<span style="font-size:13.5pt;">Larry King: Piers Morgan 'May Have Been Oversold' to American Public</span>

<span style="font-size:11.5pt;">The former talk show host refers to the British journalist who replaced him at CNN as "fine."</span>

<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">LONDON - Piers Morgan "may have been oversold" to the American public, according to Larry King, who said that Morgan should have "perhaps started softer" when launching his CNN chat show. But it was not the British host's style to "start quietly," King observed.

Speaking on Radio 4's evening news magazine show PM, King said of his decision to step down from his long-running show: "it was time to get off the train."

And he praised his successor, though admitted he had not seen many shows.

"I think he's a fine broadcaster; I haven't seen a lot, but the times I've seen they have been fine," King said.

Asked about why he thought Morgan's show had rated badly, King said it had been given too high profile a launch.

"One of the problems they did was to oversell it -- they said he was going to be dangerous, he was going to be water-cooler talk, it was 'wait till you see me, I'm different." Well, he's good -- but he's not that dangerous."

King, who is in London for the opening of Anna Nicole Smith, the Opera, which is showing at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, said he had met Morgan a number of times and had liked the pugnacious former editor of British tabloids The News of The World and The Daily Mirror.

"I like him. I've met him a few times."

"You met him and you liked him?" responded a surprised BBC presenter Eddie Mair.

"He's been very kind," insisted King. "Maybe there's one thing, he's been oversold."

Asked about the opera, written by Richard Thomas, who also wrote the libretto for Jerry Springer: The Opera, King said he thought Anna Nicole Smith was suitably operatic material.

"She fits the bill. If operas include tragedy and triumph, deep depth of despair, incredible success that was hard to understand. She was awfully likeable. I had some great times with her."</span>

I think Larry has given a very accurate and fair assessment of Piers and his show on CNN. I like Piers a lot, I like his show, but Larry has it exactly right, he was totally oversold.

And his take on Anna Nicole Smith and her opera is bang on as well. Larry should blog, he comes across so much more coherently in the written word!

Too bad Larry was some 25 years late in giving "fair assessments" etc. He didn't make much sense when he handled the show.

<span style="font-size:120%;">Piers Morgan will interview his CNN predecessor and recent critic Larry King on CNN later this week.

The news comes after King told the BBC last week that Morgan "may have been oversold" to the public.

King said in the BBC interview that Morgan was doing "fine" as the host of Piers Morgan Tonight on CNN.

"(But) one of the problems they did was to oversell it -- they said he was going to be dangerous, he was going to be water-cooler talk, it was 'wait till you see me, I'm different.'" King said in the interview. "Well, he's good -- but he's not that dangerous."

Morgan said of the upcoming CNN interview, "I'm sure people will be fascinated by the dynamic between us, for obvious reasons.”

King hosted Larry King Live for more than 25 years, before stepping down last year.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/criticism-piers-morgan-interview-larry-159752</span>