Tuned In+News Media | March 7, 2012

CNN Poaches Palin From Fox (For a Few Minutes)

By James Poniewozik

The network sends a crew to Wasilla and gets Sarah Palin, Fox News analyst, to answer some questions as Sarah Palin, potential future GOP candidate.

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Tuned In+Television | February 9, 2012

Twimmolation Alert: Roland Martin Gets His Ascot in Hot Water at CNN

By James Poniewozik
Haraz N. Ghanbari / AP

Martin may or may not have meant his tweets about David Beckham and wearing pink as homophobic, but they’re obnoxious regardless.

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Tuned In+News Media | January 20, 2012

Debate Watch: You Come at the King, You Best Not Miss

By James Poniewozik

When John King opened the debate by asking Gingrich about the bombshell marital charge, it was as if he had walked up to the former Speaker, set up a glass fishbowl on a tee, and handed him a Flintstones-sized club.

+Q&A | November 7, 2011

Mark Whitaker Takes A Long Trip Home

By Jessica Winter
Pete Williams

In his new memoir, a CNN editor turns his reporting skills on his own family.

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Tuned In+Tuned In | August 19, 2011

JPTV: Talking to Piers Morgan About Piers Morgan Talking About Christine O'Donnell

By James Poniewozik

Yesterday I noted that Christine O’Donnell’s walking off Piers Morgan Tonight during an interview was not exactly a bad thing for Piers Morgan Tonight, which could use it as a publicity boost. Boy, are they! Last night the show returned to the subject, sounding out guest James Fallows on O’Donnell’s walkoff, while CNN anchors have [...]

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Tuned In+News Media | July 6, 2011

Chewed Up, Spitzered Out at CNN

By James Poniewozik

The bad news: Eliot Spitzer has lost another job. The good news: there’s no legal investigation involved this time! In a big shakeup of CNN’s trouble primetime lineup, the former New York governor’s In the Arena has been cancelled, to be replaced, beginning Aug. 8, with Anderson Cooper’s AC 360, now at 10 p.m. ET. [...]

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Tuned In+News Media | June 14, 2011

CNN's GOP Debate Questions: This Silly or That Silly?

By James Poniewozik

Last night in New Hampshire, CNN held its first debate of the Republican presidential primary. Among the headlines: Michele Bachmann announced that she had filed papers for a Presidential run, an indication of her seriousness about entering the race that was evidently not sufficiently conveyed by her standing on stage, participating in a Presidential debate. [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | April 26, 2011

Donald Trump Would Like You To Just Take His Word About the Missing Birth Certificate

By James Poniewozik

Donald Trump, the reality-show judge who is not running for President but would very much like you to believe that he is—see my colleague Alex Altman’s explanation as to why—went on Anderson Cooper 360 last night to enable America to pay attention to him on TV. The show had done a yet-again debunking of the [...]

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Tuned In+News Media | March 1, 2011

Charlie Sheen Has a Friend in Piers

By James Poniewozik

After an absence from TV interviews of several hours, Charlie Sheen went on CNN last night to favor Piers Morgan with a last-minute, live hourlong interview. And if you were concerned that Morgan would do the same kind of softball interviews that his predecessor Larry King did, this one proved you wrong. Piers Morgan does [...]

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Tuned In+News Media | January 26, 2011

SOTU Roundup; or, What Is Michele Bachmann Looking At?

By James Poniewozik

When CNN announced that it would air not only the official GOP response to the State of the Union address but a live Tea Party response, given by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), I was skeptical. On the one hand, it gave the GOP two responses—a courtesy not afforded to opposition party factions, third parties or [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | January 19, 2011

The Morning After: Howard Stern, Leno and (His) Manhood

By James Poniewozik

CNN’s new primetime show Piers Morgan Tonight immediately improved on Larry King Live’s ratings its first night out, getting over two million viewers for its inaugural interview with Oprah Winfrey. Time will tell how much of that is due to Morgan and how much to the guest; as last night’s guest, Howard Stern, said: “What’s [...]

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Tuned In+News Media | January 18, 2011

Piers Morgan's "O"-Level: A Cheeky, Odd Introduction

By James Poniewozik

Oprah Winfrey was a puzzling, or maybe perfect, choice of first guest for Piers Morgan Tonight. There is probably nothing more you want to know about Oprah. Or, sure, there is—but nothing that she’s going to tell you. But she was an attention-getting big “get” (even if she’s been speaking everywhere since the launch of [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | January 7, 2011

TCA Roundup: Oprah Speaks. And Speaks…

By James Poniewozik

The cable portion of the Television Critics’ Association winter press tour has begun in Los Angeles. As appealing as Southern California—or even the inside of a hotel conference room—sounds from Brooklyn right now, I am not attending, for reasons personal and professional. But here are some highlights from the coverage so far, and I’ll keep [...]

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Tuned In+News Media | December 17, 2010

Larry King Steps Away From the Big Microphone

By James Poniewozik

Even on his last show, with a gang of stars and Larry King Live regulars turned out to send him off, Larry King seemed to have an easier time talking about other people than talking about himself. Receiving tribute from former President Bill Clinton, he turned the conversation toward Clinton’s stint behind the White House [...]

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Tuned In+October 22, 2010

Programming Note

By James Poniewozik

Those of you with a television machine, and a cable hose, and a free Sunday morning, and nothing else to do, can catch me in the 11:30 a.m. ET half-hour of CNN’s Reliable Sources, talking Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. If you have HD, you’ll be able to see if I’ve gotten around to dry-cleaning [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | October 5, 2010

Parker/Spitzer's First Night: Too Close for Comfort

By James Poniewozik

Dear CNN: Nothing personal, I just don’t want to be that close to Eliot Spitzer and Kathleen Parker. The new she-said-he-said show, Parker/Spitzer, opened last night with the two hosts and a gaggle of guests crowded together around a round table the size of a medium pizza and, ugh, it was just too close. I [...]

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Tuned In+News Media | October 1, 2010

Oy Gevalt! Rick Sanchez Blasts "Bigoted" Jon Stewart, Says CNN Run by Jews

By James Poniewozik

Update: CNN announced this afternoon that Sanchez is “no longer with the company.” CNN’s Rick Sanchez, a frequent target (like many anchors) of The Daily Show, went on comedian (and CNN contributor) Pete Dominick’s satellite radio show and said that Stewart was picking on him out of bigotry. And then he took it a little [...]

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Tuned In+News Media | September 24, 2010

Shakeup at CNN as Klein Is Out

By James Poniewozik

Breaking news! CNN announced a major executive shakeup this morning, as its longtime U.S. president Jonathan Klein is leaving and being replaced by Ken Jautz, the current head of more-successful sister network HLN. The Associated Press reports that Klein was fired, while the official statement simply says that he’s leaving, but in any case the [...]

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Tuned In+News Media | September 8, 2010

CNN, Piers Morgan Make It Official

By James Poniewozik

It’s been a barely-veiled secret for months now, but today CNN is confirming that British journalist and sometime reality-show judge/contestant Piers Morgan will replace Larry King in primetime, starting next January. The proof will be in the show, but my thoughts on the move are pretty much what they were back when the idea first [...]

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Tuned In+News Media | July 14, 2010

Piers Morgan May Have Talent, But Is He Right for CNN?

By James Poniewozik

Reports are busily popping about that CNN is on the verge of hiring Piers Morgan as the next host of its 9 p.m. primetime show, replacing Larry King, who is stepping down in the fall. We Yanks may be most familiar with Morgan as a judge on NBC’s America’s Got Talent (the network apparently cleared [...]