Piers Morgan to leave GMB

The issue there was not so much that he had a perfectly reasonable (yet totally unacceptable to an American audience) view on gun control, but rather that he wouldn't stop banging on about it. Proper dog with a bone territory.

Ultimately nobody likes being continually lectured and so he drove away from his audience. Audience numbers in that slot weren't exactly stellar in the first place, which was why Larry king had been put out to pasture. His task was to grow the slot.

Here, once again, the dog picked up his bone and kept going. The problem this time that he wasn't lecturing on a matter of policy but using his slot to bully, belittle and undermine. It's not a nice look - for him or the broadcaster.

For me, it's not the fact that he has opinions - he's welcome to them - or even the fact that he articulated them... it's the fact that he just keeps on going, unable to show control and unable to read the room. If I am honest, I think there are others in the same place on this matter - LBC's Nick Ferarri isn't exactly far behind.

From Alex Beresford:

From me pic.twitter.com/n0VPkoKGeK

— Alex Beresford (@alexberesfordTV) March 11, 2021

Alex shouldn't feel responsible for Piers' departure in any way. Piers' poor conduct on Monday morning's show had already caused huge controversy before Alex's appearance on Tuesday, and he expressed himself in a calm, measured, and reasonable way. The only person who behaved improperly was Piers, flouncing out of the studio when Alex dared to offer an alternative viewpoint to his.
In any case, a very classy statement from Alex. I hope he's well supported by his colleagues at GMB/ITV News.

we do live in a funny world, I can't say I am a fan of Piers, but I can see that is was interesting to watch- but all that he says is only an opinion, it's quite funny so many educated adults can't deal with somebody having a different view and get all wound up about it. I guess that's why Morgan used to bait them.

But most of the GMB team are a bunch of sad sacks - Alex Beresford and Ben Shepherd have the charisma of two old cushions. I think Adil Ray is about the only male presenter I've seen who is any good - be interesting to see how they replace him.

Agreed. It was Monday where the damage was done as far as I was concerned. Tuesday was just silliness in comparison.

Noticed that Meghan Kelly was on BBC News last night. Given that she was a big part of egging Piers on during Monday's GMB, I can't help feel that having her on was a very bold move.

Given that she's not usually a fixture on UK TV, I do hope that she's not looking to this side of the Atlantic for work now that she's made herself harder to employ in the States, following her disastrous stint at NBC and her tenure at Fox News before then!



Again, it's not really about having an opinion or even articulating that opinion. It's about a pattern of behaviour, over time, where he has persistently sought to belittle, undermine, and deliberately cause hurt to an individual using a platform that gave him access to around a million people and all because that person once upset him. Monday was the final straw in that respect, that's when the complaints were generated. Tuesday with Alex is niether here nor there.

When Piers grilled ministers on Covid, he was at his best, pressing for answers as a journalist, yet the Meghan and Harry nonsense has been based on his own personal feud with the Duchess of Sussex which has clouded his judgement and led to his downfall.

If he stuck to being to being the presenter who gives politicians a hard time instead of using his platform to bash someone constantly, I doubt he'd be in so much trouble, but that's Piers for you!

Now that Piers is gone, I can't see GMB lasting that much longer, if the ratings fall back to where they once were. Once things calm down with restrictions allowing for normal order of business, I wouldn't be surprised if ITV immediately kneejerk and decide to start drawing up something new as has usually been the case, and I strongly expect that if it wasn't for the last chance that was given in hiring Piers to boost the ratings (which became more effective over time, at the expense of his opinions getting bolder and his leeway for co-hosts to talk shrinking), GMB would've been dropped in 2016.

Whilst there was definitely a sizeable audience Piers turned away from the programme, he also attracted an even bigger audience that allowed ITV to take the 1st place position, even if just for a day, in breakfast TV ratings, something which hasn't occurred since the later years of GMTV (11+ years ago), but at the expense of his job. I think some people have been expecting him to go over the top for a while in a way that would make his position untenable, however I think that his downfall was simply the byproduct of Meghan ignoring him a few years back. I also think that if it wasn't for the M&H interview happening, Piers would still be in a job and he would most certainly still be holding a criminally negligent government to account in a more effective way than the current opposition party.

As a journalist, Piers excels in his ability to do his job, especially in interviewing other people, and his departure from GMB is a great loss in his ability, but also a gain to ITV following recent events, and I think the right decision was taken at the right time.

It keeps being suggested here that GMB could be dropped - but why?

ITV clearly want a Breakfast TV News show, evident by them sticking with it over the years. If they scrap GMB & launch a new brand they’re back to square 1.

Other long running shows like This Morning & The One Show have outlived presenters leaving and didn’t need a rebrand to carry on.

What could GMB realistically be replaced by though? they're probably best making GMB best it can instead of a pointless relaunch

Exactly, it also depends on ITV's view of GMB. Is it a news programme? If yes there are specific regulations that Piers may have broken. If it's an entertainment show he might have got a way with it. From my point of view, he's always struck me as a bully and Alex's response was perfectly reasonable and PM's walk-out middle of a conversation was appalling.

Plus what on Earth would they call it?! Every other possible name has been taken - Breakfast, Sunrise, RI:SE, The Big Breakfast, GMTV, TV AM. Even Daybreak and Good Morning Britain were strands within Tv AM.

I agree, that's the side of Piers I prefer and I notice that when he did Life Stories and the crime docs, he's a lot calmer and willing to listen to the person he's interviewing.