As we kinda predicted here, Larry King is giving up his prime-time CNN interview show later this year. I don't know if it was their idea or his, though I suspect the former. If the latter, it's probably Larry getting out before it became their idea. In any case, I bet his last few weeks are a celebrity tribute fest with much talk of how an era is ending, how the torch is being passed, etc.
Keith Olbermann has been Twittering that King's downfall is not a failure of the host but of the format. I think in this case, the host was the format. They're saying Joy Behar may take over the slot and that doesn't sound like the worst idea in the world to me. Or at least, I can't think of anyone better at the moment. The problem is that to make any sort of news-related interview show work, you have to be able to get newsworthy, important guests to come on…and those folks increasingly do not want to go where they will be surprised, challenged and perhaps embarrassed. I often wax here about how the late night shows have gotten way too scripted and lacking in spontaneity. Last time I waxed that way, a writer for one of them wrote me…
What you ask for would be great but the stars won't go for it. The big ones all have agents and managers who want to know exactly what they'll be asked and exactly what will happen. Sometimes when they get here, we'll ask them if they want to stay on the couch when the next guest comes out or participate in the cooking demonstration that will follow their segment. Some will act like you're trying to trick them. "I didn't agree to that." Some will go along with it and the next day the manager calls up and acts like you went behind their back. "I didn't approve that." I think it's in part a YouTube thing. They all know that if they do one embarrassing thing, it will live forever on the net. The guests you want won't go anywhere that won't kiss their asses. They're all like Sarah Palin who won't be interviewed by anyone who won't, like Sean Hannity, set her up for success.
That was one of Larry King's advantages back when he had a huge audience. Guests felt unthreatened. No one who mattered was ever afraid to go on with him. Confrontation might come from another guest — and I'm sure some guests would only agree to go on if there were no other guests — but you could lie, spin and evade all you wanted and there was little chance Larry would say anything. A lot of Jay Leno's success has also come from providing a safe haven for celebs to do their plug and pretty much control how their appearances would go. By contrast, there's a reason Keith Olbermann rarely has guests on — and almost never anyone with different views — and I suspect it's not that his show wouldn't welcome such guests.
The trick to replacing Mr. King is going to be to find a host who can do what Jon Stewart does, which is to create an environment that seems inviting to the biggies but without surrendering to them. Stewart engages his guests and sometimes disagrees with them…but few ever leave feeling so defeated that they don't want to come back. Then again, his show doesn't hinge around attracting a famous name or "hot" newsmaker every night. He can wait for them to come to him.
Joy Behar seems to ask real good questions of the guests on her current, little-watched show but her guests are all either nobodies…or somebodies who have nothing controversial to discuss. I'm not sure these days she or anyone could do the kind of show I'd like to see. I'd like to see important people asked questions for which they don't have prepared, calculated answers and I'd like to see the host call them on it when the answers are disingenuous or at odds with the facts. I'm just not sure anyone could get those people to come on if they did that. To get them to come on, you kinda have to be Larry King.