Gayle King and Charles Barkley to host new prime-time show on CNN, company announces

CNN

By Nicole Goodkind, CNN Business

CNN will be the home to a new weekly prime-time show featuring Gayle King and Charles Barkley, the news network announced on Saturday.

King and Barkley sat down together on TNT’s NBA Tip-Off Saturday to discuss the details of the live show, titled King Charles, which is set to air on Wednesdays.

“I want the show to be nonpolitical,” said Barkley, though he added that the show would touch on politics. “You know (Gayle King) is going to be a straight shooter. I’m going to be a straight shooter,” he added. “I know she’s going to be fair and honest and you know I’m going to do the same thing.”

The show will be a no holds barred look at current topics, said King. “I think that decorum and courtesy and kindness always work,” she said. “But everybody I know has an opinion on something. We just need to figure out a way to have a good conversation without tearing each other down. And I think we can do that.”

Topics covered on the show, said King and Barkley, will range from hard-hitting topics like gun control to lighter fare like food and pop culture.

“I want people to tune in to see ‘what are Gayle and Charles going to do?”’ said King. “I think it will be fun to watch the dynamic between the two of us.”

The show will also feature personalities at the center of the week’s news.

King Charles is expected to begin this fall and run into 2024, CNN CEO Chris Licht wrote in an email to staff Saturday.

The show, he said, will deliver “culturally relevant programming and unique perspectives,” adding that more information on the show’s focus will come over the next few months.

King and Barkley will both continue their current respective roles while working with CNN, with King anchoring CBS Mornings and Barkley at WBD Sports.

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