Piers Morgan's "uncensored" TV show struggles in ratings

Ratings are low for Piers Morgan's new show, launched to much fanfare several weeks ago on Britain's exciting new free speech TV network. In fairness, it's in a slot where other newsy shows suffer likewise, but the whole point was to break out and it isn't happening. There's good odds that more people will read this tossed-off blog post today than watch Piers Morgan: Uncensored.

Piers has tried to stem the flow of leaving viewers with interesting guests including world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury in his first interview since successfully defending his belt against Dillian Whyte. Other stars such as Caitlyn Jenner, Sharon Osbourne, Jeremy Kyle and Boris Becker's estranged wife Lilly have also appeared on the show but the channel has still struggled to rein the viewers back in.

Piers—a newspaper editor notable for his involvement in the phone hacking scandal and for getting fired for a fabricated front-page story, is a famously charmless threatener whose prominence comes from the high-profile gigs he's given. He struggles to fill out these roles because he can't play the part well and is unwilling to understand the topics they lead him to. His cold, pinched cynicism is entertaining (to some!) when posed as a foil against warm, humane adversaries, but he falls to pieces when that dynamic is upset by earnest or well-prepared criticism. Who wants to watch him sit there, going through the motions on some godforsaken provincial clone of a Fox News segment?

About 61,700.