STOP THE PRESSES!
Larry King has gotten beaten by Nancy Grace!!
But, no, we’re not talking about a physical beating. The rising CNN Headline News host has gotten more ratings than CNN’s longtime (and we do mean loooooooooooooongtime) king King.
Why should this matter? TV Newser has the ratings details and notes that it’s being suggested that Grace is being groomed to replace King.
If that happens it’ll be a fascinating shift: from a journalistic standpoint, the affable King (he is generally well-liked by the press as you can see from press accounts) is (in)famous for asking softball questions. He seems to pride himself on not doing detailed advance-interview research — and his interviews increasingly show it. Grace, on the other hand, seems well-prepared and has been blasted by some TV critics for her highly opinionated views and telling facial expressions. But she IS fun to watch — a lot more fun than King.
Which is why her ratings are going up.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.