Showtime

There are currently three holes in the TalkTV schedule for Monday - one new edition of Piers Morgan Uncensored and two repeats will not be showing.  Piers told a US website that yesterday's edition of the show (featuring Sunderland-and-Carlisle footballer Jack Diamond, recently cleared of rape), which he claims to co-own with News UK, was the last to be offered as part of a Monday-to-Thursday regular commitment to linear tv; in future Piers Morgan Uncensored will appear on YouTube when the editor/presenter thinks he's got someone worth talking to. 

And so another set of egos come crashing down on the indifference of the British viewing public. The largest belongs to Piers Morgan, who believes he's a likeable, talented and funny broadcaster. Why shouldn't a vast audience make an appointment every weeknight to enjoy topical thought, entertainment and controversy in his company ? |America still has at least six such shows across three networks, building on the heritage of Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, and more. And the US 'news' networks had weeknight hosts who managed to attracted regular audiences, without showbiz guests on the plugging circuit. 

But, wait, there was one primetime failure in recent years on CNN - Piers Morgan. He might argue he lost out because of his persistence in campaigning on air for new gun laws to combat mass shootings; others would say he's simply uncomfortable on screen as a host in live broadcasting, and has never been as funny or smart as he thinks he is. 

GMB become Piers next employer, and the noise around Piers improved the figures, until his storming off set in April 2021. Over the following year, the egos of Piers and Rebekah Brooks re-assembled in London, and built a channel around the idea that what didn't work in the US would work with British audiences. Piers came on air at the centre of the evening schedule with a Donald Trump interview in April 2022. He averaged 300,000 in the overnight viewing figures for the first show. This week, an average of 50,000 tuned in for Piers v Rishi Sunak. 

Audiences have been lower and higher; Piers now argues that the best place for his content is YouTube, where his bar-room arguments with self-avowed controversialists like Andrew Tate have apparently drawn lucrative views. 

For TalkTV the next move is probably existential. Growth has been glacial - from 2m monthly reach in December 2022 to 2.5m in December 2023. Regularly beaten in primetime by a joke who can't deliver a joke - Jacob Rees-Mogg.