When Charles Barkley re-upped with Warner Bros. Discovery last year, one of the surprises in his new deal was a recurring night-time talk show on CNN with Gayle King. That show, King Charles, was canceled by the network on Monday.
According to the New York Post, King Charles averaged just shy of 460,000 viewers per week and failed to compete with other news networks’ Wednesday night programming. Fox and MSNBC drew more than 1.5 million average viewers for shows in the same slot.
King Charles may have been doomed from the start. The Post also reports that Barkley was limited in his availability to shoot the show, giving CNN little flexibility when it came to scheduling. At the same time, the CNN boss who launched the show left shortly after announcing it. Chris Licht was fired by WBD last year.
From a Barkley perspective, King Charles felt more like a golden parachute than something to add to his plate while he is still broadcasting basketball. Rather than put King Charles in the summer when the NBA and college basketball take a break, allowing Barkley more time to dedicate to the news, CNN plopped it alongside the busiest portion of Barkley’s calendar.
The show never managed to break through with viral moments or big interviews like the network surely hoped. Barkley and King did not develop chemistry like Barkley has with his Inside the NBA cohosts. And despite being advertised as a chance for Barkley to turn toward politics and social issues, King Charles most often booked sports-focused guests.
King Charles gave Barkley the opportunity to shun Aaron Rodgers, praise Nikki Haley, and make some headlines with Adam Silver, but it felt half-baked from the jump, and the audience clearly saw that as well.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.