25-05-2021, 09:03 AM
Brekkie post_id=14590 time=1621884865 user_id=976 Wrote:If they did Holly and Phil would have gone a long time ago.
Well, this is true, and if Eamonn and Ruth were as massively popular as is being suggested, they'd be on more often, because ITV are a commercial business and they have no interest in alienating the audience or perservering with stuff that isn't popular. And if they wanted to get rid of them completely, they could just get rid of them.
I would hope that Eamonn and Ruth have the wit and perception to be grateful for the work, they've been there for a long time - Ruth was presenting in the Richard and Judy era and they're been presenting together on the show since 2006. If you were to look back at the other shows and presenters around in daytime in 2006, not many of them are still about, so they've had an exceptionally long run, indeed longer than Richard and Judy, so they've done very well out of it.
And if ITV want to make a change and have them on less often so they can try new people, they're perfectly within their rights to do that. I always mention when Channel Four got rid of John McCririck from the racing and he took them to court citing age discrimination - but he lost the case, because it was decided that C4 were within their rights to make a creative decision, and they had audience research which supported their suggestion that he wasn't as good as he used to be and he wasn't very popular with the audience anymore. Television is a creative industry where on-screen talent are almost exclusively freelance, so there has to be the opportunity for broadcasters to make changes, otherwise this forum would be the first to complain about programmes being "tired".
If Eamonn and Ruth really thought they were being badly treated, there's nothing stopping them leaving This Morning and go somewhere else. That's exactly what Richard and Judy did, they didn't like the way the show was going and didn't much like the new Head of Daytime so they quit and went to another broadcaster, and because of their popularity a lot of the audience went with them. If Eamonn and Ruth wanted to do that, they certainly could. The fact they haven't suggests they're happy enough with what they've got.