Genuine TV Moment Alert: Larry King’s Last Show Airs Tonight On CNN

Say what you will about Larry King and his celebrity-friendly though rarely hard-hitting interviews on CNN, but he’s an actual television icon, and the passing of Larry King Live into history is a moment worth watching. The last LKL–after 25 years–airs tonight at 9 p.m.

Nellie Andreeva, writing on Deadline Hollywood, may have best captured the mixed feelings many in the cable news biz have for the King:

He may have gotten out of touch, he may have been famously unprepared for his interviews, and he may have been responsible for his show hemorrhaging viewers to average underwhelming 700,000 a night, but Larry King is still an institution.

CNN tells us the final show will be a much-deserved celebration of some of the best moments over a quarter century–and a look back at some of the 50,000 guests who’ve made their way into King’s multi-colored studio over the years, but as for specifics? Not really, other than this: It has a name inside CNN: “Larrypalooza.”

Led by friend and protégé Ryan Seacrest, a star-studded collection of guests will pay tribute. King will say his goodbyes. And then the set, with its horseshoe-shaped desk and familiar backdrop of multicolored dots, will fade to black.
“It’s sad,” King said, “but there’s a time to go. You know when it’s time.”

The protégé, of course, did not get the job–Seacrest was passed over by CNN in favor of UK import Piers Morgan, who debuts his Piers Morgan Tonight on CNN in January.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!