Anyone watch Larry King?

[mike01]

What is his background story? Why is he on TV, etc? I know he is, or was, well respected.

I've been watching him lately, mostly for comedic relief. I first noticed during the Paris Hilton interview, that he seems to be slightly senile. His mind seems to not work very well at times. He was 100% confused as hell about what Attention Deficit Disorder was, and was asking Paris the weirdest questions about it, to the point where she had no idea how to answer them except repeat herself.

I have since noticed he does this to all of his guests. It's like his whole thing is an act, trying to look serious and ask serious questions to get to the bottom of things, when really he sounds ridiculous because he obviously has no idea what he's asking about. It makes for pretty awkward points in the conversation. I think part of it is that his mind works like he still lives in the 1940's or something.

The thing is he usually has really good guests. So, how did he become so prominent?

[Blaxican8504]

Re: Anyone watch Larry King?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_King

[Dr.J]

Re: Anyone watch Larry King?

For someone who dislikes him you sure do watch him alot.

[mike01]

Re: Anyone watch Larry King?

For someone who dislikes him you sure do watch him alot.

Never said I didn't like him, and I've watched about 10 full shows recently, not really alot. Just wondering if anyone else notices that his mind seems to not work so well sometimes.

[mike01]

Re: Anyone watch Larry King?

Heres what I got from Wikipedia:

Hes jewish. His real name isn't King. He more or less landed a lucky job in Miami, and became famous locally for interviewing people at a restaraunt. He was arrested in some legal stock scandal that isn't too clear, pleaded guilty to passing a bad check. Been on CNN since 1985. "Is known for his lack of pre-interview preparation" (lol, that explains some of it), had a heart attack in '87, was once a 3 pack a day smoker...

hes been married 7 times, to 6 women....

well I got what I was looking for, kind of a weird guy since the beginning. Can't hate him though.

[SPTO]

Re: Anyone watch Larry King?

Larry King's been around for 50 years I think we can look past his senior moments from time to time. He rose to prominence by being, at least on the surface an easy interview. In reality he was the master of reeling in his guests and gleaming some very interesting anecdotes or information you wouldn't get anywhere else.

One of my favourite interviews he did was a joint interview with King Hussein of Jordan, Yitzhak (sp) Rabin Prime Minister of Israel and PLO leader Yasser Arafat in the early-mid '90s during the Clinton Middle East peace initiative. It was one of the most interesting and fascinating hours of TV i've ever seen.

Larry King is now like a grandfather figure who will remain a fixture as long as he lives or wants to continue doing his show. I don't have a problem with that really because he's earned it. Also his show is usually the highest or 2nd highest rated program on CNN.

[daflyboys]

Re: Anyone watch Larry King?

Larry WAS talk radio before any of them. I was too young to know of his work then, but my understanding is that on TV interviews he's been more about rubbing shoulders and lobbing up softballs in his questioning. After all, you want to keep your spot on CNN, so you have to watch how you put things.

[SPTO]

Re: Anyone watch Larry King?

Larry WAS talk radio before any of them. I was too young to know of his work then, but my understanding is that on TV interviews he's been more about rubbing shoulders and lobbing up softballs in his questioning. After all, you want to keep your spot on CNN, so you have to watch how you put things.

From my understanding Larry was pretty much like that on the radio as well just that he was more on the ball so to speak.