Ehrin, who serves as showrunner, and Leder executive produce alongside Aniston and Kristin Hahn through Echo Films; Witherspoon and Lauren Levy Neustadter through Hello Sunshine; and Ellenberg through Media Res, which serves as the studio. Brian Stelter consults on the project, with his book Top of the Morning providing additional background material. Filming is slated to begin next week in Los Angeles.
In his return to TV, Steve Carell has been tapped as a male lead opposite Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston in Apple’s untitled morning show drama series. It markes his first TV series role since his Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe-winning turn on NBC’s comedy The Office.
Written by Kerry Ehrin based on an original idea by Media Res’ Michael Ellenberg and directed by Mimi Leder, the yet untitled series provides an inside look at the lives of the people who help America wake up in the morning, exploring the unique challenges faced by the women (and men) who carry out this daily televised ritual.
Carell will play Mitch Kessler, a morning show anchor who is struggling to maintain relevance in a changing media landscape. This is a familiar territory for Carell who played local TV weatherman Brick Tamland in the Anchorman feature comedy franchise and news anchor Evan Baxter in Bruce Almighty.
Since leaving The Office in 2011, The Daily Show alum Carell has been focused on features and on drama, earning an Oscar nomination for Foxcatcher and also starring in the Oscar-winning The Big Short as well as this year’s awards contender Beautiful Boy. He will soon be seen as Donald Rumsfeld in Vice. Carell, whose credits also include the popular Despicable Me animated franchise, is repped by WME and Media Four.
