Larry King Live

I've been a fan of Larry King's show for awhile, I think he does a terrific job overall and I don't think he ever 'wusses' out, as so many people seem to believe. He's a subtle Scorpio, he gets his zings in when he needs to, just as he managed to do last night with Paris Hilton, during her first post-jail TV interview.

The thing about this entire case that has really amazed me is that Hilton is still apparently clueless about why Judge Sauer gave her what she believes was a too-harsh sentence (and what's more, actually MADE her serve it) . In all the time she was in jail, supposedly alone 23 hours a day in her cell, she never once, in her mind, rewound the events which led to her being given the sentence that Judge Sauer saw fit to impose on her. She never once realized that it just might have set off a major red flag when she (1) showed up late in court for the original hearing and (2) proceeded to inform him, when he asked her did she not know that her license had been suspended, did she not get the papers in the mail, that "I have people who read that sort of thing for me."

All the time she was in her cell, she never came to the realization that this action (showing up late) and that statement -- and more importantly, the attitude - the utter cavalier disregard for the court system and the law in general and her driving privileges in particular that she displayed -- just might have made Judge Sauer (pardon the pun) go sour on her.

Last night, on King's show, after giving lip service to how she has been changed forever by her traumatic experience, how she has "learned" her lesson, she answered his question, "Do you think you got a raw deal?" with a resounding yes. And during the course of the conversation (if you can call it that), she said more than once that she did not feel she deserved what had happened to her. King asked, gently, more than once, if she does not feel she creates the situations in her life that she "finds" herself in, to which she pretty much stared at him blankly. She basically, therefore, holds the conscious belief that she's been victimized in this situation; she does not understand how she herself caused it, that day in court, by her cavalier attitude with the judge. I feel this is very sad - tragic, even, considering what a huge "role model" Hilton is to some people, and it renders anything she said last night about her so-called rehabilitated state into the realms of complete and utter cluelessness, contradiction and hypocrisy.

During the course of the interview, Hilton alluded to spending a lot of time in her cell reading the Bible. At the end of the interview, King scored major points by asking her what her favorite Bible passage was. She responded by groping perplexedly at her pathetic notes (completely superficial non-insights, which she had read on air as if she were Nelson Mandella or something) and finally grunting out, "I don't have a favorite passage."

Judge Sauer, in my book, is a hero, and after last night, so is Larry King, for subtly exposing Hilton for what she truly is.

A very long career . And different guests. The two obvious pieces defining the show and the force of the name of Larry King. But, in essence, you feel be more. In essence, a special form of journalism. Provocative, nuanced, giving to guest the fair position in each edition of the show, proposing the smart way to give soul to the entertainment and to show the other in the right light. Short, unique work, model for many entertainers and great way for define near reality.

I was deeply enlightened by Larry King's interview with Joel Osteen. I read Mr. Osteen's book, "Your Best Life Now" and even though I enjoyed reading the book, I was disturbed by some of the comments made by Mr. Osteen. I brushed my feelings off thinking it was just me because so many people love Joel Osteen. When I read the interview on-line it confirmed what I felt when reading the book; Mr. Osteen thrives on himself instead of giving all the glory to God who put him where he is today. The interview with Joel Osteen ended with the "icon" asking Larry King if he was ready to submit to Jesus Christ and Larry's answer was no, I think I'll give a deathbed confession. This is not a direct quote. I hope Mr. King has the opportunity to confess on his deathbed instead of dying in an accident where there is no time to confess anything. My question to Mr. King is wouldn't you rather be living as a Christian and find out there is no heaven than to live as a non-believer and find out there really is a hell? What do you have to lose, except your soul? My prayers are with you, Mr. King.

Every time I watch Larry King Live, he rolls out the most softball questions for his guests. He rarely gets any useful information because he doesn't ask the hard questions. This comes from his start on radio.

King established himself on the radio and basically has not changed one bit of the format for television except for his talking head being visible. He becomes like a puppy for his guests & the only time he really gets useful information from them is whee they volunteer it or a caller to the show actually asks a hard question.

Larry is a nice, fatherly type of interviewer. This means he should not have a prime time show on a major news network if you consider CNN one. I don't because of the history of CNN.

Copying (ie. Cable) New Network was started by Ted Turner as an alternative to network news in that it could broadcast news 24/7. When it first started, the only TV competition was from NBC,ABC, & CBS. Because of this, CNN Copied the format of their competition & achieved respectable ratings.

This worked fine for CNN until they got competing networks which were innovative & provided better/ fresher news coverage. In response to the heating up of competition, CNN went into denial & panned its competitors who were eating their lunch & ratings because CNN wanted to resist change. This didn't work very long & their ratings began to plummet.

Now the Copying News Network is trying to re mold itself by re-inventing itself by copying the leading news network format. Unfortunately, this show represents a big piece of the problem. It is 21 years old & showing it's age very badly.

Sorry to say, King needs to be moved out of Prime Time or scrapped altogether.

I used to watch this show all the time one time he had Ron Popeil on his show to discuss the Showtime Rotisserie and Barbecue. At the beginning of the episode Larry asked Ron to put a chicken in the machine and he wanted to taste the chicken at the end of the show because chickens take about an hour and when he tasted the chicken he said something like This Is The Best Piece Of Chicken You'll Ever Have. And then he asked Ron a question but he interrupted Ron and said I've gotta another piece of chicken and went off for another piece of chicken. Another time he had Bob Barr and Larry Flynt on his show because Bob denied charges of pergniry and condemned Larry for false accusations. Another time he had Brenda Van Dam the mother of Danielle Van Dam on his show and Brenda told Larry how upsetting it was to see David Westerfield kill her daughter they used to end their show with a song they also at times discussed movies.