Larry King signed off on CNN last night.
I met Larry one time, he was a guest at a corporate event I produced a few years back along with my friends and colleagues from Turner Broadcasting. King was taller than he looks on TV, and was a restless type. He was always on the move and anxious to get the party started.
In recent years his once sky high ratings disappeared, the victim of competition from others doing what he helped invent. It's the way of television.
That said, there was a time if you wanted to live in the White House, you needed to appear on Larry King Live. Larry King had the biggest Rolodex file in the world, and he got the guests others could only dream of. Heads of State, the biggest stars and the odd....oddball.
His interview style was quaint by today's standards. He didn't rant, rave or attack. He just asked questions folks on Main Street would ask. It worked for a very long time. Should he have hung up his trademark suspenders earlier? That wasn't for us to decide. Larry King did that last night.
Moving forward, Piers Morgan takes over the seat. You might know Morgan as the British judge from America's Got Talent. Personally I don't think Morgan has the talent to keep this particular talk show ship afloat. CNN ratings have been in a huge decline in recent years, ironic in that they invented the 24 hour news format. Others have jumped in, innovated and taken the lead.
The one constant about TV, is nothing is constant.
Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"
No comments:
Post a Comment