S03.E03: White Noise

[Snazzy Daisy]

Synopsis:

Quote

When a contract negotiation becomes public, the old and new guards clash. Chris takes center stage.

Airdate: September 20, 2023

 

[bourbon]

Are we supposed to like Chris? Because...no. 

Nicole Beharie is a fine actress, but I have the same problem with her here as I did in Sleepy Hollow. She just doesn't come across as likable here.

Edited September 21, 2023 by bourbon

[chitowngirl]

It was nice to see Corey get his ass handed to him at the end 

[txhorns79]

I could probably watch an entire episode of June Diane Raphael gleefully trashing everyone at UBA.  

3 hours ago, bourbon said:

Nicole Beharie is a fine actress, but I have the same problem with her here as I did in Sleepy Hollow. She just doesn't come across as likable here.

I don't mind the actress, but I think this storyline in the episode was a lot to put on a character we barely know.  I also felt the whole thing was a little sloppy.  I always viewed Cybil as a fairly savvy operator.  I'm not saying she wouldn't say racist stuff in her emails, but her word choice was so obviously racist that it would raise questions about everyone on the email, and why no one who read the email said anything.  That would be something I would explore in the interview, along with letting Cybil hang herself.

On the positive side, Mia and Stella can get drunk together all the time.  I liked Mia rolling her eyes at Bradley's call.  And Stella's outfits are always very interesting to me.  

Finally, it was nice to see Corey come down about a thousand pegs when Paul told him the deal was off.          

[juno]

A much improved episode this week. No Bradley? Great, I could turn my volume up again. Her communication choice of ranting and screaming gets old pretty fast.

The one thing that seems to really irritate me week to week is this complete lack of self awareness by the writers and showrunners. They write these characters that are so full of themselves and believe they are so important that it has become a running joke for me each week.

This show has created these completely unlikeable characters that seem to spend a great deal of time trying to convince me that this network cannot live without them, and how important they are in the strange world they exist in.

While I enjoy the show mostly, I would like to see acts on the show that aren't completely selfish and self serving and maybe benefit others instead of themselves. I would like to cheer someone on besides Corey, who got crushed tonight.

[Blakeston]

Oh no, they did not just get rid of the most sensible character on this show - not to mention the only one who understands that Bradley Jackson is not the second coming of Christ!

The interview was riveting, but I don't buy for a second that Cybil would be so clumsy. In the incredibly bizarre event that a network aired something like that, she would have been heavily coached, and prepared for anything, and given some useful soundbites.

[txhorns79]

19 minutes ago, Blakeston said:

she would have been heavily coached, and prepared for anything, and given some useful soundbites.

In the scene right before she went on, when she was in the dressing room, she appeared to have people with her trying to coach her on her responses and demeanor.  She was also was reading notecards that gave her directions on how to behave on camera. 

[chitowngirl]

10 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

I could probably watch an entire episode of June Diane Raphael gleefully trashing everyone at UBA.  

Agreed! I hope they do more with her. She’s a pretty big name to just be showing reacting on a monitor.

[Diapason Untuned]

14 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

I also felt the whole thing was a little sloppy.  I always viewed Cybil as a fairly savvy operator.  I'm not saying she wouldn't say racist stuff in her emails, but her word choice was so obviously racist that it would raise questions about everyone on the email, and why no one who read the email said anything.  That would be something I would explore in the interview, along with letting Cybil hang herself.

She's the chairman of the board, I'm not surprised no one said anything about it. They could have brought that up in the interview, but better to keep the focus on Cybil.

I have to say, Nicole Beharie did some incredible work on that interview. Real top notch stuff.

 

12 hours ago, Blakeston said:

The interview was riveting, but I don't buy for a second that Cybil would be so clumsy. In the incredibly bizarre event that a network aired something like that, she would have been heavily coached, and prepared for anything, and given some useful soundbites.

11 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

In the scene right before she went on, when she was in the dressing room, she appeared to have people with her trying to coach her on her responses and demeanor.  She was also was reading notecards that gave her directions on how to behave on camera. 

Cybil did get coaching but Chris was not lobbing any softballs her way. I'm sure that if Alex had given the interview she wouldn't have gone as hard, despite the bad blood between them. 

It's an unfortunate symptom of our current media landscape that actual hard hitting interviews with serious questions and serious interviewers are a rarity, precisely because media houses are worried about losing access. 

None of that here.

[Snazzy Daisy]

Wait, what? There’s no fallout from Bradley’s intimate video leak? Really? No Bradley in this episode and I don’t miss her at all.

Stella and Mia at the bar, drunkenly yelling about how hot (and problematic) Yanko is - it’s hilarious!

Quote

STELLA: “Someone’s calling your bra!”

😂😂😂

Unpopular opinion - Am not really invested in Cybil/Chris plot because I don’t really care about these 2 characters. We barely know Chris, her supportive husband and her perfect family. Nicole Beharie gets to shine this week and she receives a lot of compliments on socmed.

The formidable Cybil has survived the 70’s and 45 years at the network founded by her grandfather but has royally screwed up on morning tv. Really? With Cybil canceled, are we supposed to tolerate the snobby Leonard now? Ugh.

Quote

ALEX: “It’s time for you to stop behaving like a fragile white woman!”

It feels like Alex is talking to herself. 😆

I hope the plots on pay inequality and workplace racism will be toned down in incoming episodes because it’s exhausting. And we don’t need to hear anymore cringey genealogy lessons from Yanko.

Yes, it’s quite a blow for Cory but he will bounce back in next episode since Cybil is now out of the picture. I want more scenes of Cory & Amanda, bantering. The snarkier the better. 😘

Quote

AMANDA: “You got some pep in your step. Recharged after sleeping in your coffin all day?”

😆😆😆

What will be the next arc for Paul Marks since the UBA deal is off - a romance with Alex Levy ala Hallmark?

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Snazzy Daisy

[Anela]

Cybil screwed herself by saying they could handle the fallout from the hack, and not paying the ransom.  Cory screws himself by leaking what she said, amd losing the deal with the billionaire.  

[bilgistic]

I found it hilarious that Paul the Billionaire Who Is Obviously a Metaphor for Elon Musk no longer wanted anything to do with UBS after the Cybil fallout. Like Paul the Billionaire has scruples.

[Blakeston]

21 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

In the scene right before she went on, when she was in the dressing room, she appeared to have people with her trying to coach her on her responses and demeanor.  She was also was reading notecards that gave her directions on how to behave on camera. 

She had handlers, but either they didn't prepare her for anything meaningful, or Cybil ignored everything they told her. She did everything wrong.

They would have given her statements about how important diversity is to her, and what steps she's taken to improve diversity, and how proud she is that The Morning Show is produced by a Black woman, and the director of the news division is an Asian woman, and the networks star anchors are all women. (At least it appears to be that way from what we've seen.)

And if she had any savvy whatsoever, she would have pointed out that being trained by your colleagues is not a substitute for on-air experience.

[Barbarblacksheep]

On 9/21/2023 at 9:27 AM, Diapason Untuned said:

have to say, Nicole Beharie did some incredible work on that interview. Real top notch stuff.

I agree. I'm a fan of both the actress (since her "Leftenant Abbie" days from Sleepy Hollow; the show tanked after she left)  and her character on TMS. 

I thought this episode was the best so far this season. A lot less of the Bradley soap-opera stuff; in fact no Bradley whatsoever other than Mia ignoring her phone call, hee! Was glad to see Cory taken down a notch, but he'll no doubt bounce back. The Tony Bennett song at the end was perfect. Oh and yes, the "Eagle News" anchorwoman was a delight.

I've worked in broadcasting before (hey, I "survived the 70s" too)  and I've known a few Cybills myself, not that her archetype is limited to broadcasting. They'll trash other women among their executive colleagues but then try to appeal to "sisterhood and solidarity" when it suits their purpose. Comeuppance is a beautiful thing.

[Diapason Untuned]

On 9/22/2023 at 9:45 PM, Blakeston said:

She had handlers, but either they didn't prepare her for anything meaningful, or Cybil ignored everything they told her. She did everything wrong.

They would have given her statements about how important diversity is to her, and what steps she's taken to improve diversity, and how proud she is that The Morning Show is produced by a Black woman, and the director of the news division is an Asian woman, and the networks star anchors are all women. (At least it appears to be that way from what we've seen.)

And if she had any savvy whatsoever, she would have pointed out that being trained by your colleagues is not a substitute for on-air experience.

This reminds me of a similar situation that occurred on the Chair (a Netflix show). A character played by Jay Duplass gets into trouble and instead of laying low for a few weeks as HR recommended, he felt as if he was being put upon and wanted to clear his name which led to things snowballing.

I get the same feeling here. From the very beginning Cybil thought she was being unfairly treated and was under attack for no real reason and took that attitude into the interview instead of doing the media savvy thing.

 

On 9/22/2023 at 10:17 PM, Barbarblacksheep said:

I agree. I'm a fan of both the actress (since her "Leftenant Abbie" days from Sleepy Hollow; the show tanked after she left)  and her character on TMS. 

Always nice to see a fellow Sleepy Hollow fan!

That series was my introduction to Nicole Beharie as well and I've been a fan since then. Still annoys me how that show screwed her over.

Quote

 

Oh and yes, the "Eagle News" anchorwoman was a delight.

 

Same. She just looked so delighted at UBA's troubles. 😂

[Mellowyellow]

Love this season!!! 
 

I’m finding everything riveting and extra kudos for no weird storyline about Bradley’s family.

Chris gave an amazing interviewing and I thought the acting was excellent from Nicole Beharie. I felt her emotions throughout the entire episode. Wanting to lose her sh@t but needing to keep her composure because she felt losing it was not an option for her.

I don’t mind that Chris is a new character. They have to start somewhere and Nicole’s acting is phenomenal so it’s worth giving her a storyline.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 9/20/2023 at 9:47 PM, txhorns79 said:

 Finally, it was nice to see Corey come down about a thousand pegs when Paul told him the deal was off.          

That was easily the best part. After all the work and drama Paul just blows him off in about a minute. 

Although I do wonder if it would be that easy to leak the emails after a hack like this. I feel like there are a lot of computer hacker types could could probably trace where those leaked emails came from and that they weren't part of the original hack.

On 9/21/2023 at 8:28 AM, chitowngirl said:

Agreed! I hope they do more with her. She’s a pretty big name to just be showing reacting on a monitor.

Is she a big name though. I feel like I have only ever seen her in supporting roles. And looking at what she has done in tv on her wikipedia page it is mostly roles that are one or a couple of episodes.

On 9/22/2023 at 11:17 PM, Barbarblacksheep said:

in fact no Bradley whatsoever other than Mia ignoring her phone call,

I would have been ok with seeing Bradley show up but if her being gone means no Juliana Margulies then I am good with that. Since it is definitely a case of annoying actor and character (man if The Good Wife had just been like 2 seasons shorter).

[chitowngirl]

1 hour ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Is she a big name though. I feel like I have only ever seen her in supporting roles. And looking at what she has done in tv on her wikipedia page it is mostly roles that are one or a couple of episodes.

She was in 94 episodes of Grace and Frankie…that’s where I know her from.

[Kel Varnsen]

1 hour ago, chitowngirl said:

She was in 94 episodes of Grace and Frankie…that’s where I know her from.

I wasn't aware of that. Although maybe there is something about this show, behind the scenes, that makes people want to be on it. Lime Mindy Kaling seems like a much bigger name than June Diane Raphael, and even she only shows up every few episodes for a scene or two.