CNN has reportedly entered negotiations with Charles Barkley for a news program, and Keith Olbermann believes the Inside the NBA analyst isn’t the magic elixir to the network’s primetime problems.
During his Countdown with Keith Olbermann podcast, the former cable news host mentioned that most of the suggestions put forth by CNN CEO Chris Licht have been labeled as failures, and Barkley probably doesn’t realize the workload he would be agreeing to should he add a CNN show to his portfolio.
“Licht has a primetime problem. They’re all heading off a ratings cliff, but CNN is running fastest,” said Olbermann. “Licht picked up the leftovers from Bill Maher’s 11:00 PM show on HBO and put them on CNN at 11:30 (on) Friday nights and CNN’s ratings went down. Then he wanted to hire Gayle King, even though she’s on in the morning and mornings are not the same as the evenings.
“And now, per Puck News, Licht has decided on what ‘could be the boldest and potentially most disruptive programming move’, he is now in negotiations to bring Charles Barkley to CNN for a news-oriented primetime show. Listen, I am the last person to say ‘You can’t have a sports guy do a news show!’, but even if this were a good idea, Charles Barkley is already on TV a lot. I’ve known him 35 years, I can’t imagine he knows what the workload would be like, even if he is interested.
“And there’s no guarantee Turner Sports would say ‘Sure! Take him off our successful network so you can put him on your failing one!’ But sure, Chris Licht, everything else you’ve thought out so far has gone well, hasn’t it?”
Olbermann mentioned that Licht “created two holes” in the network’s lineup by moving Don Lemon to mornings, which has not seen a ratings uptick since the network launched CNN This Morning late last year.