Monday, February 28, 2011

Q&A with Piers Morgan

Broadcasting & Cable's Ben Grossman sits down with Piers Morgan for one of his most comprehensive interviews since launching Piers Morgan Tonight on CNN. (H/t: ICN)

How’s the show going?

It’s been a roller-coaster ride. Some days you get a run of very serious news, or you’re doing big set pieces with celebs. It’s getting the balance right. We’ve made some experimental calls on guests. I would’ve put good money on the Kardashians rating well, and they didn’t. I think the CNN audience, particularly when there are big news stories going on like the Middle East, they don’t like if you interview people they think are pointless. I think all of us felt a little surprised that was the case.

...

What do you need to get better at?

Probably interrupting guests. Larry King said that, and I think he’s right. Other than that, the promos said I might be dangerous. What I meant is, I wanted to be unpredictable. What I don’t ever want to do is be boring. It’s a fine line between being challenging and going too far where you piss off your guests so much you don’t get any bookings, and you need to straddle it carefully. A lot of journalists sit back and say I should be harder. But it’s a long game.

...

Do you need a Jay Leno-Hugh Grant moment to get your ratings moving?

Yes. I need to get some big gets. But that's my background, I need to get some scoops. But everyone needs that. Unless you are Bill O'Reilly because you have built such a formidable persona that you don't need that. Letterman and Leno don't really need them. But I'm the new boy, we're trying.

Check out the full Q&A session here.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Vanity Fair says it best. Is he returnable ?
Why CNN thought a middle-aged annoying
Brit could take America by storm is beyond
me. CNN needs someone like a Jon Stewart
who can make the news interesting for
viewers and be live for goodness sake. He
has zero interview skills and is boring.
That is way Rachel Maddow's numbers are
way up.

12:47 PM  

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