Jennifer Aniston is thrilled to be back on the set for a new TV series. Since the end of the widely-popular sitcom "Friends" in 2004, the actress has mostly done movies. Now, she's dipping her feet on television again, thanks to the prodding of her friend, Reese Witherspoon.
The two are headlining the new series, tentatively called "The Morning Show," that will also star Steve Carell. Aniston told Entertainment Tonight that they have been filming for about a month and she still cannot believe she's doing another series.
Aniston said that she's having a lot of fun working with her new co-stars. She also admitted that it's hard and dense work to be doing so many episodes, but it's still a fulfilling experience.
The new series, which will stream on Apple's service by 2019, will follow what goes on behind the scenes of morning program culture, which has been a vital part of American TV-watching. Aniston and Witherspoon's character names have not been revealed to the press, but Steve Carell has been announced as Mitch Kessler. His character's biggest problem is to remain relevant in a world where social media is more dominant than mainstream media. Incidentally, this show also mark's Carell's return to television after the end of "The Office" in 2013.
The morning drama came from the mind of producer Michael Ellenberg, who based the story off the non-fiction book that former CNN correspondent Brian Stelter wrote, called "Top of the Morning." In it, Stelter extensively discussed the rivalry between "Today" on NBC and "Good Morning America" on ABC. The show will also star Nestor Carbonell (Yanko Flores), Billy Crudup (Cory Ellison), Mark Duplass (Chip Black) and Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Hannah Shoenfeld).
Backstage confirmed that the morning drama has been filming in Los Angeles since the last week of October. In particular, the show has taken residence at the Oviatt Building downtown.
Meanwhile, Aniston has been busy making the press rounds with the release of her new movie "Dumplin'" on Netflix. She plays a single mother and former beauty queen named Rosie who has been quite active in developing other young beautiful girls as pageant contestants.
Rosie, however, gets the shock of her life when her heavyset daughter Willowdean (Danielle Macdonald) decided to join a pageant. The film is an exploration of the relationship between a mother and a daughter who's still trying to find herself.
"Dumplin'" is based on a young adult novel from Julie Murphy. The movie also has special participation of Dolly Parton.
