The King of Cable Meets The King

Larry King is a throwback. His schtick is to create an impression that all celebrities are connected and concerned with one another. To Larry it still is the late fifties, early sixties when the original Rat Pack played Vegas, when the Catskills were still a destination place, and talk show host and guest could easily banter and let the audience know that off camera they were palling around. Add to this the typical New York sense of excitement and introspective questioning and you have a successful cable prime time show that has lasted over twenty years. So on the anniversary of Elvis' untimely death, last week Larry went to Graceland. He started the show sitting in a vintage convertible outside Graceland's gates. He was acting like a kid with pumped up enthusiasm as he drove up the driveway and literally knocked on the mansion's front door. Opening the door was his guest for the night, a decidedly downbeat Priscilla Presley. The air was let out of the balloon in a very quick manner as Larry breathlessly asked Priscilla how she had been involved in the decorating of Graceland. Without rising to the occasion and perhaps twisting the truth to appease Larry and his audience, she said she had nothing to do with it. You could almost feel for Larry. His wonderment and amazement that he wanted to transfer to the CNN viewers was taken down many notches. Larry does not try to stir things up by putting his guests on the spot or arguing with them. What he is good at is attempting to make the guests feel like they are friends and that they are important. He asks simple but penetrating questions that try to peel back the views and lives of these guests. It might not have worked at Graceland but hey it's show business and there will be other nights and other guests.