The Morning Show

Oh, God. Fred, what happened?

So, that's it?

Motherfuck, we're destroyed.

No, I'll tell him.

Someone better be dead, buddy.

- -

Mm-mmm.

Shit.

Following that, you'll interview Gerard Thompson,

Art Department at Vanderbilt, to discuss a recently resurfaced Van Gogh.

I'm scheduling an hour to go over your speech for Friday night.

I think it's gonna run over though. I'm gonna push your drinks with Jane Fonda.

Next up,

you'll interview the senator to discuss her book on policy-making

and why it's broken.

You need to do your final fitting for your gown for Friday.

They're gonna bring it to the studio today.

And if you ever want the senator on the show again...

You have a parent-teacher night at Lizzy's school next week.

Chip's trying to get ahold of you. Something urgent.

Oh, my God.

Who died?

Oh, my God. Jesus, would you turn this off?

He's been singing about the same fucking plane crash the past 50 years.

Everybody's still dead. Time to move on.

- Am I right, Joe? - Yep.

Hey, watch the bumps. I'm doing my eyeliner.

I'm...

And, Alan, what is this anyway? What is this bullshit?

What exactly is bullshit this time? What is it?

This stupid idea that we're gonna convince the world's coal-fired power plants

to invest in carbon capture without linkage.

Oh, my God, Jesus. Can we please not have this linkage debate again?

- What? - It's not about linkage.

This is about a protest and how the town is divided.

- That's what this is about. - Yes, I know.

Who went through all the burgers?

- No. - Here, Joe. Have my french fries.

- Thank you. - They're cold, but don't complain.

How many burgers did you eat, Joe?

By the way, okay, so we're gonna talk about how the town's divided.

But we're also gonna slip in how safe carbon capture is.

Mm-hmm.

What? You put it in the copy.

This is not my agenda, Bradley, okay?

I'm just a liberal Harvard longhair who cut his hair short for this job.

This is a stepping-stone for me. I play by the rules.

The truth is the truth, whether you're writing for The Bumfuck Gazette

- or The New York Times. - Shit.

- I hope we made the right turn. - By the way,

that was an award-worthy shoehorning of the word "Harvard" into the conversation.

Okay, you guys, can we please...

I swear, Joe. Everybody who's ever been to Harvard can make an entire conversation

out of the word "Harvard," like, "Harvard, Harvard, Harvard?"

- Harvard, Harvard, Harvard. -

Are we gonna keep doing this? How long is this gonna go on for?

Holy shit. Mitch Kessler just got fired off The Morning Show.

- What? - Wait, what? What the hell happened?

Let me see.

One less idiot to peddle soft news to the masses.

Prior to being named coanchor of The Morning Show,

the fallen Kessler was a fixture of UBA's news division,

serving as UBA's White House correspondent,

a presidential debate moderator and network field correspondent.

The recipient of multiple broadcast awards,

including a Leadership in Journalism award from the New York Media Foundation

he and the TMS team have won 12 Daytime Emmys in their 15-year tenure.

Late last night, The New York Times was reportedly tipped off

to an internal investigation by UBA into Kessler's sexual misconduct.

Up until today, The Morning Show was the only morning news broadcast

to dodge the Me Too scandals that have seemingly plagued its competitors.

- When? - Just broke. Does she know yet?

She knows. We're reworking the whole show. We are live in 90 minutes.

Buckle up. Layla's working on new copy. Get it to Alex A.S.A.P.

Got it.

We had no choice. It was multiple complaints of sexual misconduct.

How multiple? Who? When?

I don't know. It's confidential. It leaked to the Times overnight.

How?

I have no clue who leaked it. I fucking wish I knew.

I'm trying to deal with this quietly.

Shit. Okay. HR has been looking into it for a few weeks. I didn't want...

I didn't wanna drag you in. I was trying to protect you, Alex, okay? Before you...

You knew about this, and you didn't tell me?

What am I? Some fucking PA from Idaho who doesn't need to know what's going on?

Alex, I was trying to respect your space...

- My space. - Like you asked me to,

so that you can go out there every morning and do what you do,

what America needs you to do.

Oh, fuck you, Chip. Fuck you. Don't drag America into this.

They've got enough shit to deal with.

This affects me, okay? My on-air partner, my TV husband...

Is a sexual predator now?

What part of you thought that I should not have been involved in this conversation?

You think chemistry just comes in a bottle,

and we go out and we buy another one at Whole Foods?

Charlie Black's office. Please hold one moment.

Charlie Black's office. Please hold one moment.

Rena. Where is he? We need to discuss how we're handling the show today.

He's in there with her. And he said no interruptions.

Rena, we're live in less than two hours, for Chrissake.

Charlie Black's office. Please hol... Oh. Hi. Let me see if I can get him.

- Really? Wow. - Really.

- Excuse me. - Wow.

- My ass. You know that. - True. But...

- What? - It's the network... Cory and Fred.

- Fabulous. Put 'em through. - Yeah.

- - I got it.

- Hi, it's Alex. - And Chip.

- Alex? Alex, it's Cory here. - And Fred.

I am just incredibly sorry about this. I feel absolutely terrible.

I feel like Mitch died. The Mitch that I knew.

And I've only been running the news division for a month,

so I can't imagine what you must be feeling.

My condolences, Alex.

This is so hard for all of us.

Look, we're all a family here, and we've had a tragedy. So, we're...

Any kind of sexual misconduct will not be tolerated by the network.

- Well, absolutely not. - You think you know someone...

Okay, thank you, Fred and Cory.

But I can't really think about that right now because I've got to focus

on what we're putting on the show in less than two hours.

- More caffeine. - Thank you.

Oh, thank you.

That's exactly why you're the pro that you are.

We just have to take this one step at a time, right?

Can't let the fact that there's hundreds of millions

of advertising dollars at stake here... We're not gonna let that...

- Fuck you. - Bother us, because change can be good.

And one man's tragedy, it can be another man's opportunity.

So let's, fuck yeah, embrace it.

And use this to reinvent ourselves, make things bigger and better. Well...

Thank God we've got you, Alex. You will carry us through this.

I guess that's why they've been dragging their feet on closing my renegotiations.

Yeah. Hey, guys.

So listen,

my gut instinct is to bring the news to America myself honestly.

Addressing the truth is the only way to protect our integrity.

So, we will talk to them as members of our family.

We will grieve with them. We will go through this together.

She's a class act. All the way.

Shut up.

And if we use this right, this is our chance to get our audience back.

I couldn't agree more, Alex. I think you've got the right idea there.

Pull the family together.

And we'll get a surge in our ratings for a few days. And...

I was gonna say that.

May sweeps are imminent, let's not forget.

And yes, yes. We can discuss who we're gonna be putting in Mitch's chair...

today.

But I am addressing America up top on my own.

- Like we have a choice. -

I don't want anyone sitting in Mitch's chair.

Not during this. That's mine.

I can't feel anything.

Don't worry. I'll be with you.

You'll get out there, and you'll feel it. You'll find it, like you always do.

- Bradley. - What?

I'm telling you something. It's for your own good.

What?

You're awful.

Blow me, Alan. Just because I push back?

You don't push back. You incinerate. Everyone says it.

You fight everyone on everything.

Well, there's a lot of sloppy work done around here, mainly by you.

You know that anchor opening on the late hour?

They're giving it to Sarah.

Sarah?

The world's only conservative lesbian who weirdly looks like Mary Hart

and has also been at the channel three years less than me?

People like her. It's not a crime, you know?

Gotcha.

Hey, just do yourself a favor. Try to be more agreeable, for Chrissake!

I am fucking agreeable!

Coal creates jobs! Coal creates jobs!

Coal creates jobs! Coal creates jobs!

Coal creates jobs! Coal creates jobs!

No more coal! No more coal!

- Is what used to be... - No more coal! No more coal!

- No more coal! No more coal! -

No more coal! No more coal! No more coal!

Hey, I gotta take this. I got something going on at home.

- No more coal! No more coal! - Mom, hold on.

Hey, honey. You sound like you don't want to talk.

Hold on, Mom. I'm doing my job at a protest right now. What's going on?

A protest? Is everything safe?

I'm at a coal mine. No, I'm safe. Is Hal okay?

He's doing just fine.

Mom, speak up. I can't hear you.

You sound really busy. I just wanna let you know I brought your brother home.

You did not.

Don't take that tone. You sound like a bitch, honey.

- I'll talk to you later. - No more coal! No more coal!