CNN Doesn’t Deny Reality Show Judge Piers Morgan Is Replacing Larry King (Update)

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by Steve Krakauer | 2:10 pm, June 14th, 2010

» 13 comments

Could Piers Morgan, judge on America’s Got Talent and Britain’s Got Talent and winner of Celebrity Apprentice Season 1, really be slated to replace Larry King on CNN?

That’s the news out of several U.K. papers over the weekend. And CNN is not denying it.

You may be wondering – WHAT?! We’ve heard a lot of rumors about new faces at CNN, which is looking for a new 8pmET show since Campbell Brown announced she would be leaving the network. There are the Eliot Spitzer rumblings, which have grown recently. (And with it, the stories downplaying the move.)

But Piers Morgan? Where did that come from? Papers like The Sun of London seem convinced it’s happening. And here’s what CNN has said:

A spokesperson for Larry King Live tells Mediaite, “We aren’t commenting on the Piers Morgan speculation but we are talking to many people about the 8pm hour.”

As for Larry King specifically, a different CNN spokesperson tells Mediaite, “King has been part of CNN’s past and will be part of CNN’s future.”

Part of the past, sure. Part of the future – fine. But that doesn’t address the possibility that CNN is nearing the point where they replace King with someone, and it looks like it’s Piers Morgan…as surprising as that sounds. But taken together, the quotes could tell us a few things: maybe CNN switches up their line-up at both 8 and 9pmET, with Morgan at 8pmET instead. Or if King remains with the network in another role, it could open up the prime time schedule for Spitzer and someone else at 8pmET in a Crossfire-type show and Morgan at 9pmET.

> Update: More from a CNN spokesperson to Mediaite: “Not surprisingly, there is no shortage of people who would love to succeed Larry King if and when he moves on, but rumors that we are close to signing a deal for a Larry King replacement are untrue. We are currently looking at replacing our 8pm program and that is our priority. Larry is a beloved member of the team, and he will continue to be part of the CNN family into the future.”

We’ll know soon, and update as we hear more. Side note: Piers Morgan was CNN’s “Connector Of The Day” last Thursday! Watch what that means:

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CNN, larry king, Larry King Live, non-denials, Piers Morgan

timzank

He’d be a great choice, what with adding 4 viewers from England it’ll double Larry’s viewers overnight! It’s a win-win for CNN, no?
The Real Royal King

What a great idea. CNN’s version of Greta Van Palin.
Sue

Who”…never heard of him, but anyone is better than King.
JohnSimpson

This guy is the epitome of sleaze.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

I had an embed of the 2nd season episode of Piers Morgan on…, which focused on Dubai, but they’ve pulled the video from YouTube fo copyright infringement. At the time I posted it, I described the show as being like three segments from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and I’d characterize the rest as being someth Deborah Norville may have done.

If you check his IMDB, you’d see that he’s had a pretty good second career in television and I’ve seen nothing to indicate that he couldn’t do a US-based chat show, especially if a lot of the focus remains on the types of subjects that Larry has done.

He’s also something of a blank slate in the US, so it wouldn’t be like they were picking a camp and that he’d come to thing with an identity and he seems to be pretty popular in the UK, so he’d play to an international audience which has been the prop on LKL’s stool for quite some time.

I’d say it’s an inspired choice, especially considering the alternatives.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

Ugh… my wife was calling me, so I didn’t even try to proofread, but you get the idea.

I think Piers Morgan has the capability of going much deeper than Ryan Seacrest and he can do fluffy better than most hard-newsies, plus his choice would help protect the Anderson Cooper brand.
m

Larry King Live is shown all across the world on CNN International. Piers Morgan is quite an international pick. It fits.
AngelPeters

Larry King should have been gone a very long time ago. Best to Piers
MichelleF

Within the space of a few months the war in Iraq has claimed some formidable journalistic scalps. In January it was the chairman and director general of the BBC – skewered by the verdict of Lord Hutton. Last night they were joined in enforced retirement by the editor of the Daily Mirror, Piers Morgan. Mr Morgan had edited a rumbustuously anti-war paper – uneven in tone, but often laudable in ambition. Last night his newspaper career was in tatters after admitting that he had been hoaxed by whoever it was who sold him graphic pictures of Iraqi prisoners apparently being humiliated by British troops.
As we argued yesterday, the Mirror had no option but to issue a frank apology once it was apparent that the pictures were not genuine. It would have been disingenuous, dangerous and damaging to have hidden behind any evasive formulation which suggested that the pictures were valid as accurate reconstructions of events which may have happened. The pictures were fakes, and it was important to say so. It will be for the Royal Military Police to establish to what extent the wider allegations of abuse (not simply levelled by the Daily Mirror) were founded.

Sounds like he’d be a great fit for CNN.
MichelleF

Sorry, that last post was taken from the UK Guardian. Gotta give them their props.
The Real Royal King

m says:
June 14, 2010 at 3:06 pm

Larry King Live is shown all across the world on CNN International. Piers Morgan is quite an international pick. It fits.

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That is a very good point. King is, indeed, on CNN International, nightly. And, Morgan is certainly well known in the UK, but also throughout Europe. Indeed, it makes much more sense now. Thanks.
JohnSimpson

Yeah, this guy is a keeper:

Editor sacked over ‘hoax’ photos
Piers Morgan

The Mirror board said Morgan would be stepping down immediately

Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan has been sacked after the newspaper conceded photos of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi were fake.

In a statement the Mirror said it had fallen victim to a “calculated and malicious hoax” and that it would be “inappropriate” for Morgan to continue.

The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment (QLR) said the Mirror had endangered British troops by running the pictures.
johntyfraser

It would be misleading, dangerous and detrimental to be behind all the evasive wording that suggested that the images were valid for the exact reconstruction of events that can happen.

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