'The Morning Show' Episode 8 delves into show's toxic past when Mitch Kessler was the star and Alex's job in jeopardy
'The Morning Show' Episode 8 titled 'Lonely at the Top' takes us back to that time in the past when Mitch Kessler (Steve Carrell) and Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) were celebrated co-hosts of the show. The episode also digs into how the executives on top were getting ready to nudge Alex out of her position after a poll came back, indicating Alex was not what the network had expected.
The episode also delves into Mitch's behavior -- his off-handed comments about co-workers' outfits, sexist remarks, even distasteful jokes were all taken in stride. That includes Alex, she doesn't just put up with Mitch, she enjoys his sexist jokes, which makes a few of their co-workers uncomfortable.
This discomfort is never addressed throughout the episode really. This is just taken for granted. The fact that Mitch is charming, but also a douche bag is what is expected and the protection he gets from the network and the show workers themselves enables Mitch to assume his behavior is not problematic.
In fact, when the network ran polls to check what they thought of Alex and Mitch, they got some unexpected results. They had assumed Alex would be the woman next door to audiences, but what returned was that audiences felt disconnected from her. Some even felt she had become a snob, who is unapproachable.
This is the beginning of when the network had come up with the idea of nudging Alex out of the show, while still keeping Mitch on because he was charming still to the audience at large. A hint of this decision is made when Alex is replaced by Mitch to cover an important event, which she has been doing for years now.
She doesn't understand the sudden change but is comforted by Chip Black (Mark Duplass), the producer of the show, who explains all of this is just the network trying to find what works best for the show. In fact, one of the executives even said he couldn't believe it was already time for them to put Alex Levy "out to the pastures" because her poll numbers for relativity were just not good enough anymore, a reference to writing her out of the narrative.
This also explains a lot about why Alex's worst fear is to be written out of the narrative in the present. This time in the past is essentially when betrayal was rampant within the show.
Mitch got Mia Jordan (Karen Pittman) out of his team because she had the audacity to end things between them, and she is left to flounder around because there really is no one else that is ready to take her on, not even Alex.
Mitch says it is uncomfortable, but he really is abusing his position as the co-host of the show. Mitch also knows what the network is thinking at the moment about replacing Alex, but he doesn't mention it to her despite all the talk of friendship and understanding.
That shows how deep the relationships fostered on the show were. Yes, they did understand each other like no one else would because of all the time that they spent as part of the show. They do like each other to a degree, but they are selfish beyond reason so that is what influences their decision the most.
The next episode of 'The Morning Show' can be streamed on Apple TV+ on Friday.