# Larry King - a lamentation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 6, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-king-a-lamentation/566679 "2011-01-06T23:39:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-king-a-lamentation/566679/1 "2011-01-06T23:39:25Z")
I’m gonna miss him. the one host who to this day has managed to hide his real politics. Has managed to show respect to just about everyone of his interviewees. A Jew who regards some of the most serious Christian fundamentalists with fondness. Everyone seems to trust him and like him. Asks the tough questions without looking like a pitbull and backs off yet lets us all know where the sensitivity of the interviewee lies. He’ll be replaced by[Piers Morgan](http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0613622120110106) > [@Piers Morgan](#): > > “I like being polarizing. It is more fun. The idea of being some saintly figure on TV is unbearable. I think television should be provocative,” Morgan, 45, told TV writers. And he promises " a butt-kicking talk show" That was never what Larry King was about, yet he was able to give us a window into the movers and shakers of our time. He allowed us to be the judge. I get buttkicking from 60 Minutes and Anderson Cooper 360. “Making people honest”. We need them too. What I’m afraid we won’t get anymore are seriously important guests who don’t see a need to subject themselves to interviewers who are looking for a gotcha rather than searching for the essence of an important personality. I’m going to miss him. ---
**Author:** ![Raskolnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac8455/32.png) [@Raskolnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raskolnikov)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-king-a-lamentation/566679/2 "2011-01-07T01:42:29Z")
I like him as well. He always said the interview was about the interviewee, not the interviewer. He always tried to say very little, giving the guest the spotlight. In a day and age of media “personalities” he will be missed. He was old school. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-king-a-lamentation/566679/3 "2011-01-07T02:21:13Z")
In his day Larry King was the tops. But I think he overstayed by about five years. He should’ve retired five or ten years ago and perhaps focused on doing a monthly show which was more in depth. I still hope he does something like that. Maybe a special a few times a year for CNN ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-king-a-lamentation/566679/4 "2011-01-07T02:39:38Z")
I find it difficult to look back at Larry King with fondness, due to excesses late in his career in apparent pursuit of ratings at all costs. For example, he repeatedly provided an uncritical forum for antivaccination advocates, inviting people like Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey on his show to spew their idiocy and encourage parents to leave their children unprotected from potentially deadly infectious diseases. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-king-a-lamentation/566679/5 "2011-01-07T17:19:59Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > Everyone seems to trust him and like him. Are you sure about that? What about his 8 ex-wives? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-king-a-lamentation/566679/6 "2011-01-07T22:30:25Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > Are you sure about that? > > What about his 8 ex-wives? That is a really good point ! I’ll never understand or be able to make sense of that about him. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-king-a-lamentation/566679/7 "2011-01-07T23:51:41Z")
For years, I’d turn to cnn at 7:58 to catch the Larry King intro and see who the guest were. If they weren’t interesting, I’d go to my regular shows. If you missed that first minute, you were screwed. Because the guest list flew by in seconds. I’m missing that show already. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-king-a-lamentation/566679/8 "2011-01-07T23:57:53Z")
I used to listen to his old radio show back in the 80’s, but I could never stand the TV show. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-king-a-lamentation/566679/9 "2011-01-08T02:17:31Z")
When I heard that he didn’t even write his autobiography by himself, he pretty much lost whatever tenuous pretense of being a “journalist” he had in my books. He’s still a great celebrity interviewer, but in the same tradition as Johnny Carson or Jay Leno. Laudable in his own right, but I don’t get why he gets put in his own separate category.