Piers Morgan‘s three-year run as CNN host of a news show at 9 p.m. is ending.
“It’s been a painful period and lately we have taken a bath in the ratings,” Morgan told David Carr, The New York Times media columnist, who reported that Piers Morgan Live will “probably” see its last episode air this March.
A CNN rep confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the show would be ending and stated that the “date of the final program is still to be determined.”
Morgan, the successor to Larry King at the hour, had hosted Piers Morgan Live on the network since January 2011. Morgan told the newspaper that CNN president Jeff Zucker had made the decision to cancel the show.
“I think I can credibly do news and the ratings reflect that, but it is not really the show that I set out to do,” Morgan told the Times, adding: “I’d like to do work — interviews with big celebrities and powerful people — that is better suited to what I do well and fit with what Jeff is trying to do with the network.”
CNN has undergone a series of changes since Zucker was named president of of the network in Nov. 2012, among them hiring Jake Tapper to host the daytime news show The Lead and launching the Chris Cuomo-anchored morning show New Day.
When ABC News Nightline anchor Bill Weir was hired by the network last November, he was rumored to be a replacement for Morgan. At the time, a source told THR that Weir wouldn’t replace Morgan at the 9 p.m. hour.
Since the school shooting at Sandy Hook elementary in Connecticut in Dec. 2012, Morgan had used Piers Morgan Live to advocate for increased gun control legislation and hosted many debates on air about the topic.
(via Hollywood Reporter)
