Larry King’s On The Way Out At CNN

At the beginning of June, CNN’s Larry King celebrated 25 years in the same slot on the same network — a remarkable achievement in a come-and-go business — and was joined over a week by Bill Gates, LeBron James and the leader of the free world to mark the occasion. Not bad for a former color commentator of the Shreveport Steamer of the World Football League.

The most exciting get of the week had to be Lady Gaga, the incandescent pop star and performance artist. During the interview, however, the person in black suspenders and white shirt sought a connection across generations, evincing both earnestness and playfulness, but was forced to communicate with someone imprisoned in a character, offering little more than a performance piece full of aphorisms and nervous laughter.

Maybe you saw this coming, but it was Lady Gaga who wore those trademark suspenders in tribute (she called him “King Larry”). She appeared via a satellite feed from London, but Mr. King may as well have been dialing in from a distant solar system. He blew past several surprising answers without follow-up and ambled on to the next canned question. “Is there any boundary you won’t cross?” he asked portentously, without mentioning any that she had.

In Lady Gaga, Mr. King had a willing, wildly famous subject. If he can no longer hit a hanging curve ball over the middle of the plate, shouldn’t CNN be thinking hard about who is on deck?

Read More: By David Carr, NYT