CNN Taking 'Turner' for Worse with Scandalous Talking Heads?

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The New York Post reported today that Prime Time ratings-starved CNN ("Ceding Nielsen's Nightly") may be girding for battle over viewers with cable rivals MSNBC and Fox  by adding the scandal-ridden Elliot Spitzer and Piers Morgan to its nightly talk show line-up.

Spitzer, the former Democratic governor of New York a/k/a "Client 9" in the Emperors Club prostitution scandal, reportedly will co-host a "Crossfire"-like talkfest at 8 p.m., replacing the failed Campbell Brown experiment (see "TUOL" post 5/19/10). The Post story says CNN, which cancelled "Crossfire" in 2005, is waiting to find a conservative counterpart to the liberal Spitzer before introducing the show.  Wonder where Post advice columnist Ashley Dupre falls on the political spectrum? She and Spitzer have worked well together in the past, after all.

Meanwhile, according to the Post, Morgan is being groomed to replace Larry King, whose nightly gabfest barely has a pulse, much the same as its host. Morgan is the one-time editor of  The Daily Mirror, who resigned in 2004 after publishing phony photos of British soldiers allegedly abusing Iraqi  prisoners. In 2000, he attracted negative attention when he bought stock in a company shortly before a Mirror article touted the company.

CNN denies it is searching for a successor to King, but is searching for a replacement for Brown. Apparently the cable station founded by Ted Turner didn't have Bill Moyers' phone number.

Campbell Wants Out of CNN Soup

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CNN (Cable's Nielsen Nightmare) has granted Campbell Brown's request to tear up her contract that will free her from ratings-starved prime time 8 p.m. program.

Brown threw in the towel after her weeknight program continued to get throttled in the ratings by opinionmeisters Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, and HLN's Nancy Grace, as well as by  routine tests of the emergency broadcast system. The 41-year-old Brown joined CNN in 2008 after 11 years with NBC News.

Brown will continue to host the program until a replacement is found.