CNN host Eliot Spitzer, the former New York governor who resigned amid a prostitution scandal, was rejected for membership at the Harvard Club in New York City. The club rarely turns down qualified candidates, and Spitzer is a Harvard Law School graduate.
CNN says it's confident about its newest show, starring Kathleen Parker and Eliot Spitzer, but there's reason to think the network is already quietly lining up the fire trucks next to the runway in expectation of a flameout.
CNN's great 8PM hope, Parker Spitzer, garnered lackluster ratings in its debut Monday night, trailing Fox News Channel, MSNBC, and CNN's own sister network HLN. Television critics, meanwhile, savaged the program.
CNN president Jonathan Klein has been hard at work this year remaking the network's primetime lineup, its most important programming block. But whether or not his effort proves successful, he won't be around to find out.
The British newspaper journalist and TV personality will take over in 2011 from King, who was originally set to retire this fall. Morgan is already known to U.S. viewers of America's Got Talent, the British show's spin-off.
Usually conservative in its programming choices, CNN is going for broke as it remakes two-thirds of its prime-time schedule by, among other things, replacing a fixture -- Larry King -- and hiring a scandal-tinged newcomer -- Eliot Spitzer.