'The Morning Show' starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carrell reminds viewers of disgraced anchor Matt Lauer, here's why
'The Morning Show' starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon in lead roles saw the release of its first trailer on August 19 and since then audiences have taken to Twitter to write about how the trailer has reminded them of the Matt Lauer controversy in many ways. The Apple TV show's trailer showed Aniston as Alex Levy who announced on 'The Morning Show' that her co-host of 15 years has been fired from the company and clarifies that she is not aware about the details about the decision. Needless to say, it is this part of the trailer, which has alluded to former NBC anchor Matt Lauer's scandal.
Funnyman Steve Carrell will be seen portraying the made-for-TV version of Lauer. However, it’s not clear how much the show will mirror Lauer’s situation, but we do see a close resemblance to begin with. The announcement about Lauer being fired from NBC was made in November 2017 by his co-hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb on the show 'Today' which he had co-anchored since 1997. Guthrie had said about him being fired, "We just learned this moments ago — just this morning," and she was shaken when she said this. This was a show which had until that point in time enjoyed a viewership of 4 million viewers and had earned $509 million in advertising revenue in 2016 according to a report in Reuters. She had added, “As I’m sure you can imagine, we are devastated, and we are still processing all of this. And I will tell you, right now, we do not know more than what I just shared with you.”
'The Morning Show's central plotline is Alex's struggle to stay the top anchor while grappling with newer talent that might take away her position while dealing with her partner's crimes. Co-produced by Witherspoon's production company Hello Sunshine, the show is reportedly based on a book authored by Brian Stelter titled 'Top of the Morning' six years ago. However, Alex's partner's Mitch Kessler's character seems majorly influenced by the Lauer scandal and this element adds a layer of depth to what would have otherwise made the show one-dimensional. While the scene itself reminds us of the Lauer scandal, this plotline is also a representation of what co-hosts Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell went through when they had to tell the audiences of their show 'CBS This Morning' about host Charlie Rose's suspension following a Washington Post report which detailed a pattern of alleged harassment.
Lauer was fired by NBC after an unnamed reporter from the company complained against the anchor and accused him of sexual harassment while the two worked together to cover the 2014 Sochi winter Olympics in Russia. The NBC News chairman at the time, Andrew Lack had said in a statement at that time, "While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he’s been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident." The accuser had also claimed that the harassment continued much after the games.