‘The Morning Show’ production design draws inspiration from real world of TV news

A complete backstory

Paino also had the writing team create a backstory for the fictional network portrayed in the series — UBA — that included a rich history going back to the days of radio.

The network’s rich history, including that of the legendary “Morning Show” anchor team of Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) and Mitch Kessler (Steve Carrel), was on full display in the show’s maze of hallways.

Mitch Kessler, played by Steve Carell, is shown in the hallways of ‘The Morning Show’ studios and offices with the glass panels the production design team developed as part of the UBA backstory. 

Paino and his team created museum-style panels that proudly showcase the fictional history of UBA and the team of Levy and Kessler, including “promotional” photos of Aniston and Carrell in a variety of “historic” shots.

This proud history, of course, becomes tarnished at the start of the show when it’s revealed that, much like the real life “Today” co-anchor Matt Lauer, Kessler has been accused of sexual misconduct and is fired by the network.

Once Kessler was fired, Paino began removing signs of him, but not all at once.

For example, the digital billboard Levy sees on the way to work during the first two days depicted in the show was able to be swapped out in less than 24 hours. The large printed graphics outside of the UBA headquarters, however, took a bit longer to come down.

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Meanwhile, the timeline plaques of UBA and “TMS” remain behind scenes during earlier episodes as an eerie reminder of the show’s once-proud history even as the characters wrestle with the turmoil of losing a main anchor.

In one case, someone hastily covers Kessler’s name with a hastily printed sign with new co-anchor Bradley Jackson’s (Reese Witherspoon) name. Paino points out that it’s not clear, at least initially, if this will be a permanent solution or if someone will take the plunge and have Kessler’s name painted over and replaced with Jackson’s.

In addition, as the series starts, the UBA news division has been taken over by the networks’ entertainment head, a not-so-subtle nod to the merging of entertainment and news in the real world.