This morning is broken — and even Holly Willoughby can't fix it.

The failure of This Morning is the soap opera of our time. Indeed, if it were fiction, you might think that this is a ridiculous exaggeration of the truth. But Phillip Schofield's departure after an affair with a young ITV employee and the seemingly irreparable rift between Schofield and co-host Holly Willoughby all unfolded before our eyes and was met with condemnation from social media and the press — and with a heavy dose of gloating.< /p>

If Schofield and Willoughby were a little more rock 'n' roll, we might have been willing to swallow it, but here was the public collapse of a duo whose squeaky clean demeanor represented Britain at its most outspoken. Think of George at Asda, working at karaoke parties, children's parties. When the mask fell off, we were all ready to lash out and pass judgment. The public swearing continued Tuesday night at the National Television Awards when the cast of This Morning (including Willoughby) were booed. We can say the Anglo-Saxon nation in all its glory.

And yet the situation made me think it was time for This Morning to end. The brand has become toxic, and even Willoughby, supposedly rejuvenated after the summer holidays, cannot save him.

The show seemed like an anachronism for a while. It launched in 1988 in a very different television environment: «show business» gossip, fashion, beauty tips and cooking were all the rage with an audience that demanded very little. It was something that was ripe for Victoria Wood's sketch — and in fact the late comedian brilliantly presented it in a 1992 Christmas special that featured a rabid fitness expert: «We don't all want to be Madonna. , is not it? Some of us want to be Petula Clark.» Such shows were always a joke, but the banter was affectionate. And this isn't the first daytime show to be engulfed in controversy. Remember the story of Frank Bau from Breakfast Time in the 1980s, the man who felt at home in the sexy dungeons as well as wearing an Aran sweater?

To their credit, This Morning's extraordinary longevity is due in part to Schofield and Willoughby, the hilarious brother-sister duo that audiences loved — though I could never stand their worried faces when the celebrity was interviewed about their latest injury. . However, in recent years the show has gotten bigger, the stories more extreme, and the softer atmosphere created under the auspices of the original husband-and-wife team of Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan has become a distant memory. This Morning still felt dated, but dated due to its cozy couch format rather than its content (which instead made it look like you were being fed a Twitter feed of a deranged person).

Tender atmosphere: Judy Finnigan and Richard Madeley present This Morning in 1996. Photo: ITV/Shutterstock

If «This Morning» is now at a crisis point — and it is — the question for ITV is whether the show should even continue. The name itself has become synonymous with not just a scandal, but a breach of the trust of the audience. Last year's 'Queue' debacle was evidence of this, when Schofield and Willoughby did not seem to join the long line of mourners for the late Queen at Westminster Abbey. They later claimed to have been there as journalists, but for millions of viewers and readers, the damage was done: when the couple returned to British screens, a show that prided itself on sympathy and understanding suddenly looked staged.

I don't think it makes sense to keep This Morning as a brand. ITV could try to come up with a similar replacement, although history shows that when broadcasters do it, as Channel 4 did when they launched RI:SE after the end of The Big Breakfast, the influence of the old program usually remains and the new show rarely breaks through on its own. by oneself. And that doesn't mean that ITV needed a morning talk show in that location. Earlier in the day, the channel already ran Good Morning Britain, which is doing great, and Loose Women at 12:30, airing since 2000 (which is a whole different kind of madness). This Morning had more of a focus on lifestyle, but I'm not sure it appeals to daytime audiences as much these days—at least not in the couch conversation format.

Because the lifestyle, as the TV shows show, is still extremely popular. You might argue that this is too popular with daytime schedules that are chock-full of stuff I'm never at home to watch. The BBC boils it down to fine art: Bargain Hunt, Houses Under the Hammer, Money Wasted, and a reprise of Rick Stein's Cornwall on the air from late morning until early afternoon, a form of soothing mental chewing gum. And ITV could have followed in the footsteps of its competitors and done worse. Typically, these shows are made quickly and cheaply, and the Corporation's success with them is such that they are often repeated or reformatted.

This provides much more value than a live show such as This Morning: as soon as an episode of the last goes live, it essentially becomes ephemeral, or fodder for awesome tweeters at best. However, there are rumors that Holly Willoughby's salary is about to rise to £1m: think how many episodes of a life series set in an owl sanctuary in Shropshire you could film for that. It's a bit like the BBC cut Gary Lineker's pay in half and saved the BBC Singers. But that's a conversation for another time.