This Monday, CNN will begin a series of on-air experiments to find a replacement for Piers Morgan Live. The network has been extremely tight-lipped about the cancellation and its possible replacements. News outlets have had to rely on Twitter and sources for updates. The network never announced an end date for Piers Morgan Live, network sources pegged the end of March as the end date. The date was later confirmed by Piers Morgan Live executive producer, Jonathan Wald, on Twitter the day before the final show. Later, network sources released that Michael Smerconish, Jake Tapper, Bill Weir, and Don Lemon were all going to try-outs in the 9 P.M. timeslot. Again, this was never confirmed by the network.
Smerconish announced at the end of his weekly show yesterday that the show would be airing that week in primetime. His show is the first in the series of experiments. His show will maintain the branding for his weekday run and the same staff. It is unknown whether other shows will maintain its branding. If so, it could be confusing to some viewers especially since they’re airing twice in a day. It is possible a whole other show name may be created, or it could be a variation on the show title. When Rick Sanchez brought his daytime show, Rick’s List, to primetime as an interim show between Campbell Brown and Parker/Spitzer, it was called Rick’s List Primetime in order to differentiate it. It is also unknown what branding Bill Weir will use. It is possible he may use the CNN Tonight branding that has been used in the past for interim programming.
TKNN has reached out to CNN for comment, but they did not respond at posting. We will update if we receive comment.