<p>I’m not a habitual Piers Morgan basher, in fact, there are times I find him to be a rather refreshing voice on American TV. His new gig on CNN is not one of these times. </p>
<p>After just 3 guests (Oprah, Howard Stern, and now tonight Condoleezza Rice), I cannot bring myself to watch him any longer for one reason and one reason only: he INTERRUPTS his guests. He’ll ask a question and then will not allow his guests ANY reasonable length of time to answer his question. Most of the time he cuts them off mid-sentence. I will be really curious to see if this horrible habit gets corrected over time. </p>
<p>Does this make anyone else cringe or is it just me?</p>
<p>Agree, jshain. He did it a lot with Oprah, although to be fair, she did a lot of commenting on his questioning technique. Also saw most of Howard Stern last night. Not too interested in what he might get out of Rice. </p>
<p>Not only does he interrupt, he laughs nervously. His timing is just off and the conversation does not flow. Also his final question with Oprah was terrible, “How did I do?” Really!</p>
<p>I may give it a try next week to see if he settles down a bit, once the initial excitement has worn off.</p>
<p>I found the first two shows duller than dishwater. At first I thought it was because I (like the whole world) already knew everything there is to know about Saint Oprah, and I had zero interest in Stern. (Morgan sure went for the giant egos for his first two interviews.) But then I realized part of the problem was the fact the interviews were taped and edited. (Was tonight’s the same?) Larry King’s show was often a snooze, but at least it had the zing of live interviews–the conversations were up-to-the-minute on current events and there was a sense that you never knew exactly what was going to be said. I heard that Ricky Gervais will be a guest this week, in an interview that was taped BEFORE his controversial Golden Globes appearance. How absurd is that?</p>
<p>Soon enough Morgan will run out of big names and the show will duly crash and burn. Who will want to watch a taped interview with the equivalent of Zac Efron or the balloon boy’s dad?</p>
<p>I think he will get better as the critics get a hold of him.<br>
His interruptions are most likely due to nervousness…CNN needs all the help they can get and a lot is riding on his likeability. I would not want that pressure.<br>
Howard Stern and Oprah were both in total control of those interviews being that they are both EGO maniacs. Oprah is a very difficult interviewee…it is just too hard for her not to be in total control. Also landing her as a guest was not that interesting because she is now overexposed and Barbara Walters just did a high profile sit down with her and so we already know everything. Give Piers some time…I thought Larry was soooooooooo boring and ready for retirement.</p>
<p>I agree - the incessant interruptions by these interviewers is obnoxious and pointless. If you have an interesting guest, let them speak. If they are blathering and not answering questions, terminate the interview.</p>
<p>Considering the alternatives, Piers Morgan is not a bad choice. Fwiw, it takes guts to interrupt pompous characters and overrated divas such as Stern and Mrs. O. </p>
<p>His interruptions actually offer interesting quick-fire exchanges that can be entertaining. While it probably will raise a deluge of protests by loonies and activists, his grilling of Condoleeza was spirited. For some reason, Condoleeza did not seem annoyed. Perhaps, she did enjoy having someone who speaks a modicum of correct English and still has a few working braincells asking questions. Quite a departure from dealing with the leftist press in DC! </p>
<p>As far as CNN, I wish they would orchestrated a trade between Piers Morgan and Christiane Amanpour, who has ruined This Week and made it impossible to watch despite the presence of George Will. Please let her go back to CNN!</p>
<p>I agree. I have enjoyed Oprah’s show for the most part, but it does bug me how she interrupts her guests. Perhaps it has been necessary at times in terms of time management or keeping the guest focused, but often it’s just annoying.</p>