Paul Henry is out of a job again at the end of the month with Australia’s Channel Ten deciding that 40,000 viewers each morning wasn’t enough to justify keeping Breakfast on the air. For some, this will be viewed as an epic failure.
For the last 10 months there have been countless stories in the media which have relentlessly mocked the low ratings of Henry’s show. It was always going to be a hard ask going up against two other already well-established early morning programmes. It went further than that though: it seemed the media were intent on seeing him fail. Unlike many other Kiwi TV stars who have been exported, Henry’s coverage has been exceedingly negative. His ability to polarise people provides more than enough ammunition for those out to bring him down.
While they now celebrate his pending unemployment with a sense of pride and personal achievement, I expect Henry will still be smiling at his million dollar contract.
The funny thing about all this is that Henry is now more than likely going to return to New Zealand and be back on our screens again. Speculation is rife that he’s the leading contender to host TVNZ’s revamp of their early evening current affairs show in 2013 only hours after the plug was pulled across the Tasman. So much for Wetzel and Coffey I guess.
Out of the same shadows of dislike for Henry come the excited calls at the prospect of him taking on an audience that would undoubtedly be his biggest yet. Oh the irony.
Before that can happen though, there is the small dilemma of his existing contract with Mediaworks who would be unlikely to release him to the competition.
Imagine how much less the demand would be for Henry if he wasn’t the disliked “failure” that he’s reported to be.
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