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"Rescued," a CNN documentary reported by Soledad O'Brien will air May 8 at 8 p.m. ET and features an orphanage in Haiti called the Lighthouse. Hear the children of the Lighthouse talk about the earthquake that devastated their country and their hopes for the future.
Rating calculations are weekly averages based on nightly ratings provided by TVNewser with data by Nielsen Media Research. Numbers reflect Live and same day (DVR) data.
Dinner with CNN's Ali Velshi
a stellar night for Joanne King Herring
By Shelby Hodge
Long before Julia Roberts portrayed her in Charlie Wilson's War, Joanne King Herring was widely recognized as a successful volunteer diplomat and extraordinary hostess. With the dinner party that she put on Saturday night for CNN chief business correspondent Ali Velshi, she proved that her prowess as hostess with the mostess continues in full force.
Velshi and his bride flew in just for dinner, held in the River Oaks home of Herring's friend Susan Krohn. Herring had appeared on Velshi's Your $$$$$ program a few months ago and the two, despite differing political views, hit it off. She promised Velshi a table of fascinating dinner guests that would provide fodder for his two-hour show. Herring jumped in at the start, tackling illegal immigration just as the vichyssoise was served by uniformed waiters wearing white gloves.
By the time the sea bass entree was served, M.D. Anderson president Dr. John Mendelsohn had introduced cancer research to the conversation. Anne Mendelsohn, active with Teach for America, turned the conversation to public education. And Alan Craft, Open Door Mission board president, talked about the success of the drug and alcohol abuse recovery program.
"You not only are a talented hostess," Velshi said in a toast to Herring, "but you are also talented at putting people together with great ideas for great conversation."
Rounding out the table were JPMorgan Chase honcho Marty Goossen and wife Kathy, and others plus Rebecca Gray Grossman, chair of the Grossman Burn Foundation, a humanitarian-focused non-profit based in California.
If that weren't a rich enough table group, Herring announced the post-dinner arrival of guests from Dubai at 9:30 p.m., an interesting duo with a reported $300 million to invest in the Houston area.
This reprint is from culturemap.com
Stalwart lags as milestone nears
DAVID BAUDER
Associated Press
NEW YORK – During a presentation to advertisers last month in New York, CNN trotted out many of its big names: Anderson Cooper, John King, Sanjay Gupta, Candy Crowley, Nancy Grace and Wolf Blitzer, among them. Larry King, host of what is still one of the network’s top-rated shows, appeared only in a seconds-long film clip. These are troubled times for “Larry King Live” as it approaches its 25th anniversary in June. The show’s viewership for the first three months of 2010 dropped 44 percent from 2009, and it usually trails Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow in the time slot.
‘The place to go’
Once a pioneer, King now fights for relevancy. There was a time when such a thought would be heresy. “In the early days of the 1980s and 1990s, that was the place to go to get interviewed,” TV historian Tim Brooks said. “Any politician, including presidential candidates, had to be on his show. That brought a lot of respect to CNN, and to cable.” King moderated a memorable 1993 debate between Ross Perot and Vice President Al Gore. He even tried to mediate peace in the Mideast, bringing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, King Hussein of Jordan and Israel’s Yitzhak Rabin together on a show. His influence was equally big with entertainers. A list of bold-faced names who had sat across the table from King would take in practically everyone in the entertainment business.
In those days, Larry King was New Media. Today, entertainers have many options, from visiting hip hosts such as Jon Stewart to maintaining their own Twitter feeds. King was never a challenging interviewer, but now politicians can find downright friendly ones. It leaves King with pleasant but meandering chats with Willie Nelson or the chance to talk to Martina Navritolova about her cancer treatment. On the day Conan O’Brien agreed to go to TBS, King brought three reporters in to chat about it.
Think about it. When was the last must-see Larry King interview? For a network based in Atlanta and with a large New York office, King usually works out of Los Angeles. His executive producer since 1992, Wendy Walker, works from her home in San Diego, where CNN has built a control room for her.Some who know King suggested that’s a disconnected arrangement and wonder whether he is getting the support he needs in booking and promotion. If you see an ad for CNN, it’s far more likely to feature Cooper or Blitzer.
In a statement, King spokesman Ryan Jimenez said: “Ratings trend just as the competitors, but what distinguishes Larry is the fact that time and time again the biggest newsmakers continue to talk with the King because he’s fair and unbiased. We’re extremely proud of what Larry accomplishes night after night.”
Cringe-worthy TV
King’s simple, conversational style often annoys people who want interviews with more rigor and preparation. His supporters believe the everyman approach has been underestimated but worry that King, at age 76, is losing a step. Mistaking Roman Polanski for Charles Manson this year was cringe-worthy. Early last month, King seemed unaware of “Family Guy.” And when he asked Jerry Seinfeld whether his popular sitcom was canceled, it became an Internet embarrassment.
“It’s almost as if he’s interviewing on automatic pilot and he’s picking up a ballgame through his fillings,” said Gail Shister, who teaches TV criticism at the University of Pennsylvania.
King is also going through a divorce with his seventh wife, Shawn King. He filed papers shortly before she also sought to end the couple’s nearly 13-year-old marriage. Both cited “irreconcilable differences.”
His show averaged 759,000 viewers the first three months of the year, according to the Nielsen Co. That’s fewer than half of his peak year, in 1998, when “Larry King Live” drew 1.64 million viewers each night. As recently as 2003, King averaged 1.54 million. CNN contends he’s been hurt this year by a slow news cycle compared to the busy first few months of the Obama administration in 2009. Other news shows are down, too, both on CNN and MSNBC. Direct competitor Maddow is down 38 percent. Only Fox News Channel has been flourishing lately.
No heir apparent
King shows no indication of wanting to leave and takes great pride in an upcoming citation by the Guinness Book of World Records in June as the longest-running host of the same show on the same network in the same time slot. He’s been in broadcasting for 50 years. “I’m basically still just a little Jewish kid from Brooklyn,” he told students at George Washington University in March. “I still do enjoy it.”
CNN hasn’t shown any signs that it wants him out. And King has no heir apparent, no regular substitute. Klein has made a point of saying that when King leaves, CNN is not tied to plugging a different person into the same kind of show. Circumstances could force a change. What if Katie Couric decides to leave CBS News when her contract is up next year and expresses an interest in that slot? Cooper is a CNN favorite and might work better in an earlier time slot. Some have suggested a transition with King, not unlike what ABC did with Barbara Walters. Relieve him of daily duties, yet have him conduct special interviews several times a year. “Larry is a legacy there,” said Frank Sesno, a former CNN Washington bureau chief. “They have to handle this very, very carefully.”
On Monday morning CNN rolled out its new studio set in Atlanta. Kyra Phillips had the honor of anchoring the first broadcast.
And this behind the scenes twitter picture was posted this morning by April/CNN/PR
Don Lemon caused a minor stir on Twitter Sunday night when he shared a picture of himself anchoring from the old set and said " honored to anchor the last broadcast from the place where so many great journalists sat." A few seconds later he posted "i'm not leaving. we're getting a new set.. yikes!!!!! this is the last broadcast from the old set."
We came across a few more photos from Saturday's White House Correspondent's Dinner of CNN folks.
Kiran Chetry, Ryan Seacrest and Dr. Sanjay Gupta
Quinton Aaron, Leigh Anne Tuohy, Jessica Simpson and Wolf Blitzer. Aaron starred in The Blind Side and the story was based on the true life experiences of Tuohy. Both were there as guests of CNN.
Dr. Gupta and Ryan Seacrest
Larry King and Michael Douglas
Larry King, ? and Jeff Prosbt
Larry King
Dennis Quaid and Wolf Blitzer
Al Sharpton and Wolf Blitzer
Dr. Sanjay Gupta
Dr. Gupta and Kiran Chetry
Larry King, Michael Douglas and Wolf Blitzer
Ed Henry, Robert Gibbs, President Obama and Brian Williams of NBC
Red carpet video of Kiran Chetry:
Saturday night was the big nerd prom, or as it is officially called the White House Correspondent's Dinner. Just a small, intimate event for 3,000 held this year at the Washington, DC Hilton Hotel. We managed to spot a few CNN'ers as they arrived and walked the red carpet.
Ed Henry and his fiance CNN producer Shirley Hung
Lots of festivities led up to the big event on Saturday night.
One of the earliest parties this year was on Tuesday of this week and was hosted by Quinn Gillespie & Associates and communications firm FD International . The White House Correspondents Dinner-themed party was held at Public for 200 actual working reporters. Among them was CNN's Ed Henry who posed with a cardboard cutout of President Obama.
Saturday afternoon the WHCD Garden Party was hosted by hosted by Tammy Haddad and Ted Greenberg, Hilary Rosen, David Adler, Jim Courtovich, Alex Castellanos, Debra Lee, Steve McMahon and Franco Nuschese and held at the home of Haddad and Greenberg. We found a few pictures thanks to CNN'ers who love to Twitter.
Here's Ed Henry and Jack Grey who works for AC360
Ed Henry and Kim Kardashian
Dana Bash and actress Cheryl Hines
