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‘Oversold’ Piers Morgan to interview Larry King
Morgan to interview his famous predecessor, who claims the Brit is not ‘dangerous’ enough
Piers Morgan faces his toughest test yet since taking over Larry King's CNN talk show. He is due to interview King himself, the man who held the job for 25 years and who last week said that Morgan had been "oversold" and was "not dangerous".
The pair will come face to face on Piers Morgan Tonight as King plugs his one-man comedy tour pf the States, billed as "a hilarious and insightful look" at his life in front of and behind the cameras.
After announcing that King would be appearing on his show later this week, Morgan tweeted: "Got a feeling we may need to discuss Larry's claim that I'm 'oversold' and 'not dangerous'. May have to twang those suspenders to prove how dangerous I really am..."
The meeting could give Morgan's ratings a much needed fillip. He began his tenure by interviewing Oprah Winfrey, which attracted 2.1 million viewers. But since then the show's ratings have plummeted. His recent chat with socialites Kim and Kourtney Kardashian was watched by fewer than 500,000.
That may have prompted King to damn Morgan with faint praise on Radio 4 last week. "He's good but not that dangerous. He's certainly not bad," said King. "He asks good questions, maybe he interrupts a little too much at times.
"I think he may have been oversold. I think they might have been better off starting quietly."
Piers Morgan – quiet? As Sarah Brown writes in her memoir of life at Number Ten, currently being serialised in the Daily Mail:
"Tuesday, December 1: Arrive at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge for The Morgans — an awards dinner hosted by Piers Morgan — knowing I am set for an evening of celebrity, glamour and Piers making himself the centre of attention." ·
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Mr. Jonathan Harwood, the writer of this story, misunderstood Mr. Larry King's statement. This is probably because Mr. Harwood is not located in the United States.
Larry did not mean to say that it is Piers Morgan who should have been quieter. Instead, Mr.King meant that CNN, the cable station, should have been quieter (in its launch of Piers Morgan).
For the last few months, every 10 minutes, the US television audience has been bombarded with Morgan's face on TV and how he is a "super-journalist" who would "revolutionize" television interviewing.
Having been subjected to the 24X7 CNN over-hype of Morgan, the audience is finding the actual interviews to be underwhelming. Some are even turned off by the sexist, "tabloid-ish" bent of some of the questions that Morgan asks his guests. For example, while speaking with well-respected leaders like Condoleeza Rice (former US Secretary of State), Barbara Walters (the grand old dame of US television) and Janet Jackson (Michael Jackson's sister), he asked questions like "How can I woo you?", "What will you make me for dinner?", "Are you high-maintenance?" and the kicker: "How many people have you slept with?". This isn't exactly the kind of incisive, tough interviewing we were looking for.
Don't get me wrong. I like Piers Morgan. He is a pleasant chap who truly does want to get inside the minds of his guests. But, he needs to give up this idea that challenging guests with probing questions means asking gossipy questions of a highly personal nature. He needs to step away from his tabloid roots. Of course, like Larry said, CNN should never have oversold Morgan like he was the God of Journalism. That hype only set him up for a Fall back to Earth.