Before the high-profile departure of CEO Chris Licht, CNN had planned a new weekly primetime offering featuring Gayle King and Charles Barkley. We now know when we’ll see King Charles for the first time.
The new one-hour show will hit the air on Wednesday, November 29th at 10 PM ET.
“‘King Charles’ is different than anything we have on CNN’s lineup,” says CNN Executive Vice President for Talent and Content Development Amy Entelis told Variety.
The new show helmed by the unlikely pair is being billed as unlike anything else on cable news.
“It’s not a newscast, but rather a talk show centered around the news stories and cultural moments that Gayle and Charles are most interested in,” Entelis continued.
The addition of King Charles to the CNN lineup will preempt the recently launched CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip for one night a week. However, the preemption of one night a week in primetime isn’t a new wrinkle in the cable news landscape.
On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow continues to host her primetime show on Mondays, while Alex Wagner handles the 9:00 PM ET window the rest of the week. Additionally, Jen Psaki hosts a once-weekly show on the same network at 8:00 PM ET on Mondays, while Chris Hayes hosts the timeslot on a Tuesday-Friday basis.
Previously, Barkley has joked that those close to the former NBA star have tried to persuade him against launching the show on CNN as the network struggles.
“Apparently, with this new talk show I’m jumping on the Titanic,” Barkley said with a smile in June during the official announcement the program was launching. “Everybody keeps saying ‘abort, abort, abort’.”
Charles Barkley also believes his candor — which he has become notorious for — is needed not only on CNN but in the news world as a whole.
“That’s what drives me crazy about people in our profession right now. You know (Gayle King) is going to be fair and honest, and you know I am going to do the same thing,” he said when asked about what attracted him to the potential partnership earlier this year.
