Tell It To the King

Larry King, who died at 87 this past weekend, never considered himself a journalist despite having hosted a program on the premier outlet for television journalism, the Cable News Network.  He considered himself more of a conversationalist whose show happened to be on a cable news channel.  Some people would have agreed with his self-assessment; he never prepared for interviews, he never asked any uncomfortable questions in the style of Mike Wallace, and he never did any hard-nosed reporting.  But he was a journalist in the sense that he got his guests to reveal and express facts and opinions that you might never have expected.  

And what guests they were!  For 25 years beginning in 1985, he interviewed actors, singers, U.S. Presidents, other world leaders, and religious leaders from the Dalai Lama to the Living Prophet of the Mormon Church.  Whoever was sitting on the other side of King's microphone (a prop, but we didn't care), you always came away smarter about the subject and the topics that were covered.  It was entertainment, perhaps, but King gave us education along with a good show.  Only Larry King could pull off something like that.

And that is why you will never see someone of Larry King's caliber ever again.  Think of all of the CNN evening hosts who occupy prime time today, including Chris Cuomo, who occupies the 9 PM Eastern slot King once occupied.  All of them are "serious reporters" who delve deeper in to the news of the day.  And Cuomo, Anderson Cooper before him, and Don Lemon after him are all good at what they do.  But CNN does not have and has not had anyone in prime time who can just talk to one person at a time for an hour and leave you feeling like you learned something and had a good time doing it since King ended "Larry King Live" on CNN in 2010 (though he did go on to host "Larry King Now," which was broadcast elsewhere).  And CNN couldn't find another person who could do that, either, even if it wanted to.  Which makes King's death such a great loss for everyone RIP.