Stella Bak

**Stella Bak** is the president of UBA’s news division and an ambitious leader of an online media company that caters to a millennial and Gen Z audience.

## History

### Replacing Eric

After evening news anchor Ray Marcus was accused of creating a hostile work environment, Stella began working to help find a replacement for Eric at The Morning Show so they could move Eric to evening news. She had it narrowed down to two candidates. She also wondered if Bradley was cutting it at The Morning Show, citing drops in ratings and noting that her contract was up soon. Cory suggested bringing Alex back to work with Bradley, but Stella didn't like that as it would mean another white woman co-anchor for the show, one who had admitted to many questionable things.

Stella eventually narrowed the search down to just Aaron and began trying to work out a deal with him, though Cory didn't believe he was the right choice as he still wanted Alex back. On New Years Eve, as she closed in on a deal with Aaron, Cory called Stella and told her to kill the deal as he had gotten Alex to agree to come back.

When Stella learned that Alex was in the UBA building, she told Cory and the two of them met Alex in her new office, where they reminded her they wanted to keep her return a secret until the announcement. Cory asked her what her move to primetime looked like in her mind and she said she wasn't ready to make a pitch for that, so he invited her and Stella to have dinner with him and talk more about that. She agreed and they left Alex's office. After they were out, Cory said he knew Stella wasn't enthusiastic about Alex's return, but she needed to get on board. Stella said Bradley needed to get on board quickly, too, or they'd have some hard decisions to make. Stella also said Mia should be invited to the dinner as it's her show. Cory said that was fine, but no one else.

By the time the dinner rolled around, the guest list also included Bradley, Daniel, Alison, Ty, and Yanko. When they sat down to dinner, the conversation centered on the novel coronavirus in China, which Daniel believed they should be covering. Alex suggested they send Daniel to China and have Bradley cover the Iowa caucus instead. The talk of the caucus led to Yanko commenting on the "sham impeachment trial." Stella asked him why he thought it was a sham, but before he could answer, Cory drew everyone's attention to him and toasted to Alex and Bradley's reunion and revealed the plan for the grand return, including one-on-one interviews for each of them with Laura Peterson.

Stella, Corey, Mia, and Alex previewed the trailer promising an important announcement on The Morning Show. As they left, Stella told Alex they were having a hard time scheduling her interview with Laura because Laura wanted two days to document Alex's departure from her quiet life. Alex said Laura didn't need two days and instead could have four hours. Alex then told them she'd chosen Chip to come back and be her producer and Cory told Stella to make that happen.

After Eric and Bradley announced Alex's return on-air, Stella told Cory that the immediate response on Twitter was positive, though he knew she wasn't thrilled herself. When the time came for Alex's interview with Laura, Stella posed with them for pictures. She then privately told Cory it wasn't a good idea to bring Chip back to the show, saying she wanted to make things better and move forward. But he said they first had to make the show successful again, which meant making Alex happy.

As Stella watched Alex's first show back, Gerald congratulated her, saying bringing Alex back was an excellent decision.

When Yanko got flak on Twitter for using the term "spirit animal," he met with Mia and Stella, who told him he needed to apologize, but he said he didn't understand and didn't believe he'd done anything wrong. Once he left the meeting, Stella and Mia talked about the debate. Mia suggested Daniel for it, but Stella wanted Nooreen. When Mia pushed, Stella said Daniel didn't have the "it" factor and would never move beyond where he was. Stella then went to Alex to try to persuade her to do the debate. Alex again refused and didn't understand why she was expected to listen to Stella, whom she viewed as young and inexperienced.

Yanko apologized on the next episode, but Stella quickly figured out that his apology would not be sufficient.

Stella went to Cory and told him she couldn't convince Alex to do the debate, which made him angry, as he had hired Stella to handle things and felt she wasn't living up to her potential. Stella in turn accused him of only hiring her so he could look good for hiring an Asian woman. She demanded that he either listen to her or let her leave. He told her to make it work with Alex. Despite Bradley making another bid for the job, Stella went to Alex and made a passioned plea of her own and convinced Alex to do the debate.

As more cases of the novel coronavirus emerged, including the first in the United States, Stella was attacked on the street with racist comments from passersby who incorrectly believed her to be Chinese.

When Alex didn't return to work after Vegas, Stella met with Mia and Chip, where she reminded them they promised the audience Alex and now couldn't deliver. She wanted to know what the doctor said, so Chip lied and said the doctor said she was lucky not to need surgery. Cory came into the meeting, where he said Peter Bullard, who had been interviewed on that day's show, wasn't happy about Daniel's questioning. Stella said she was already handling it, but Cory said he was there to make sure it was done right. He then helped them secure Laura Peterson as Alex's temporary replacement.

Stella then had to meet with Yanko, who had to be suspended because he'd physically fought with the racist who attacked Stella on the street. When Stella told Yanko about his suspension, he was confused as he felt he was just accused of being racist and now was in trouble for fighting a racist. Stella reminded him that his job was simply to report the weather and insisted she wasn't his enemy.

### Mitch's Death

While they were meeting to talk about how Maggie's book might affect the show and the network, Gerald received an unconfirmed report that Mitch had died in a single-car accident in Italy. Cory sent Stella to start trying to confirm it and get Alex back into the studio immediately. Stella went first to Mia and Mia got her team started on trying to verify the story.

Stella then met again with Cory, Gerald, and Linda and they said Mitch's death could either help or hurt Maggie's book, as people might not want to pile on a dead guy. She also questioned Cory's decision to have Alex report the news when it was confirmed. They then got a call from Wendell, who promised that the news was TMS's to report. He also shared what he'd heard to help them.

When Chip came to Cory and said he thought Alex might have died in the accident with Mitch, Cory sent Stella to talk to Isabella to see if they could find Alex. Stella told Isabella that they knew Alex had been in Italy, and they needed Isabella to get into her email to see if they could locate her. They were able to figure out that she'd booked a flight into Teterboro. Chip went to meet the flight and was relieved that Alex was alive. Alex was also able to get them the second confirmation they needed and Bradley reported Mitch's death on TMS.

### Alex's Return

Stella met with Cory, Doug, and Alex prior to Alex's return to the show. When Stella reminded everyone that Alex was just in Italy visiting Mitch, Cory promised the network would support her through whatever backlash happened. Alex then said she was quitting the show, effective the day before Maggie's book came out. She'd realized returning was a mistake and was going to leave again. Cory asked Stella and Doug to leave and give him and Alex a moment alone, which they did.

### Alex Testing Positive

After the video of Alex at Mitch's memorial, including a confession that she'd been in Italy with him prior to his death, Stella and Mia met with Gerald, Teresa, and Pamela to talk about plans. Stella said it was all dependent on Alex testing positive, which was unlikely. And Alex was planning to leave the show on her own. Just then, she got a call from Alex, who said she'd tested positive. Stella sent Mia to send everyone else home. As she went to help inform people, Pamela reminded Stella that she had to maintain employee privacy.

Stella went to the studio, where Mia had already told everyone there was a positive case and they immediately speculated that it was Alex. Stella said they couldn't divulge private employee medical information. Mia said everyone just needed to go home and wait for futher instructions. Anyone who could work from home would and they'd figure something out for everyone else. As everyone went to leave, Stella stopped Daniel and told him he'd be anchoring TMS from home for a few weeks. He said he wouldn't becuase he had to go get his grandfather from his nursing home and bring him home, which meant driving to LA and back without staying in any hotels. Stella offered to help, but said they needed Daniel in New York. He said he was done trying to prove himself and quit over Stella's objections that he had a contract. As he left, he said that his grandfather thought he had the "It" factor, tipping Stella off to the fact that Mia had shared her remarks with Daniel. Mia then asked if Cory knew about Alex and Stella went to inform him.

Cory was in a meeting with Glen when Stella came in, so she kept a smile on her face as she wrote a series of frantic notes to Cory saying that Alex had COVID and reminding him that they knew she'd been in Italy and let her return to work. Once Glen was gone, Stella said they had to make a new statement regarding Alex. Cory said it had been nearly two weeks since Alex's return from Italy, meaning she mght not have gotten it there, which could be the spin they needed.

When Cory said Stella had to clear an hour of primetime for Alex to share her experience of having COVID, Stella shared her concern that they'd lose sponsors. Cory decided to have Alex go on UBA+ instead, since there were no sponsors there. No one subscribed, so they couldn't lose subscribers either. Stella said she had subscribed.

Stella later watched Alex's broadcast, where she talked about her symptoms and the virus in general.

## Relationships

### Romantic

Stella has dated Blake Griffin (Ghost in the Machine, 3x2)

## References

1. ↑ My Least Favorite Year, 2x01
2. ↑ It's Like The Flu, 2x02
3. ↑ Laura, 2x03
4. ↑ Kill the Fatted Calf, 2x04
5. ↑ Ghosts, 2x05
6. ↑ A Private Person, 2x06
7. ↑ Confirmations, 2x08
8. ↑ Testimony, 2x09
9. ↑ Fever, 2x10