In one scene, Jeff Daniels' character mentions that Edward R. Murrow made a deal to do interviews such celebrities as Liberace in order to pursue an investigation into Senator Joe McCarthy. This scenario was dramatized in the 2005 film "Good Night and Good Luck," in which Jeff Daniels appeared.
MacKenzie - when talking about how to report on a murder - says "A modest proposal, we could ourselves commit murder on our air. In your face Nancy Grace!". This references Jonathan Swift's satirical and anonymously published essay from 1729 "A Modest Proposal", which also contains an ironical and reprehensible suggestion. In modern British English parlance, "a modest proposal" lives on to signal that what the speaker is about to say next is straight-faced and extreme irony.
Takes place between Friday, May 27, 2011 and Wednesday, June 1, 2011.
Paul Schneider and Alison Becker previously co-stared in "Parks and Recreation" together.
[Fourth Wall Break] When MacKenzie makes her "modest proposal", just at the moment when she says "In your face, Nancy Grace!", Emily Mortimer turns to look right at the camera, which also zooms in on her.