Larry King and CNN have parted ways. King, who retired from his primetime show in December 2010, said at the time he would host specials occasionally for the network. But it was confirmed Wednesday that after airing four Larry King specials on CNN there would be no more .
"CNN and Larry King have mutually agreed to end the Larry King specials," said the network in a statement. "We have the greatest respect for Larry and wish him the best of luck with his new endeavors."
Added King: "I have nothing but love and respect for CNN, and I'm looking forward to all the wonderful business opportunities that I will now dedicate my full time to."
Thursday, February 16, 2012
CNN and Larry King Part Ways
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I think it is just as well that Larry King let go of his gig with CNN. I know there are lots of fans of his on this site but I think King stayed well past his prime. He needed to go and let a new generation take over. Piers may not be the best replacement (I'm willing to give him a second chance) but I thought the idea he would do a few specials after his show ended was just kinda silly. CNN could use some new talent (people with actual talent and not those who merely look nice on TV). I've read several people mention Aisha Tyler - good idea but not sure she has the hard news chops. CNNI has some great people - Hala Gorani, Isha Sesay, and Sara Sidner. Other great news people: Erica Hill, Alison Stewart, Lara Logan, Lisa Ling, and Jaime Tarabay. For CNN to pull out of third place in cable, they need to seriously rethink the content they are producing. Leave celebrity gossip and crime drama for HLN. Make CNN about real news and don't overuse breaking news, instead do some real investigative work and have guests that are experts in their field not just pundits. Finally, have anchors who can talk intelligently in depth on the topics they are covering - not just mindless sound bytes.
CNN wanted Larry King gone. Larry didn't want to go. So the 4 specials a year was agreed to as a graceful way to phase him out. But CNN had no intention of letting it go on forever, as I said they wanted rid of him. And now they are.
The real drama behind the scenes was which CNN anchor wanted to step into Larry's shoes and was denied? Eventually, after threatening to jump ship the parent company placated him with a Time Warner/Warner Bros syndicated talk show. It would have been a much better decision all around to give him the LKL hour because now Time Warner is dealing with two underperforming programs, Piers Morgan and the syndicated talk show.
Post a Comment