Ignoble start to ‘King Charles’
CNN’s “King Charles,” the new weekly show hosted by Gayle King and Charles Barkley, flopped in its debut broadcast, ranking among the lowest-rated CNN primetime show premieres over the past decade.
The hyped premiere, which aired Wednesday at 10 p.m., drew just 501,000 viewers, according to same-day Nielsen ratings.
It finished a distant third among the biggest cable news channels in total viewers, and the smallest of any CNN’s primetime debuts this year.
“King Charles” was the brainchild of Chris Licht, the former CNN CEO, who was brought in to revamp the network’s struggling daytime and primetime lineups.
But Licht was ousted after a scathing magazine profile alienated staffers and key senior figures who called for his head.
No quick changes
Licht’s replacement, Mark Thompson, has yet to announce any major changes as CNN continues to trail Fox News and MSNBC in the ratings.
“King Charles” was meant to take on a latenight vibe, pairing “CBS Mornings” anchor King and NBA Hall of Famer and analyst Barkley to discus news and culture while taking calls.
The pre-taped debut included a jokey call from Barkley’s “Inside the NBA” co-host Shaquille O’Neal, which wasn’t enough to lift ratings.
The show came in well behind MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” with 1.6 million total viewers, although it attracted 139,000 viewers in the key 25-54 age demographic versus O’Donnell’s show, which brought in just 132,000 demo viewers.
Ratings for “Gutfeld!” on Fox News totaled 2.2 million and 241,000 viewers in the demo.
A rep from CNN did not comment specifically on the lackluster debut, but said “King Charles” “performed competitively well in the demo.”