‘The Morning Show’s Desean Terry on Daniel’s Job Opportunity in Episode 9
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 1, Episode 9 of The Morning Show, “Play the Queen.”]
Alex (Jennifer Aniston) and Bradley (Reese Witherspoon) are both planning to make major moves as The Morning Show nears the end of its first season.
And for the former, that includes presenting her new plan for TMS to the person she sees replacing Bradley in the seat next to her: Daniel (Desean Terry). It’s simple: they’ll slowly phase Bradley out by having her cover a “compelling news story” elsewhere while the two of them hold things down in the studio.
“It will go so well we will tell the press we are just trying out a new format,” Alex details. “Then she’ll spend more time away, and the audience will get used to our faces waking them up every morning. And then eventually an announcement will be made: ‘While Bradley has enjoyed her tenure at The Morning Show, she has realized that her true passion lies in field reporting.’ The network saves face, we usher in a new team: Alex and Daniel.”
“I believe that you and I would make a great partnership,” she continues. Daniel’s “incredibly flattered” that his dream seems to be coming true. And that means that he’s officially calling off Audra’s (Mindy Kaling) job offer at the competing morning news show. “I may be a fool, but I gotta go with the devil I know,” he explains to his agent.
Here, Terry discusses that job offer from Alex and his thoughts on a Gilmore Girls musical.
Why has Daniel stayed at The Morning Show?
Desean Terry: What I like about Daniel is that Daniel has so many sides to him. We’ve been able to see his snarky side, his shady side. He’s clearly intelligent, adept at his job, and the other thing about him is he has a big bark, but his heart is really soft and vulnerable. For me, when he talks about the family he’s created at The Morning Show, that is one of the things that is there for him, the family dynamic of it.
(Apple)
Also, it’s one of those things where, even if your mind is telling you this is the way to move forward, he has specifically coveted that chair at the number one show, and right now he cannot see how moving and stepping out of line is going to serve him. He’s a little bit, at this point in time, really just blinded by his heart, and that’s where he lives this first season.
But with this episode, he’s on the verge of getting what he wants. How does he feel after that conversation with Alex?
He’s beyond elated. … The entire season, he’s been having these conversations about these things that are going to happen and they have not paid due, so I don’t think Daniel 100% feels like this is definitely going to happen, but he makes a decision at that point in time that, “I’m going to go with what my heart tells me and be vulnerable rather than sidestepping.” It’s still that same thing, that he’s leading with his heart. It’s not that he’s completely blinded but ultimately that’s what wins over for him to make that decision at that moment.
He wants to trust this, but he also knows that he can’t be fully invested with it. He says he’s staying with “the devil he knows,” but does he have a limit before he’d seriously consider leaving?
I definitely think Daniel has a limit. I think we will begin to see stuff like that in the second season in regards to how far he will go and what he will do.
We know how Daniel felt about the Gilmore Girls musical, but what about you?
[Laughs] You know, I am not a Gilmore Girls fan. I’ve never watched the show, but here’s the thing with me. I’m not a big musical person, but whenever I get to a musical and I actually find that it’s good and effective, my heart starts to melt pretty fast. The last musical I saw was Dear Evan Hansen. Those are the things I walk into and I say, “Okay, I’m just going to see this because everyone else is seeing this,” and my god, I fell in love with that thing.
(Apple)
I’m going to stay open enough to say if there is a Gilmore Girls musical and if it was good, I might actually be that person that sheds a little tear but hides it.
The Morning Show, Fridays, AppleTV+
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