The CNN talk show hosted by Gayle King and Charles Barkley ended last week following low ratings and months after several staffers were reportedly laid off.
Many cast doubt on the duo’s odd pairing on “King Charles,” which dropped 18 episodes since its premiere on Nov. 29, 2023, and aired its last on April 10.
A representative from CNN claimed that their show was always meant to be a limited series ending in the spring of 2024, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“’King Charles’ has come to the end of its limited run as we announced when it launched last fall and was a great addition to CNN’s lineup,” read the statement. “With the youngest, most affluent, and most diverse P2+ audience in its cable news time period.”
Barkley is a former NBA star who works as a co-host for the Emmy-winning “Inside the NBA” show on TNT. King is the host of “CBS Mornings,” and as previously reported by RadarOnline, CNN staffers were laid off months before the network signed King to a $12 million salary to host the program with Barkley.
“Everyone has been told there’s no money, yet they’re managing to scrape up cash to pay Gayle King,” a source told the outlet. “It’s incredibly tone-deaf as well as being rude to the hard-working people who’ve been toiling here for years!”
King and Barkley ended “King Charles” by noting that it would not be the last time the duo worked together.
“We want to thank you for joining us tonight,” said King. “This is our last show of our limited series.”
“It flew by,” added Barkley about the six-month-long series. “You’re the best. You’re so awesome, and we got so many amazing people who work on the show behind the scenes.”
The 61-year-old went on to thank everyone who worked on “King Charles” while King added that she loved working with him.
“I have loved working with you and something tells me, Charles, this will not be the last time that we’re working together,” she continued.
“Call me, Gayle,” said Barkley.
“We will see you the next time whenever we see you,” added King to the audience. “Thanks so much for being with us for the past six months. We had a blast.”
Social media users reacted to the show’s end on X. “That was embarrassingly quick,” replied one. “CNN has been shooting blanks lately,” added another.
Others were shocked to learn that the duo had a show on CNN. One replied, “I think I can speak for a lot of us in that i had no idea Chuck had a CNN show.”
“Obviously did a bad job promoting it because I had 0 idea this existed lmao blame the network,” echoed another.
Ratings for “King Charles” were reportedly low, with only 416,000 viewers tuning in to “King Charles” on March 13.
