Larry King giving up CNN talk show

[dragonflies]

Kathy Griffin *shudders* I can't stand that woman and her screechy voice

Larry said he thinks Bob Costas would be a good person to take over for him

[Sylph]

It seems it'll be Joy Behar?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Isn't her show on Headline News actually outrating his on mainland CNN?

[DRW50]

I don't ever watch her show. I think she can be very forced, desperate, kind of hollow, the mask is not as present as she likes to believe (and she looked so much better before all the plastic surgery) but I think as a host she could be funny. She is decent at give and take and has chemistry with some people. She would also have to keep herself under control somewhat.

I really enjoy her rapport with Anderson Cooper.

[DRW50]

Bleh. She is a dim bulb. She just talks and talks and doesn't seem to know anything she's talking about. Maybe she will be better as a host than she is on The View.

[Sylph]

But you don't like him?

WIN. She SUCKS.

Deadline.com is reporting about this...

[bellcurve]

+1

Meredith

[DRW50]

I like him when he has a sense of humor, which he does with Kathy Griffin. I don't like the ponderous, journalism-on-my-shoulders crap, especially the stuff where he goes out in his best pressed and clean "casual" clothes to spend a day or so with the little people before returning to the safety of his ivory tower. That type of faux-concern is why CNN gets on my nerves. I still remember the endless sighing and glasses-taking-off which Aaron Brown did to try to show us how much he cared about the Iraq War.

[SFK]

I think she's charming and she and Lisa Ling were the two least annoying hosts The View has ever seen.

I can't stomach anyone who laughs at their own jokes and Joy's got that market cornered. I've seen a few episodes of her show and I actually prefer her on there where she's forced to be serious and (somewhat) objective. I'm not a fan of her cynical, liberal, anti-"what our parents taught us" generation of folks, I can find Joy extremely obnoxious at times. At any rate, like I said, when she's on a show like hers she's forced to be a little less opinionated so and she's not nearly as bad as some of the folks on FOX so I guess I could stomach her as a Larry replacement (or I could just not watch ). But Meredith > Joy as host of anything.

[SFK]

Kathy has a serious case of the look-at-me-look-at-mes. I realize that she's a comedian, but unlike, say, Joan Rivers (have you all seen her new doc btw?), Kathy can't manage to hold a conversation on a talk show without being entirely devoted to doing material, she smiles but seems almost annoyed when someone has the nerve to interject or say something about themselves.

[DRW50]

That's definitely true, it's also one of the reasons I don't like a lot of modern comedians (then there's such "genius" as Sarah Silverman, where slurs are funny if they are ironic, or whatever...).

But Kathy does hate Ryan Seacrest, and that's important.

[DaytimeFan]

It really is important, Ryan is the biggest **** to hit Hollywood in a long time.

Honestly, I think it will be very hard to replace Larry King, not because he was an amazing interviewer but because he had an amazing ability to 'get' hot guests, likely because of his copious softball interviews. His show, for those of us who liked it, was safe and familiar. He was the right balance for infotainment.

Kathy Griffin is not a suitable choice, nor do I think she'd be the least bit interested. Love Kathy though.

Joy Behar is doing well, ratings wise, at HLN, but I don't like her show, her inexperience is really obvious and she isn't that engaging a host. That said, I do enjoy her on The View, so I wish her well. If I were her agent, I'd say "Isn't it better to be a big fish in a small pond?" which defines her show at HLN. If she goes to CNN, the expectations will be huge and I doubt she'd live up to them.

Katie Couric is a bomb at CBS and I'm sure she'd be just the same at CNN. Plus, I think she alienates a lot of viewers because she's pretty polarizing.

Christiane Amanpour COULD have been a great alternative if they'd wanted to up the seriousness of the time slot, but she was poached to ABC a few months ago. Had it been offered to her, I have no doubt Amanpour would have stayed at CNN.

Meredith Vieira is charming and thoughtful and would be an ideal fit at CNN. But she's got a nice gig over at the Today Show, a gig that pays HUGE and a gig where she's doing amazingly well at. Why mess with a good thing?

Piers Morgan is my pick. His chat show in the UK is sort of Larry King Live-esque in that he can maintain a full hour with a single guest with relative ease. He has a sense of humor but can ask a tough question. He is hardly highbrow, but neither is Larry. Piers is definitely more flash than substance, but that may be what CNN needs.

I think the larger issue is that CNN is down, ratings wise, across the board. Nobody's doing well on the network.

[quartermainefan]

Is Dick Cavett still alive? He was the best and I think he is younger than Larry. Then again, Zsa Zsa is younger than Larry...

[DaytimeFan]

Dick Cavett IS alive and he's 3 years younger than Larry, as he's 74. Zsa Zsa, on the other hand, has Larry trumped, he's 77, she's 93.

[Toups]

I love Meredith Vieira too and would like to see her get her own show - an Oprah like show where she can have serious topics and also do light stuff like celeb interviews. I think Meredith is believable covering serious and light subjects.