Smallscreen News

Piers Morgan plans a can o' CNN whoopass on FOX come January

By April MacIntyre Oct 7, 2010, 5:30 GMT

A picture combo shows (L) British journalist and Britain\'s Got Talent judge Piers Morgan - former editor of the British tabloid The Daily Mirror Piers Morgan is to take over Larry King\'s talk show in January. EPA/DANIEL DEME / PAUL BUCK

Piers Morgan spoke to Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood and promised to trounce FOX in the ratings with his patented brand of juicy nugget extraction via his insightful interviewing style.

Morgan is currently a judge on NBC reality competition 'America's Got Talent.'

The former editor of the UK Daily Mirror is planning on elevating the Larry King Live show he takes over in January to a new stratosphere of ratings, going head-to-head with FOX news.

Piers tells DHD: “The format, everything, will change. I’m not just going to be another man sitting in the CNN studio wearing red braces.”

Morgan shared his style of interviewing netted "scoops" such as Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg sharing "he’d slept with nearly 30 women" and actress Helen Mirren revealing she snorted cocaine.

Morgan tells DHD, “I’ll have succeeded if people feel they’ve had a pretty challenging hour and been open with me. On the other hand, people in the U.S. know I don’t suffer fools.”

Morgan is gunning for President Obama as a top "get."

Madonna is also welcome on his show, and he tells DHD, “I may rescind the ban on Madonna...Listen, if she wants to come on the show, then great. It’s just that we have a bit of history.”