Avri Gilad's case can serve as a symbolic example of the state of Channel 13, and of the direct responsibility of its managers for its deepening crisis.
In short: Reshet owned the king of morning shows, then destroyed the brand by moving it to 7 p.m. and cutting it away two months later. And even though Avri is the X Factor, which with proper use could push the entire channel up, network executives didn't know what to do with it.
Avri Gilad - Notice: Peace is making a comeback (archive)
In his last days on screen, Avri Gilad still beat Keshet in ratings (as a weekly presenter on Friday mornings), but the rest of the time he hid in the night strip and hosted the remote wellness program about quality of life and marketing content, which few had heard of even though it had been on the air for more than a month.
Therefore, the publication of his obvious abandonment to the competing channel, after 18 years of loyalty to the network, is another nail in the coffin of a channel that does everything wrong. A channel whose swan song corresponds with Autumn's hair extensions from Big Brother. "Television overlaps, brings sections," Gilad once rhymed.
And maybe it's the nostalgia that gnaws at me, but note that for the first time in three decades, Erez Tal and Avri Gilad (and Einav Galili) will broadcast in the same media outlet - Keshet. Is it finally time for unification?
Avri Gilad writes a weekly column in Israel Hayom's Shabbat supplement.
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