Jennifer Aniston watched Matt Lauer's final Today show to prepare for The Morning Show

Variety

While the Apple TV+ series was completely rewritten in wake of Lauer's firing over accusations of sexual harassment in November 2017, Aniston insists Steve Carell's character is a work of fiction. To prepare for her role, Aniston tells Variety she studied old episodes of Today and Good Morning America. She also grille Diane Sawyer, Willie Geist and Gayle King about their morning routines and studied Lauer on his final day on air. “Did he know? Did he not know?” Aniston asks, explaining that she felt disgust at the news of his sexual misconduct. “I was so devastated,” Aniston says. “It’s such a strange thing; it felt oddly like my dad did something terrible. I trusted him and had been interviewed by him. He was there for so many moments in my life. And when Friends was ending, it was Katie (Couric) and Matt interviewing us.” Aniston was also asked about WarnerMedia recently spending big bucks to acquire the rights to Friends reruns. "I’m shocked. I’m amazed. And you’re welcome," she says, adding: "It’s a phenomenon that I am amazed by. To have a whole new generation of children adoring the show as much as they did back in the day when it was airing for the first time is incredible. I want to know what people love so much about it, because there wasn’t any of this." ALSO: Aniston tells Howard Stern about turning down auditioning for SNL after meeting with Lorne Michaels "because it was such a boys' club."