NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Who should replace Larry King, who announced Tuesday evening that he'd step down after 25 years of hosting a popular talk show on CNN?
This will (temporarily) shove aside speculating about LeBron James's future as America's favorite parlor game.
Time Warner Inc.'s /quotes/comstock/13*!twx/quotes/nls/twx (TWX 29.41, -0.22, -0.74%) CNN has two options for filling the high-profile 9:00 p.m. timeslot: Katie Couric or somebody else.
If Couric, the anchor of the "CBS Evening News" /quotes/comstock/13*!cbs/quotes/nls/cbs (CBS 13.27, +0.02, +0.15%) since 2006, wants to stake a claim to King's position, the job is hers. Couric, ironically, would bring to the job what critics have said she lacked in her current one: gravitas, the ever-elusive quality that connotes credibility. Read earlier Media Web column who should inherit Larry King's timeslot.
Katie Couric and Larry King
Couric is acknowledged as one of television news's most exceptional interviewers, witnessed by her tough-but-fair performance with Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential campaign. While Couric has not been able to galvanize viewers for CBS at 6:30 p.m., she'd probably have no trouble maintaining the accumulated momentum from King's winning offering all these years.
Then again, it might turn out that Couric isn't quite ready to throw in the towel at CBS. She may decide to stay where she is, for a while, and then pursue another opportunity in broadcasting. Couric may conclude that CNN's recently announced 8:00 p.m.lead-in -- disgraced former governor Eliot Spitzer and Pulitzer Prize winner Kathleen Parker -- is not promising enough to attract an audience.
The successor to King will be counting heavily on the new Spitzer-Parker amalgamation to deliver big numbers, where their predecessor, traditional TV news reporter-turned-anchor Campbell Brown, couldn't. Brown resigned after failing to find a meaningful audience at the 8:00 slot.
If Couric decided to reject CNN, who might be next in line?
Here are some possibilities:
Dennis Miller: Miller, the former "Weekend Update" anchor on NBC's Saturday Night Live" /quotes/comstock/13*!ge/quotes/nls/ge (GE 14.57, +0.09, +0.59%) could grab an audience by its lapels. He has a stinging wit and is at ease in the interviewer's chair.
Anderson Cooper: Cooper, who holds down CNN's 10:00 p.m. slot now would probably welcome an opportunity to try something new. CNN in turn might be pleased to give him an opportunity to grow and stretch his ability.
CNN also has the option of embracing King's departure -- which was long-rumored in the media and in the television industry -- and taking the hour in an entirely new direction.
CNN could create a different kind of talk show, one that veers more toward its bread and butter of politics and de-emphasizes the kind of tabloid fodder that had played a substantial role in King's conversations with guests.
It's possible that the show could originate from Washington and encompass primarily the vortex between politics, Wall Street and popular culture.
CNN could have a rotating roster of hosts, too, and not tie itself down to one person.
Perhaps CNN will try to make the shows more newsy and concentrate on the big breaking news headlines of the day.
CNN's biggest problem is that it will have no time break in a replacement and hope for the best. This time slow is too precious to the network to take a chance on a newcomer or an unfamiliar concept.
The influential bloggers will be making judgments on day one -- and they will probably stick with the public. CNN has to make the right bet, right away.
Jon Friedman is a senior columnist for MarketWatch in New York.
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