks to the LED walls.

For example, the show experimented with a faux brick and cityscape look, which didn’t last long, before settling on a composite image of the exterior of 30 Rock, complete with digitally inserted “Morning Joe” billboards as well as a simulated frosted band with the show logo.

The current setup of “Morning Joe” inside Studio 3A. All images courtesy of NBC.

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With this update, the show also introduced a new anchor desk, which moved away from the “in-the-round” style the show had used off and on over the years in favor of an elongated desk with LED ribbon that could seat the hosts and guests.