UPDATE AT END OF POST: Morgan is the former British tabloid editor that mocked George W. Bush for falling off a Segway only to break three ribs years later driving one himself!
A number of reports claim CNN's longtime host Larry King is about to be replaced by Piers Morgan, one of the judges on "Britain's Got Talent" and its U.S. version "America's Got Talent."
According to London's The Daily Telegraph, "The Britain's Got Talent judge and former newspaper editor is on the verge of signing a four-year contract to take over King's primetime show in the autumn."
"King, 76, has reigned over American television for decades, with the Larry King Show first airing in 1985. However, his ratings for the first three months of this year fell to an all-time low of just 771,000 viewers, down 43 per cent in the last year."
Yet other reports say Morgan could be replacing Campbell Brown. Here's the New York Post's take:
The Time Warner-owned cable network has hemorrhaged viewers to Fox News Channel and even lost some to its own sibling service, HLN. There's a talent drain as well: CNN recently lost Christiane Amanpour to ABC's "This Week" and Gerri Willis to Fox Business Network.
CNN currently has Campbell Brown's 8 p.m. slot open -- although a source said the network is also sounding out possible replacements for "Larry King Live."
Regardless of who Morgan might replace, wouldn't this throw a wrinkle into CNN's "ambition" to be the "straight news" option on cable?
On the other hand, as King recently celebrated his 25th anniversary on CNN with half the audience he had when he began a quarter century ago, there is a delicious irony in Larry being replaced by someone from "Britain's Got Talent."
Think about it.
*****Update: Readers might recall Morgan making a fool of himself a few years ago getting into a Segway accident after mocking former President George W. Bush for doing the same thing.
As NewsBusters reported September 3, 2007:
It might not have been instant, but the bad karma a former British tabloid editor got calling President Bush "an idiot" for falling off a Segway in 2003 got him four years later as he broke three ribs when he accidentally hit a curb driving a - wait for it - Segway. [...]
Hysterically, on June 14, 2003, the tabloid Morgan was then editor for, the Daily Mirror, ran a headline "You'd have to be an idiot to fall off, wouldn't you Mr President," along with a rather disparaging article with these pictures of Bush's accident (emphasis added):
THE makers promise it will never fall over...
So even George Bush should be able to use the Segway personal two-wheel transporter without tumbling off.
After all, it's kept upright by some of the most sophisticated gyroscopes known to man, linked to a series of computers to detect the slightest movement.
But if anyone can make a pig's ear of riding a sophisticated, self-balancing machine like this, Dubya can.
The President climbed on, stumbled a bit, then crashed off the other side - before it had actually gone anywhere.
And this is the man who used to fly fighter planes.
Cue John Lennon: Instant karma's gonna get you. Gonna knock you off your feet.
Adding insult literally to injury, when Bush had a mountain biking accident in 2004, Morgan's tabloid called him the Presidunce.
Who's the dunce now, Mr. Morgan?
Adding to this, Morgan was actually forced to resign as editor of the Daily Mail for having published what ended up being fake pictures of Iraqi prisoners being abused by British soldiers (h/t NBer ceedubya).
If the rumors about him taking over for King are true, he'll fit right in at "The Most Trusted Name In News," won't he?
