‘The Morning Show’ shows off more fictional ‘sets within a set’ in Season 3

Apple TV+’s “The Morning Show” returned for its third season in the fall of 2023 and along with it came some new “sets within sets” that give viewers a glimpse into other programs on the fictional UBA broadcast facility.

There are some mild spoilers ahead, so you’ve been warned.

In the premiere episodes, Bradley Jackson, played by Reese Witherspoon, has left the “The Morning Show” for the “UBA Evening News” anchor desk and we see several views of the “Evening” studio.

The studio feels like it has higher ceilings than the “TMS” studio and is stocked with plentiful LED video elements, including seamless units installed on the front of the anchor desk, in tower format camera left of the desk and directly behind the desk.

Nelson Coates is credited as the production designer for the real “The Morning Show.”

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

The space is done in a decidedly darker and more sophisticated look than the “TMS” studio and includes vertical lightboxes in the background camera right of the anchor desk video wall background. Gray-browns, teals and warm whites dominate the look.

The desk itself is topped with a sea-green glass surface that Witherspoon, in her role as Jackson, sits at with her hands neatly folded in front of her (with isn’t how real anchors typically sit at a desk).

A similar color is paired with the gold in the UBA logo in the fictional broadcast’s lower third insert graphics as shown on TV screens throughout the episode.

Another motif of “Evening” appears to be the use of a teal-green background with typographic elements at various sizes spelling out various categories of news, such as “business” and “world.”

Several uses of matching OTS graphics appear, using horizontal teal bars with vertical accents that blend in nicely with the vertical elements on the set.

The lower thirds feature a large version of the “Evening News” logo and Jackson’s name, which occupies about a third of the screen width, in a layout that feels a bit like a flipped version of the current “CBS Evening News” graphics.

How the opening titles for ‘The Morning Show’ keep things open ended

There are also at least two oversized glass “UBA” logos (set in all lowercase as the network’s logo appears on-screen) on the floor of the set, a look similar to how CNN puts a “360” on the floor of the studio of “Anderson Cooper 360.”

We also see the set of the newly-launched streaming show featuring Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) that is on the fictional UBA+. 

Titled “Alex Unfiltered,” the show appears to be a one-on-one interview-style show featuring Levy and a guest seated on two rounded chairs with a circular coffee table between them.

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The show is shot in a corner of the “UBA Evening News” studio and designed look a bit like backstage of a theatre.

Behind Levy’s one shot is a row of fly system cables and controls, a similar look to what was once used on “Last Call with Carson Daly.” Scattered around the space are road cases, ladders and other gear. 

In wide two-shots, a faux brick wall is visible, with the “Unfiltered” logo featured in gobo form — in a font that draws up memories of “Unsolved Mysteries,” though it does have a slightly more elegant flair.

There’s also a spiral staircase (likely leading nowhere and all for show) plus a heavy stone knee wall.

Another key broadcast location that appeared in early in the season was an outdoor stage set up for live coverage of a stage launch. For this, 
Yanko Flores (Nestor Carbonell) and Christina Hunter (Nicole Beharie), two “TMS” regulars, are shown standing on a large covered stage erected in the desert. 

Camera and crew are set up on additional structures in front of it and most the background is the the launch tower in the distance, but UBA also brought in two L-shaped segments of LED to create on-screen branding opportunities in wide shots. These also feature the UBA “Countdown to Liftoff” branded graphics, which also appear on the floor of the stage itself. 

Photos courtesy Apple TV. “The Morning Show” drops new episodes of Season 3 Wednesdays in the fall of 2023 exclusively on Apple TV+.