CNN salutes Larry King
|  | | Larry King and Mariah, December 16, 2002 | | Legendary status aside, let's get the obvious jokes out of the way with regard to the CNN special Larry King - 50 Years of Pop Culture. Alternate titles might include: 50 Years of Awkward Questions; 50 Years of Interrupting Guests; 50 Years of Random Thoughts; 50 Years, One Pair of Suspenders; and, of course, 50 Years, 50 Wives.
Actually, the 73-year-old King has been married only seven times, but there were a few longtime companions thrown in there, too. Hey, a man has needs! Anyway, CNN had been planning to celebrating King's 50 years in broadcasting in a number of ways this week, before the horrible shooting tragedy at Virginia Tech understandably delayed some of those plans.
At press time, the centrepiece of the King celebration - 50 Years of Pop Culture, a two-hour extravaganza featuring countless clips from past episodes of Larry King Live - was still set to air tonight. If those plans change, CNN will air the special at a later date. "Through those glasses, he's seen it all," - that's the theme of 50 Years of Pop Culture. And considering King has conducted more than 40,000 interviews, it's not a mere boast.
Presidents and royalty. Actors and musicians. Politicians and celebrities. Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Larry King has spoken to all of them in the same bizarre, halting way. King's interviewing style always has struck us as, well, unique, bordering on odd. He rarely is confrontational, but he can be startlingly blunt.
There basically is no one to whom King would hesitate to blurt out, "Are you two romantically involved?" And even though he goes through annoying stretches where he refuses to let anyone finish an answer before he barks another question, the people King interviews rarely get mad at him. At most, his interview subjects occasionally express puzzlement over the topics King gets adamant about.
We recall a few years back when King was interviewing one of Elvis Presley's main girlfriends from his post-Priscilla days, the well-spoken Linda Thompson. King, in that robotic, bulldog style of his, kept pressing Thompson for explicit details about her first sexual experience with Presley, to the point that Thompson, almost laughing, had to back King off.
"Larry!" Thompson exclaimed in a good-natured but scolding tone. The effect on King was fascinating: It was as if he had been snapped out of a frenzy, and the smile on his face suggested that even he was mildly amused by his own behaviour.
Is King really a great interviewer? Or is it his ability, or CNN's ability, to attract the highest-profile guests - everyone from the two Presidents Bush, to Marlon Brando, to Frank Sinatra, to Angelina Jolie - that has guaranteed his lasting success?
Whatever, King is the Iron Horse, indeed. His career began in 1957 when he worked at a small radio station in Miami Beach, Fla., graduating from odd jobs to disc jockey. He eventually became a national radio talk-show host, and when he made the transition to cable TV, he was one of the rocks on which CNN was built.
Breaking news notwithstanding, a few other things tentatively are planned for King's anniversary this week. Former President Bill Clinton joins King for an interview tomorrow, while on Friday comedian Bill Maher and 20 surprise guests celebrate King on his own set.
There has been much debate as to who will replace King once he decides to hang up his microphone. But whoever gets the job would be wise to avoid imitating him in any way. There never will be another Larry King, and we aren't talking merely about his humongous specs.
In addition to Larry King's family, here's a partial list of the people featured in the two-hour CNN special Larry King -- 50 Years of Pop Culture: Musicians and singers:
Celine Dion, Jon Bon Jovi, Dolly Parton, Ann-Margret, Mariah Carey, Lionel Richie. Entertainers:
Jerry Lewis, Donald Trump, Alan Alda, Carol Burnett, Randy Jackson, Judge Judy Sheindlin, Don Rickles, Phyllis Diller, Kermit the Frog, Joan Rivers, Andy Griffith, Robert Wagner, Priscilla Presley. TV Anchors and Moguls:
Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw, Mike Wallace, Barbara Walters, Ted Turner, Merv Griffin. Politicians:
President George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara, Rudy Giuliani, Ross Perot. (Jam Showbiz!)
|
