Larry King: Morgan 'was oversold'

The veteran US chat show host Larry King has given his verdict on his successor, Piers Morgan: the British former tabloid editor "may have been oversold" to the Americans public, he told BBC Radio 4 .

Morgan took over the CNN chat show that King had anchored for 25 years last month, receiving mixed reviews for his fawning interviews with celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and Howard Stern.

"I don't want to be horrible about him, I think he's a fine broadcaster," King told the PM programme. Asked why he thought Morgan's show had rated badly, King said its launch had been too high profile, with CNN heavily plugging Morgan's debut.

"I think one of the problems they did was oversell it. He was going to be dangerous, he was going to be water cooler talk," King said.

"He's good but not that dangerous. I think they might have been better off starting quietly and that's not Piers' fault, or maybe it is, I'm not inside anymore ... He's not bad. He asks good questions, maybe he interrupts a little too much. I think he may have been oversold."