CNN has cut loose veteran broadcaster Larry King, according to Joe Flint from the LA Times.
In a statement Wednesday, CNN said it had "the greatest respect for Larry," and wished him "the best of luck with his new endeavors.” King added that he has nothing but love for CNN. King's staff of four will likely be let go from CNN but may be able to reapply for new jobs at the network.
Following King's exit from his weekday talk show in 2010, CNN and King agreed on a series of regular specials. The last one of those aired in December 2011, although TV Newser reports King had hoped to do at least two more.
King is believed to have nearly two years left on his contract with CNN, and he had two new specials in the pipeline before the decision was made to end them. It isn’t clear whether the agreement means that King is now free to appear on other networks, or whether he is still under contract with CNN.
CNN Reliable Sources host Howard Kurtz, while tweeting a link to the LA Times story, commented:
CNN today announced Larry King's fourth special for 2011 will air in early December. 'Dinner with the Kings' is described as a "dinner party with some of the biggest names in Hollywood". Details and a sneak peek at the special from CNN below.
CNN Press Release: Conan O'Brien, Tyra Banks, Russell Brand, Shaquille O'Neal and other A-listers tell all at Larry King's dinner party
For the fourth hour-long special for CNN, Larry King and his wife Shawn hosted a dinner part with some of the biggest names in Hollywood and invited viewers in to join. The one hour special titled “Larry King Special: A Dinner with Kings” will air Sunday, December 4th at 8 and 11pm ET.
The dinner prepared by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck includes Tyra Banks, Russell Brand, Twitter and Square founder Jack Dorsey, Quincy Jones, Seth MacFarlane, Conan O’Brien, and Shaquille O’Neal. Join Larry and his guests as they discuss life, love, insecurities, success and failures at this dinner party like no other.
Conan O’Brien on insecurities: “There's a tendency for people to look at a table like some of the people that are here and say they’ve made it. They have it. And what they don't understand is the amount of insecurity that drives you when you're 15. But it's still there when you're 48”.
Tyra Banks on her looks: “I'm so not sexy. I know how to turn it on for a picture, but I'm not sexy in real life”
Russell Brand on his success: “How I deal with my personal, material success is guiltily”
Seth MacFarlane: “I'm still working on my hiding my insecurity 100 percent”
Jack Dorsey on success: “I've madehundreds and hundreds of mistakes and - and learned from 'em. And - and that's what makes a successful company, that's what makes a successful creative endeavor, is learning from your mistakes”.
The special will re-air December 10th at 8 and 10pm ET and on CNN international on Saturday, December 10th at 9pm and Sunday December 11th at 6am.
New Larry King Special With Johnny Depp Debuts Tonight
CNN Domestic will tonight debut the latest Larry King special for the network - an hour-long interview with actor Johnny Depp. The special premieres at 8:00pm (eastern). Full details from CNN below.
CNN Press Release: One of the most celebrated actors of his generation, Johnny Depp, sits down with legendary interviewer Larry King for a rare, candid and in-depth interview. The famously private actor gives King a tour of his private office in Hollywood, showing his personal paintings and memorabilia and opens up to King about his life and work. The interview will air on CNN at 8pm ET and again at 11pm and 2amET.
During the interview, Depp touches upon fame, success and failure. He also reveals new details about upcoming projects including his next film, “Dark Shadows,” with longtime collaborator Tim Burton, and his upcoming film, “The Rum Diary”, out October 28, which is based on the life of his good friend Hunter S. Thompson.
Depp and King talk about his family and friendships with his mentors Marlon Brando and Thompson. Depp credits Brando with changing the way actors work, saying that “Marlon reinvented acting, he revolutionized acting.” Johnny Depp, a vocal advocate for the West Memphis 3, also comments on the release of the three men, who had served close to 20 years for murder.
Depp is a three time Academy Award nominee for Best Actor and a Golden Globe winner. The interview will re-air on Saturday October 22 at 8 pm, 11pm ET and 2amET.
Larry King Previews Final Harry Potter Film With Cast Interview
Larry King's latest special for CNN debuts this weekend on CNN Domestic and CNN International. Details from CNN below.
CNN Press Release:CNN Presents: A Larry King Special – Harry Potter: The Final Chapter. King has first interview with film’s stars days before final Potter movie released.
Larry King sits down with the cast of Harry Potter leading up to the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2. The one-hour special, airing July 10 at 8 and 11pm ET will feature interviews with Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, Helena Bonham Carter and Robbie Coltrane, as well as never before seen footage from the film days before its worldwide premiere. Additionally, James and Oliver Phelps, who play the Weasley twins, take viewers on a tour of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Universal Orlando Resort and interact with fans on the eve of the final Harry Potter movie. The special will also air on CNN International.
Radcliffe, calling the final Potter film a “hell of a movie,” tells King that he “wept like a child on that last day” of filming. The three main stars, who have spent half of their lives playing these characters, open up to King and reflect on the end of the series of films. “I was so young, it’s difficult to remember much of my life before this thing happened to me,” Watson says. “I was still losing my baby teeth” while playing Hermione. Grint says after 10 years of his life playing Ron Weasley, leaving the character behind was “quite a big kind of shock.”
In what many predict will be the movie event of the summer, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 will mark the end the most successful film franchise in history. The films are based on a series of seven best-selling novels, written by J.K. Rowling. After 10 years and over six billion dollars in ticket sales, Larry King will take viewers on an exclusive tour behind the scenes and into the making of the final movie with the special effects team who brought the magical world to the big screen. Never-seen footage will give CNN viewers a new glimpse at the iconic characters and for the first time, fans will see an extended clip of the film that will be shown exclusively on CNN just days before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 opens in theatres on July 15th. Wendy Walker is the executive producer of CNN’s Larry King Specials. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, A Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
Larry King to be honored with lifetime achievement Emmy
CNN Press Release - Legendary talk show host Larry King, who set a world record for the longest-running television show hosted by the same person, will be honored this fall with a lifetime achievement Emmy.
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced Thursday that King is being honored for his "influential 50-year broadcasting career" and his 25 years hosting CNN's "Larry King Live."
Larry King Reveals Details Of Next Two CNN Specials
Larry King has revealed the focus of two more of his CNN specials, due to air later this year on CNN.
An hour with actor Johnny Depp, and a celebration of the last Harry Potter movie - slated for broadcast in July - will count as specials number 2 and 3 (of 4) planned for 2011.
Speaking with the American Morning team on Monday, King also revealed that he would like to nab a one on one with former Cuban President Fidel Castro.
CNN will premiere three new specials this weekend, as well as examine the life of al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in an updated special, 'In The Footsteps Of bin Laden'. Airtimes and descriptions from CNN below.
CNN Presents: In The Footsteps Of bin Laden
CNN’s Anderson Cooper anchors an investigation into the life of al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, killed earlier this week by a team of U.S. Navy SEALs directed by the CIA. Partially-based upon the book, The Osama bin Laden I Know, by CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen, who was among the first team of television journalists to interview bin Laden in 1997, FOOTSTEPS was filmed in 10 countries, and features interviews with 10 people with first-person knowledge of bin Laden. Former CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour’s reporting sheds light on the man who declared war on the United States and was the world’s most wanted terrorist.
CNN Presents: A Larry King Special - Unthinkable: The Alzheimer's Epidemic
CNN’s Larry King hosts a special on the sixth-leading cause of death across all ages in the U.S. that afflicts 5.4 million people, about which many Americans still know relatively little. King will be joined by people who have been touched by Alzheimer’s disease and will include interviews with former First Lady Laura Bush and California’s former First Lady and Alzheimer’s activist Maria Shriver; actors Seth Rogen, and Angie Dickinson; TV host Leeza Gibbons; football star Terrell Owens and son of President Ronald Reagan, Ron Reagan. Neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will explain what Alzheimer’s is and how this disease affects the human brain.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports: Saving Gabby Giffords
CNN chief medical correspondent and practicing neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta adds his expert medical insights to a report of how U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) survived the mass shooting in Tucson earlier this year that killed six and wounded 18 others. Describing how the frantic, life-saving efforts saved the Congresswoman’s life, Gupta interviews the EMTs who evacuated her to a trauma hospital, her surgeons, her rehabilitation doctors and other therapists. Gupta also performs a surgical demonstration of the skull surgery for the documentary so that viewers can better understand how it works.
CNN Presents: Murder Abroad – The Amanda Knox Story
American exchange student Amanda Knox was convicted nearly 18 months ago for the murder of roommate Meredith Kercher, British exchange student in Perugia, Italy. CNN investigative correspondent Drew Griffin traveled to Perugia, Italy, where the sexual assault and stabbing death occurred, and Seattle, WA, where Knox grew up and her parents still live, to report the truth behind the international headlines. Griffin has a rare television interview with the chief prosecutor in the case, Giuliano Mignini, and reveals a pattern of prosecutorial behavior that raises questions about the original conviction.
Friday, May 06, 2011
11:00pm – 12:00am CNN Presents: In The Footsteps Of bin Laden (LIVE with tape)
Saturday, May 07, 2011
2:00am – 3:00am CNN Presents: In The Footsteps Of bin Laden 8:00pm – 9:00pm CNN Presents: A Larry King Special - Unthinkable: The Alzheimer's Epidemic 9:00pm – 10:00pm CNN Presents: In The Footsteps Of bin Laden 11:00pm – 12:00am CNN Presents: A Larry King Special - Unthinkable: The Alzheimer's Epidemic
Sunday, May 08, 2011
12:00am – 1:00am CNN Presents: In The Footsteps Of bin Laden 3:00am – 4:00am CNN Presents: In The Footsteps Of bin Laden 2:00am – 3:00am CNN Presents: A Larry King Special - Unthinkable: The Alzheimer's Epidemic 5:00am – 6:00am CNN Presents: In The Footsteps Of bin Laden 7:00pm – 8:00pm Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports: Saving Gabby Giffords (PREMIERE) 8:00pm – 9:00pm CNN Presents: Murder Abroad – The Amanda Knox Story (PREMIERE) 11:00pm – 12:00am CNN Presents: Murder Abroad – The Amanda Knox Story
Monday, May 09, 2011
2:00am – 3:00am CNN Presents: Murder Abroad – The Amanda Knox Story
CNN has announced details of Larry King's first of four specials for the network. Details below.
CNN Press Release: CNN Presents: A Larry King Special – Unthinkable: the Alzheimer’s Epidemic. Larry King Special to air May 1 at 8pm ET.
On Sunday May 1st, CNN will air the first Larry King special, premiering at 8pm ET/PT and will be titled “Unthinkable: the Alzheimer’s Epidemic.” It’s being called the disease of the 21st century as an estimated 5.4 million people have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It is the sixth-leading cause of death across all ages in the United States, but many Americans still do not know much about this illness. The one-hour special will look into Alzheimer’s disease, who gets it and why, the race to find effective treatments and a possible cure.
King will be joined by people who have been touched by Alzheimer’s disease and will include interviews with former First Lady Laura Bush and California’s former First Lady and Alzheimer’s activist Maria Shriver; actors Seth Rogen, and Angie Dickinson; TV host Leeza Gibbons; football star Terrell Owens and son of President Ronald Reagan, Ron Reagan. Neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will explain what Alzheimer’s is and how this disease affects the human brain.
Seth Rogen, talks to King about supporting his fiancée and her family as they deal with her mom’s early diagnosis at the age of fifty-five. He wants the world to know this is a young person’s problem too, “More and more people in our generation are gonna have to deal with it,” Rogen said. “We're dealing with it before most people have to,” he tells King. “But as you get older and you see it happening to your parents, and ultimately realize it could happen to yourself and your friends, it becomes much more real and not some imaginary old person problem, you know?” Shriver, in the first interview she’s given since losing her father, Sargent Shriver, to Alzheimer’s disease this year tells King, “I think anybody who’s not concerned about Alzheimer’s is in denial.”
In addition to visiting the Mayo Clinic, Larry King will visit the cutting-edge Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health at the Cleveland Clinic in Las Vegas, and he will be joined by Ron Reagan. While there, one of them will take a brain scan that will indicate if he is at risk for Alzheimer’s or other memory disorders, and one will opt out. Tune in and as they will share the results with the audience and talk to Dr. Jeffrey Cummings, Director, Cleveland
Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and Larry Ruvo, philanthropist and visionary, to see how doctors are treating patients and what people can do to diminish their risk for Alzheimer’s. Dr. Ronald Petersen, Director, Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, who treated President Reagan warned, “If we don't do something about Alzheimer's disease right now, Alzheimer's disease in and of itself may bankrupt the healthcare system.” The special hour will also broadcast on CNNi and will re-air on Saturday, May 7 at 8pm ET/PT. For additional information please visit Alz.org. Exclusive content will be featured on CNN.com including interviews with actor David Hyde Pierce and Harry Johns, President and CEO of the Alzheimer's Association.
It was a weekend tease that started a short-lived guessing game for Piers Morgan's twitter followers:
BREAKING NEWS: Just landed a guest for this week that will get EVERYONE watching....
Monday morning the guest was revealed to be former CNN 9pm host, Larry King.
CNN Press Release: "The new 9pm" Piers Morgan will interview the former 9pmET CNN host, Larry King, later this week as part of Hollywood Week on "Piers Morgan Tonight."
Says Piers: "'I can't think of many people I'd rather interview than Larry King, and 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. The live interview comes in the wake of a much talked about King interview last week on London's Radio 4.
Meanwhile, Inside Cable News lists three reasons why Piers Morgan booking Larry King as a guest this week is a bad idea.
With well-wishers ranging from Donald Trump to President Barack Obama, Larry King ended his 25-year run with the final 'Larry King Live' on Thursday night.
King was joined at his desk by Bill Maher and Ryan Seacrest, with both men throwing to surprise guest after surprise guest.
Larry King, the man who has occupied CNN's 9pm timeslot for the past 25 years, signs off from his last regular live program for the network. To mark the occasion, CNN.com has posted a short retrospective featuring some memorable highlights from those past 25 years...
Larry King As Grand Marshal For 2010 Hollywood Christmas Parade
BroadwayWorld.com reports that Larry King will act as Grand Marshal for the 2010 Hollywood Christmas parade on November 28.
Larry King said, "I am honored to have been selected as this year's Grand Marshal of the Hollywood Christmas Parade, particularly since Hollywood has been so good to me professionally. I have been in the broadcasting business for 53 years. For the last 25 years I have had the great privilege of hosting my own television show, Larry King Live. For the last 12 years my show has been broadcast from CNN, only a block away from where the Hollywood Christmas Parade originates on Hollywood Boulevard. I, and my wife Shawn, and two boys, Chance and Cannon, look forward to greeting everyone in the streets of Hollywood on November 28th as we make our way around the parade route to wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous holiday season."
Piers Morgan to Host Prime Time Interview Program on CNN
CNN Press Release - Global media personality and veteran newspaper editor Piers Morgan will host a candid, in-depth newsmaker interview program on CNN beginning in January, it was announced today by Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S. The new program will air weeknights on CNN/U.S. at 9 pm ET/PT and will air worldwide on CNN International in more than 200 countries.
Known to United States viewers primarily for his role as a judge on NBC’s No.1-rated America’s Got Talent and as the winner of Celebrity Apprentice, Morgan has had a long career in journalism in the United Kingdom as a newspaper editor and, more recently, as the host of the popular television interview program Piers Morgan’s Life Stories. He will now bring his penetrating interview style and gift for unearthing the surprising detail to American television and to CNN viewers around the globe.
“Piers has made his name posing tough questions to public figures, holding them accountable for their words and deeds,” said Klein. “He is able to look at all aspects of the news with style and humor with an occasional good laugh in the process. He is a natural fit with Anderson Cooper, Eliot Spitzer and Kathleen Parker in our prime time line up, and the ideal choice to update the storied tradition of newsmaker talk on CNN.”
Morgan began his career as a reporter for The Wimbledon News and then as a columnist at The Sun. In 1994, when Morgan was 28 years old, Rupert Murdoch appointed him the youngest ever editor of the News of the World, and the youngest national newspaper editor in Britain for 50 years. Two years later he moved to the Daily Mirror, where he served as editor-in-chief from 1995 until 2004. The paper won numerous journalistic awards including Newspaper of the Year at the prestigious British Press Awards in 2002 for its coverage of the 9/11 terrorist atrocity in New York. After his controversial departure from the Mirror, Morgan went on to become a best-selling author, a regular media columnist, and host of his own interview programs on the BBC and ITV, as well as appear as a judge alongside Simon Cowell on the No.1-rated show Britain’s Got Talent.
“I am thrilled to be joining CNN, and very much looking forward to bringing my own style of interviewing to the world’s biggest, and best, TV news organization,” said Morgan. “As a young journalist in Britain, I watched CNN’s astonishing live coverage of the 1991 Gulf War, and felt enthralled by the courage and brilliance of the journalists involved in that coverage. Years later, I watched Anderson Cooper’s visceral reports from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and felt equally enthralled by his passionate and relentless search for the truth. Perhaps most pertinently, I have watched Larry King Live for much of the last 25 years, and dreamed of one day filling the legendary suspenders of the man I consider to be the greatest TV interviewer of them all. To now have the chance to work with Larry and Anderson, and to try and continue the outstanding journalistic legacy created by them, and so many others at CNN, is both a great honor, and a great challenge.”
After leaving the Daily Mirror, Morgan began writing a monthly interview column for GQ magazine where he interviewed some of the biggest names in global entertainment and politics. In 2004, he moved into television, co-hosting a Channel 4 current affairs show, Morgan & Platell, and two BBC interview shows, Tabloid Tales and You Can’t Fire Me I’m Famous. In 2008, Morgan joined ITV, where he hosted a documentary travelogue show called Piers On…, reporting from cities including Shanghai, Las Vegas and Dubai. He also developed a new talk show, Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, where he conducts one-on-one intimate and lengthy sit-down interviews with celebrities, business and political leaders, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown. It has been consistently the No. 1-rated talk show in Britain for the last two years.
Morgan will continue to write his two regular columns for the Mail on Sunday newspaper – one on sports, the other a weekly diary of his life, and he will also provide regular columns to CNN.com.
Morgan is an accomplished author, writing eight books including three best-selling volumes of diaries: The Insider, Don’t You Know Who I Am, and the recently published God Bless America.
He is also co-founder and editorial director of First News, Britain’s first ever national newspaper for children.
Morgan re-married in June, to Celia Walden, and has three sons from his first marriage – Spencer, Stanley and Bertie.
He will be based in New York, and also work from Los Angeles and London.
CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.
The New York Post is reporting that Larry King might be leaving CNN later than his original Fall plan. Michael Shain's article reports that Larry was asked to stay around until the end of the year due to problems with Piers Morgan, who is thought to be King's replacement, getting a Visa to work in the United States.
Klein: Larry King "Put Cable Television On The Map"
Howard Kurtz writes in today's Washington Post on Larry King's retirement from his nightly CNN show...
"The onetime radio host has interviewed an endless parade of presidents, monarchs and celebrities using an average-guy-from-Brooklyn approach, one that felt increasingly old-school in an era of opinionated programs on the right and left. King lost nearly half his audience over the past year but said that did not persuade him to call it quits.
You always feel bad when there's a ratings decline," he said. "I never felt any pressure. CNN never pressured me."
CNN President Jon Klein said that King initiated the discussions. "When you put the ratings in the perspective of 25 years of shows, they are insignificant," Klein said, adding that he is pleased King will continue to do periodic specials for the network.
King "really put cable television on the map," he added. "He was one of the first superstars of cable and got millions of Americans accustomed to tuning in to the higher channels. It's all driven by his passion for talking to people."
Just as CNN redefined the news business, Larry King defined the art of the television interview. His candor, curiosity and compassion are legendary, and his ability to interview people from all walks of life—world leaders, celebrities and everyday people—has made him an icon. Having conducted nearly 50,000 interviews over 50-plus years in broadcasting, Larry deserves to take some time for himself and his family. After 25 years at CNN, he will conclude Larry King Live on his own terms, sometime this fall. We are proud and grateful that Larry will continue the next chapter of his storied career at CNN and will host several specials over the coming years.
Today is about Larry. We will announce plans for the 9pm hour in the weeks ahead.
Larry King started at CNN as host of Larry King Live in June 1985. He will step down in the Fall of 2010, after 25 years of broadcasting at CNN. Below are some photos from the past 25 years. Click on a photo for a larger view.
CNN has cut loose veteran broadcaster Larry King, according to Joe Flint from the LA Times.
