CNN: Client Nine Network

Can 'Porker & Parker' save CNN now that prez Jon Klein has cried 'uncle!' and bagged CNN's much bragged about (by Klein) lofty straight news objective journalism for cacophonous opinion?

NY mag doubts a reincarnated 'Crossfire' will work this time around: If Crossfire couldn't work with an array of softish, familiar political talking heads, why would it work with two newbies with no television following — one of whom is most famous for when he was brought crashing to the earth by virtue of his own staggering hubris? The odds seem fairly stacked against it, and at the very least, its eventual success will require extreme patience on the part of CNN as audiences test the program out. It will also require a relative stretching of the network's increasingly narrow view of what its role is. But judging by the complete reversal Klein has made since his comments five years ago, that last bit won't be the hard part.

When Klein dumped 'Crossfire' in January 2005 he trumpeted: 'CNN is a different animal. We report the news. Fox talks about the news.'

Wash Post's TV maven Lisa de Moraes post-announcement interviews with 'Porker & Parker' point to CNN turning into 'Animal House.'

Related:  'It's Spitz-o-phrenia!' NYO's Felix Gillette

Politico:  'Can CNN have it both ways?'

Politics Daily's Walter Shapiro (who  voted for Spitzer) wonders if Bernie Madoff is CNN's next hire:  'I would sooner tune into Al Jazeera in Arabic or a highlight reel of 1950s TV test patterns than to watch Eliot Spitzer pontificate on CNN.'