CNN host John King has just announced that legendary talk show host Larry King has confirmed by Twitter that he will end his long-running talk show this fall. No other details were given but King will address the decision this evening on his program. There has been speculation that CNN would not renew King's contract due to plummeting ratings and what many believe is an outdated style of conducting interviews. King's achievements include many memorable sit-downs with legendary actors and politicians, but his penchant for conducting sparse research has often led to criticism that he was conducting lightweight interviews and throwing softball questions. Nevertheless, King's record is among the most impressive in all of TV history and he has been a main figure at CNN since the early days of the network.

UPDATE: On his program this evening, King told guest Bill Maher that it was his decision to quit the show and that he had not been pressured by CNN. He expressed gratitude that the network allowed him to remain on the air for 25 years but said he wanted more time to spend with his wife and kids. King said he would still be affiliated with the network and would host various specials in the future.

Good news: now you can pay to have your intelligence insulted by watching episodes of shlock like The Bachelorette on Hulu.

Hulu, the popular web site that allows viewers to watch recent episodes of major TV series for free, has bowed to pressure from investors and launched an optional pay-per-view service that will cost $10. Here's the kicker: even after paying, you'll still be subjected to the same amount of ads that viewers of the free service have to suffer through. Advertisements are understandable on the free version of Hulu - after all, the viewer isn't paying to watch the episodes. However, one would think that after dropping $10 per month, you would be spared the type of annoying advertisements that have made television viewing virtually unwatchable in recent years. Hulu counters the complaints by saying paid subscribers will have a wider range of episodes to view and that maintaining the ads will keep the subscription price low. Remember in the early days of cable TV how we all naively believed that by paying for service, we would get commercial-free broadcasts? Before long, we were subjected to infernal assaults on our senses as both movies and re-runs of TV series were not only aired with commercials, but were chopped to pieces to accommodate more and more ads. Hulu does offer episodes of some classic, vintage shows but here's hoping the public doesn't fall for the same trap again. Stick with the free Hulu and relish the knowledge that you aren't paying for suffering through those ads. Besides, how brain dead do you have to be to pay to watch episodes of The Bachelorette? - Lee Pfeiffer

Move over, has been film critics! Cody Gifford is bringing his own brand of "irrelevance" to The Today Show!

By Lee Pfeiffer

When Sarah Palin mentions her fellow "grizzly moms", it warms the cockles of her supporter's hearts, even as it sends her critics heading toward the nearest barf bag. However, Ms. Palin has nothing on the definitive overly-protective mother: obnoxious chat show host Kathie Lee Gifford, who has driven many a viewer to the brink of jumping out their windows with her incessant talk about her kids over the years. After being off the air for years, Gifford is now one of the hosts on NBC's top-rated The Today Show. The network has apparently done an exhaustive search to find the most qualified person to do film reviews on the show and -shockingly- it turns out to be Gifford's own 20 year-old son Cody! There was a time when seasoned professionals were given these plum spots but Cody's main qualification is that the 20 year old likes movies and is studying film in school. Good thing he doesn't like airplanes or mama probably would have pulled enough strings to have him play around with steering airbuses over to Europe. Gifford may think she is doing her son a favor, but his reviews don't indicate he's in any danger of becoming a veteran film critic once her influence is gone. Young Gifford says the word "like" countless times in...you know, like, many different sentences. Worse, he's forced to do his reviews while chatting with mama grizzly herself (apparently Kathie Lee doesn't want to cede a moment of the spotlight even to her son). Cody says he can bring more "irrelevancy" to the reviews than older critics could. We think he meant "irreverence", but this is one Freudian slip that is accurate.   He should take a lesson from Ben Lyons, the last high profile victim of a nepotism-obsessed father. His dad, critic Jeffrey Lyons, help land Ben a co-host job on At the Movies, the show founded by Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. His lack of qualifications made him a laughing stock and ultimately Ben took the heat for driving a show that had lasted 30 years off the air.  To watch Cody in action click here