Piers Morgan to leave GMB

I do have mixed feelings about all this.

On the one hand, Piers - as a journalist - lost the ability to 'do objectivity' on this story and did so because of what seems to me to be a borderline pathological hatred of Meghan. A journalist without objectivity isn't really a journalist - he's an activist. In this case, little more than an activist for hating somebody, which is just a little bit tawdry.

I switched him off on Monday because during what clearly was not an interview with Meghan Kelly. I felt I was being preached at and being given my orders as to what I would think from that moment onwards. Those two together seemed to participate in what I can only describe as a televised self-radicalisation session.

ITV should have given him a damn good rollocking on Monday to prevent what happened on Tuesday. Perhaps, if he was belligerant and not in the mood to backdown, then he should have been sent on an urgent fishing holiday somewhere, à la Fox News.

If he had been on air on Tuesday and pulled the same crap again, he should have been handed his sandwiches in a road map by lunchtime. This was an utter failure of ITV to manage its talent. They are to blame.

On the other hand - I really like the format of GMB. I liked it when it launched as it felt very different to what went before it. Problem is that the ITV bosses got jittery and started to reposition the show back into their GMTV comfort zone - which is dull as hell.

It was only with the hiring of Morgan that they were able to build a show around a newsier format that featured lively debate. For the first time, they made it work and kept the bosses from demanding a fluffier GMTV clone.

My fear is somebody 'inoffensive' will be parachuted, leading to a loss of many of the viewers that it has been slowly adding. Within 18 months, the show will then probably get a new look involving a (red) sofa and chunky graphics with a sun featuring as part of their new logo.

If they do not go for a personality hire then GMB will struggle to maintain any relevance. Problem is, I am not sure if there is anyone who is obvious for the role.

Goodness me. There has been one edition of the show following Piers' sudden exit. Seems a bit too early to be catastrophising about ratings and making assumptions of this nature. If you're able to predict the future with this level of accuracy, then I strongly suggest you start playing the lottery; by this time next week, you'll be too busy counting your money to worry what colour the Good Morning Britain sofa is.

Can we just remember that Thursdays and Fridays hold up very well without Piers.

https://twitter.com/Jake_Kanter/status/1369582288116277251?s=20

Not really though.

I liked the original (non-TVam) GMB format with its newsier content. The problem with that was that it wasn't performing very well against the BBC - despite its high-profile BBC-poached talent.

As a result, it was already being watered down and tweaked every few weeks, becoming less newsy and more and more fluffy. The slide towards GMTVification was already happening - just as what had happened with Daybreak and the original 'kitchen table' incarnation of GMTV before it.

I always thought that hiring Piers seemed to be a last throw of the dice for this incarnation of GMB at that time. With him there the show stabilised (ironically for such an unstable character) and started to grow. ITV became more confident that a newsier format could work for them.



It's hardly like I'm plucking this out of the air... history has a habit of repeating on ITV breakfast programmes!

Or... The Morning Show used cliches, tropes and parallels with statements and moods that have occurred when similar scandals and departures have happened in broadcasting in the past. Susanna was hardly going to come on blowing a kazoo, letting off party poppers and singing "ding dong the Morgan's gone", neither was she going to sit there, dressed in black, tears streaming, snot pouring out of her nose like Juliet Stevenson in Truly, Madly, Deeply.

Isn't there pretty much a standard for this kind of thing? When broadcasting goes wrong: remaining presenters deliver a statement citing their friendship with (and/or respect for) the departed colleague and their understanding why either they couldn't, or didn't want to continue in the role... then, broadcasting continues with a serious look on its face for a while until a new normal is established.

Well, he always stated that he wanted/was going to beat Breakfast. Quite apt that he actually did it on his final day.

More from Piers this morning:

WARNING: This clip contains flash photography.

Former Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan says 'I believe in freedom of speech' as he defends comments he made about Meghan. He adds 'the damage she has done to the monarchy is enormous'.

Read more: https://t.co/7KuIYPQaUl pic.twitter.com/jHZ89Ilal4

— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 10, 2021

BREAKING NEWS: Good Morning Britain beat BBC Breakfast in the ratings yesterday for the first time.
My work is done. 😎

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) March 10, 2021

I know GMB is done by ITV and not the news division and is a separate franchise. But do you think ITV New’s execs had a say (from this side of the Atlantic is seems like they use ITV News content)? I seem to recall at one point there were ITV News logos on screen so that makes ITV News and ITN a stake holder.

Were the presenters within GMB required to uphold the same integrity at those employed by ITN?

And do you think the average member of the public knows that Piers isn’t or wasn’t a member of ITV News?

Yes, that's a good summary of it. The other factor is that he became the story, that's not good for ITV or the programme. Plus it diminishes his moral high ground and ability to cover subjects fairly. It has shades of the Angus Deayton incident whereby as soon as a guest could respond with 'what about you?' it's a problem.

Also there's the bigger context of what ITV have been doing about mental health, and trying to fix it's reputation after the events of February. They had one of their presenters dismissing suicidal thoughts near to the anniversary of the suicide of another of their presenters

I wrote a story on the subject last year https://www.atvtoday.co.uk/143237-gmb/

Obviously if The Guardian had put a piece together it would have had more bite

He goes on to say "although the woke crowd will think they've cancelled me, they will be rather disappointed when i re-emerge." It will be interesting to see where or which broadcaster new or old?? Takes him from here on...!