Piers Morgan Takes Over Larry King Live; Was it a Mistake?

Piers Morgan will host Larry King Live now, as King heads off into the sunset. The choice of Piers Morgan to host Larry King Live is a bit surprising, and it may turn off some fans of the show. If you still don't know who Piers Morgan is, he is currently one of the judges on America's Got Talent, and has been on a season of The Celebrity Apprentice. Maybe the biggest asset that Morgan provides is that he has a background in journalism, and could actually provide something intelligent to the format of the show. The question is whether he can overcome the stereotypical role that he has taken on all these shows.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Morgan was a British journalist and former editor of News of the World and Daily Mirror. This probably means that he knows what he is doing, and he could potentially become more of a hard-nose interviewer than Larry King was. There were many times when it seemed like King was just asking questions to take up time on the show, and not actually to get to the bottom of what the interviewee was there to talk about. He never pressed for answers, and maybe that is something that Morgan can bring to the show, and thus make the interviews much more interesting.

Morgan has a pretty sharp sense of humor, but it is also sharp in the sense that it makes fun of whole groups of people. Will he be able to do a show where he doesn't offend anyone in the process? Will he go too far in the other direction and play it too safe? Hopefully Morgan and his staff are able to find a nice middle ground, where he takes King's chair and brings more respect to the show. Rather than just hosting a show where people come on and say anything they want to say, we need a program on television that doesn't hold back when questioning politicians or celebrities who are dealing with court trials.

The gut reaction of CNN hiring Morgan is that it doesn't seem like something that could work, but at the same time has a certain appeal due to the differences between Morgan and King. They have completely different personas, and maybe this could turn into an intriguing show on cable news. Can Morgan bring in the same big-name celebrities who always came in front of King? Or are we going to just see a parade of British stars with intermittent people that Morgan has met over the years? We will all find out pretty soon.