Piers Morgan to leave GMB

Victoria Derbyshire feels plausible. Not too sure why people can’t see her working with Susanna?

And I'm sure it was a piece of cake with Morgan.

That was only because ITN came in and ruined his show.

With Derbyshire doing I’m a Celeb and with the BBC axing her show, it’s only a matter of time before she moves to ITV, or at least leaves the BBC. I could see her on GMB and she has the right approach for an ITV audience or at least the audience ITV want to attract.

I wouldn’t be surprised if ITV move Susanna, it’s not like they are afraid to move on from “talent” that doesn’t bring in the audiences they want. Saying that a female/female presenter lineup could be a good move, and why not?

I'm sure Piers said many a time on Twitter that he was very easy to get along with behind the scenes and that everyone absolutely loved him. Apparently it's BBC Breakfast that's frosty off stage.

I assume the reason some people are unsure about the potential for a Victoria/Susanna pairing is because it would be two strong, ex-BBC presenters together. With Piers and Susanna, there seemed to be a yin and yang, whereas Victoria and Susanna are, one would imagine, rather more similar in their style and views, and so the dynamic mightn't be seen to work as well by bosses.

You also have to take into account that the newsreader role generally rotates between Charlotte, Kate, and Ranvir (with Sean occasionally on a Friday or as cover), so you'd be left with very few male presenters around the desk if the show's main pairing became Susanna and Victoria paired with a female newsreader. I personally think the best person for the job should get it, with their skills and ability coming ahead of their gender, but it may be a factor in their decision making when you consider there would only be a male presence on a Thursday and Friday if they went with Victoria.

For what it's worth, I think Victoria has shown herself to be a capable and robust interviewer while at the BBC, and would fit in perfectly well on the show if they did decide to go down that path.

Piers has said when he's been interviewed that many 'nice' celebrities are horrible when the cameras are off.

There has been a lot of speculation over Phillip Schofield and Holly, as they portray niceness and friendship on air, with some hinting at a very different persona off air.

Johnny Carson was one who had a very nice on screen personality, he had confidence, charm, style. However according to Ed McMahon, Don Rickles, Dick Cavitt, he was ice cold off screen. He never talked to guests before the show. Never bothered them afterward.

Joan Rivers appeared with Johnny for nearly 20 years on the Tonight Show, and when you watch those appearances you would think Joan and Johnny were so close, however she said when he threw to a commercial break and the band played music, he never talked to her, and she would always say the same line "The band sounds great tonight" with Johnny replying yes, and that was it. No conversation, but as soon as the cameras were back from commercial, he acted the warm, charming style once again.

Oh, well in that case he'll be a perfect fit for ITV Daytime.

Will ITV take the lazy path and just offer Ben the three day a week presenting role, with guest hosts for Thursday and Friday?

Ben and Kate have chemistry, cameo'd in Tom and Jerry together, don't think they'd want to split them up permanently. Would create less consistency for holidays.

Haven’t commented much on Piers leaving, but it was inevitable eventually he’d go too far with an opinion. I think had he not been seen to completely diminish the mental health aspect, he might still be there. But as Susanna said, shows go on... and despite what’s been speculated, GMB will stay, it would have to dramatically decline before any major changes.

Do we know who’s presenting tomorrow? (Just curiosity, don’t think we can judge a long term plan off that of course)

I think Ben moving up to the start of the week would be a mistake. It would just feel like going back to what was had before. Ben only cut down to two days a week a matter of weeks before Piers joining was announced. I don’t think a format like GMB lends well to a guest hosts long term on regularly basis either. It’ll work fine til September but longer term it’ll need a regular host, I feel.
I’m not sure who’s likely to get the regular role, Adil Ray seems a good shout though and perhaps the only shout from the current crop of guest hosts. I can’t see Richard Madeley or Eamonn Holmes wanting it long term, both feel like a bit of throwback to previous eras of This Morning/GMTV. And I feel Alex Beresford and Sean Fletcher lack something needed for the gig full time, Sean’s a more neutral host and Alex doesn’t have loads of experience as a main host.
I do think they’ll keep it as a male host though, just for the fact that the third presenter/newsreader is almost always female. Even though Victoria Derbyshire and Kay Burley I feel would fit the format quite well, if GMB ever went seven days a week (not likely to happen) then either I think would be great candidates.