Tonight, PIERS MORGAN, 45, starts his CNN contract on air, replacing the redoubtable Larry King, 77, in the time-slot of Larry King Live. King avoided controversy. Morgan looks for it. He comes from his editorship of the London tabloids The Sun, The News of the World, and the Daily Mirror. Interesting choice. I was only aware of him as a judge on America’s Got Talent.
But last night I saw him as an interviewer on a 2 year old show from England, with his take on Hollywood in January 2009 from the British POV. Much has happened since then due to the economy, but one remark of his rings in my ears.
"Talent success in Hollywood is measured by how much money you make – for others."
That is so true, and is why so many lives fall apart when the talented souls are no longer useful to the real world, and are left with personal identity crises. I’ve always avoided the middle men, the agents and managers and press agents, since my child actor days and the following 33 years with the late Lynn Redgrave. Now? My bad!
Then I watched the Golden Globes. Host Ricky Gervais is not my favorite comedian, with his scattershot technique. But the shots he lobbed to any and all sitting there were what we used to call Home Truths, nobody being spared. And my question is, is America going through a phase of self flagellation? If so, then Morgan will last just so long as he’s put up with. But his style will obsolesce the likes of Barbara Walters and Regis Philbin for a while. However, middle America won’t like him at all. Will that translate into money problems for CNN, the advertisers and the like? CNN is in it for the money, and as long as it comes in, he’s there to stay. But I think he won’t last too long.
Good luck to him, a healthy change – for now. Look forward to real debate Oxford style, instead of the steady stream of one-sided right wing invective which flows from most well paid radio talk show hosts, who assume we are a nation of idiots, and ignore the fact that there are a lot of schizophrenics out there. But that’s a whole other subject!
At the Chelsea Flower Show
I just read in the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail of the celebrities attending the annual Chelsea Flower show in London. Another opportunity to show off their hats.
I see that my old sister-in-law Vanessa was there with her daughter Joely. She named a rose in honor of her other daughter Natasha, who died as the result of a foolish escapade on the slopes of a Canadian ski run a couple of years ago.
I cannot help but ask her why she could not do the same for her young sister Lynn, who has just past the first anniversary of her death on the flats of Kent, Connecticut.
It could be named THE PRINCESS MARGARET ROSE (get it?). For Lynn felt she was always the second favorite daughter in her family.
Posted in "Chelsea Flower Show", "Joely Richardson", "Natasha Richardson", "skiing accident", "Vanessa Redgrave", COMMENTARY-Passing parade, My Family and Me