Mmtx2002

I was there... and they did give us danishes and fruit and lots of coffee. I have to say everyone seemed in a good mood.

For those who are interested, Mika is teasing some kind of big news on Instagram. She is being coy, but so far she has confirmed that she is not pregnant. Ha. I am guessing it has something to do with Know Your Value. Or possibly she is leaving MJ to start a chicken farm. (She is using her roosters to do the teasing.)

They do seem to have been fighting for a while, but I think that is part of their thing -- they are intense together and it all hangs out there. Joe has said as much. It is a challenge for the show, because it impacts things. Donny made that comment when he was interviewing Joe for his Sirius/XM show. That it is uncomfortable for everyone when they are fighting. I think sometimes they take breaks during the show to work it out, but they are both strong willed on he show.

They were definitely fighting this morning. Joe kept trying to cut Mika off when she wanted to discuss the instability of the President or make some quasi-medical disagnosis. They both missed a block early on, too, interviewing Senator Coons -- seemed like they were trying to sort it out and descalate the tension. Mika was definitely pissed. She does not hide it well. One imagines that the EP tells them to go talk it out sometimes.

Welcome, Elysium! I am pretty new myself, and I agree with you 150%. Well, except for the X-Files thing and wanting to climb Joe like a tree. But the rest, I am with you. (Including on Joe's music!) We may be in the minority here, however, as this board seems to vent a little more than celebrate. Still, it's nice to be among a group of folks that watch the show as regularly and as closely as I do!

Clearly Mika does not mind Joe cutting her off or being rude -- otherwise, she would not have fallen for him, because he does those things on occasion. I thought today's exchange was especially snarky because it was a line that had been used about how close and connected they are (that they finish one another's sentences). It felt to me like Mika was mad for the rest of the show -- or at least a good while. She got quiet. I may be projecting. Later in the show, he also made fun of how she described someone's response as beautiful or something, and she clearly did not like that. By the end, she was texting and then mocked Joe with the airport landing thing that he has done to her. Definitely felt like they were fighting today.

Yes, there were some nasty responses, but also some awesome responses. I totally get that for TV she must maintain a certain appearance. That is part of the game, and she signed up for it. I guess, though, that as a woman I also like to see "real" women too sometimes, without all the makeup. And I found the picture refreshing in that way. This was weekend Mika out with someone she loves, just as herself. And it wasn't all about appearances -- just about authenticity. And she is still, of course, beautiful.

Joe seems to have taken it down, but I found it with a little help from Google. I really like that she is not wearing makeup. For someone who is really invested in women owning and promoting their own value, it doesn't send a great message if you are not comfortable without stage makeup. I sure hope Mika doesn't think that is her value.

I second the appreciation for getting Joe to dress up. I remember from the NYT profile of them that was published years ago, Mika made a comment about how you are able to tell when a couple is having a hard time because they dress like they are going to two different parties. (Mika was in a dress and Joe was wearing his fleece and jeans.) I suspect now that they are an actual couple the image matters more to Mika and how they project their togetherness, which by all accounts is pretty intense.

Definitely agree they have been in Maine. I think they were in Nantucket last week when Joe was in the bunker. And then they went to Maine.

For those interested, Joe and Mika did a podcast (separately) for "How I Got There," that came out this week but was recorded last week. He confirms that he was in Nantucket last week from the bunker and points out that it's a pretty good job that let's you work from Nantucket. And "baby" is apparently a pet name for Mika . . .

I think they are at Mika's family's house in Maine based on social media. I guess Mika got to sleep in -- or it was too expensive to send hair and makeup people for her. :)

It sure seems like they want a little more flexibility schedule wise and maybe they are getting a little bored. Gotta say, though, that the network seems like it has been very flexible with them, especially Joe. Not very many folks get to work from studios in their house. Maybe once they are married, Morning Joe will be broadcast from Mika's and Joe's bedroom. Kidding, of course.

Definitely distracting when one of our "hosts" is hosting remotely. I assume their respective contracts allow for a fixed amount of vacation days, and it seems like Joe has used a lot this year. Maybe they are also contractually bound to avoid both being off at the same time. Until recently, I don't think they were both off together a lot. Seems like they are still trying to cover and avoid having both off, hence working remotely. I would bet serious money that they are both in Nantucket this week.

I bet they are a little worried... is interesting that Cackles has held court lately when they are away. She is very talented and could probably do a great job running the show. Seems like they want at least one of the three of them on (Joe, Mika, and/or Willie) at any one time. Would be nice if Joe and Mika just ran it from another location -- I feel like they have done that in the past; no reason not to do it now. But maybe Mika was just off. I think Joe at least was in Nantucket -- he said something about going out and getting sun on twitter. Doubt he spends a lot of time in the sun in CT but who knows.

My guess is that they are both in Nantucket and hiding that again. Mika got to sleep in. Joe was a little over the top with the South of France thing. I wish they would do the show together when they are off together. Throws off the balance when it is only one of them. They need to figure out a good way to handle all of this going forward... it does seem like they get a lot of time off. But maybe it just seems like more now that they do it together sometimes. I think they have been in the studio together like six times in the past four weeks.

Yes, I don't think anyone bought the natural causes line, but it was the talking point/line. What is surprising is that they are abandoning it and being honest. I suppose it really shouldn't be that much of a surprise because I think Mika has always been pretty open about relatively private things. I am a fan of both and I am a sucker for the rom-com narrative, though this was complicated. But I don't judge. They are clearly very happy together and well matched. I thought the line in the NY Mag article captured it -- no matter what you think of them, these are two people who really f'ing love each other.

I was surprised by how much they shared in the article. The VF article had emphasized that both marriages (Joe's and Mika's) had ended of natural causes (i.e. not adultery). But this article muddies the water. Mika's very open admission that there was a moment when she knew and it was alarming and complicated says a lot. I am sure that they would not be talking in public if the kids on both sides were not comfortable with the story. Mika's children joined them in London (based on her Instagram feed). That sure suggests comfort. Or at least a desire to spend a week in London!

I completely agree with you, too. I think they are becoming more and more comfortable as a public couple and that will probably spill over to the show at some point. That they even acknowledged being together on July 4 was a big change from the awkward deflection of their engagement news, which I found totally strange. And the Colbert show and the new article suggest they are getting more and more comfortable. That makes sense -- they have been hiding it for so long. Plus, the ratings are very strong, so knowledge of the relationship only seems to be having a positive effect. How seriously viewers take them has very little to do with whether they are sleeping together or not. Willie has been missing for weeks and no one seems to care about that -- and even when they were seemingly on vacation in London, Joe and Mika still appeared. They deserve time off and they will probably increasingly take that time off together (which has only been somewhat recent, I agree). They should not be criticized just because they are doing it together. In any event, Joe is still in London (same screen and it is different than his CT bunker) and Mika returned. So, despite Page Six, they are not ALWAYS together. :)

Totally agree about it being ridiculous. I am curious as to whether this was a planned leak to test reaction to them appearing on camera on vacation together. This is pretty new territory -- there have been very few real couples in this role. We know that Joe and Mika sometimes plant things on Page Six... It seems to me that there is some worry that them being "together" on the air during MJ somehow undermines the seriousness of their show -- that is all I can make of it. They are not totally comfortable with being out on air on their show (think of the response to their engagement, Donny giving them an engagement gift, and even Joe asking Mika about her July 4). Trump clearly thought it might undermine them (hence outing them last year, which the NY Mag article says was against their wishes). In any event, the show needs to figure out how to handle it, since these joint vacations/trips will only continue, of course. I am in favor of just acknowledging it and being open about it.

I really love Nicolle Wallace, and her afternoon show is fantastic. But I think Mika and Joe bring something different -- and Mika is a key part of that dynamic, even if she's not always adding as much substantively. All of this to say, too, that it has been very odd to me that they have not been appearing together while in London. Based on Joe's and Mika's recent social media postings it is clear they have been there together all week. Yet strangely they were in separate isolation booths. Hurts the dynamic of the show in my view.

Agree they should both be able to broadcast from Europe together, but I think there is still some discomfort with them being "out" if you will. They both seem to have a bit of a delay, which has been annoying this week. I think Mika is definitely in London (google NBC Newsroom in London and that is definitely her background), but you would think Joe would make it into 30 Rock if he is the only one around (since Willie has been out too). I find the episodes with everyone scattered across the screen much harder to watch -- breaks up some of the natural flow of the conversation that occurs when they are around the table.

I agree with you -- I think they are both in Europe/London. Saw something on Twitter about someone seeing them at the airport several days ago. Seems silly that they are pretending to be at different places given that everyone knows they are together now.

I think Mika is in London. Looks like the same studio that Katty Kay reports from sometimes. And some of the still photos they showed at breaks were London. (I am a longtime lurker coming out of the shadows.)