"The Morning Show" EP Michael Ellenberg Talks Series Return and How Season 3 “Takes The Bold Swing”

Season twoamp8217s finale took place in March 2020 right as the COVID19 pandemic was beginning its spread with Alex Levy Jennifer Aniston dealing with a serious case of the coronavirus Bradley Jackson Reese Witherspoon searching for her missing brother and network CEO Cory Ellison Billy Crudup watching his newlylaunched streaming service tank as a pandemic looms all over the world Season three finds everyone in much better places in both their careers and personal lives after a twoyear jump now in 2022 Alex has her own show called Alex Unfiltered while Bradley is the lead anchor for UBAamp8217s evening news Contrarily Cory is juggling his stillfailing streaming service UBA as the network is bleeding money left and right while he hopes that tech billionaire Paul Marks series newcomer Jon Hamm buys the network and saves everyoneamp8217s skinamp8220We had a time jump between season one and two and I think the way the seasons are constructed we want to take the juiciest punchiest subjects possible and anchor our show in that momentamp8221 Ellenberg explained during our interview amp8220Weamp8217re particularly drawn to just when every character seems like theyamp8217ve gotten what they wanted but now the networkamp8217s in peril the entire world around them may crumble and we thought itamp8217d be fascinating to explore what it means for a tech industry an outsider to emerge as a white knight to either save our people or destroy themamp8221We asked Ellenberg about a memorable scene during the series pilot between Cory Ellison and Chip Black in which Cory practically foretold where this new season is heading The scene features one of many fantastic monologues from Cory which undoubtedly played no small part in Billy Crudup winning both an Emmy and Critics Choice Award for his performance in the showamp8217s first seasonThe scene reads as follows amp8220Itamp8217s kinda funny how the entire world of broadcast could just fall off a cliff in a few years unless we reinvent it Weamp8217re all gonna get bought out by tech unless something changes The news is awful but humanity is addicted to it and the whole world is depressed by it Thatamp8217s why what we really need on television right now is not news or fcking journalism itamp8217s entertainmentamp8221Ellenberg reflected on that moment and admitted that the scene has become amp8220a thematic touchstone for the rest of the show I think this year is very much the payoff to that scene which is that the whole world may crumble and Cory had a vision for it That vision may be completed and Paul kind of represents Coryamp8217s worst fears and maybe some of his biggest hopes Cory thought heamp8217d be the Paul Markstype to save the day but instead heamp8217s the guy being gobbled upamp8221When asked if there were any rejected ideas of including other realworld events or social issues Ellenberg laughed and said amp8220we included so much this season Iamp8217m not sure any were rejected Charlotte Stoudt and the writers do an amazing job at looking out at the landscape to see whatamp8217s been happening and how it would inform our characteramp8217s situations but the tent poles were this techmedia story January 6th and its impact reverberate throughout the season as wellamp8221In closing we asked Ellenberg what this fiveyear and threeseason journey with The Morning Show has shown and taught him amp8220Once you have this glittering ambitious cast we can tackle almost any subject Our characters do all kinds of terrible things and they make mistakes but we know they have a heart inside and that gives the show license to explore a lot of tough things because itamp8217s doing so in an entertaining and provocative way One of the greatest things Reese and Jennifer give the producers and writers of the show is that they want to go further For them as actresses they want to always challenge themselves but they also have a hunger to see the stuff that takes a big swing Audiences are rewarding creators and producers who take those challenges and the biggest lesson weamp8217ve learned is to be bold and take the bold swingamp8221Season 3 of The Morning Show premieres September 13th with its first two episodes and weekly releases every Wednesday on Apple TVClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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"The Morning Show" EP Michael Ellenberg Talks Series Return and How Season 3 “Takes The Bold Swing”

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Juan Ayala

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"The Morning Show" EP Michael Ellenberg Talks Series Return and How Season 3 “Takes The Bold Swing”

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