Is the Gossip True for Parker/Spitzer?

photo courtesy of The Wrap

Brian Stelter of the New York Times tweeted today that Parker/Spitzer could soon be in for a change. He sites two sources that say Kathleen Parker is out and also added "CNN's silence on this matter has been deafening for several hours. We are trying hard to gain comment from CNN, Spitzer, and Parker." To follow Brian on Twitter just click on this link.

The New York Post writes (edited, please follow the link for the entire article):

Eliot Spitzer is telling friends his CNN co-host Kathleen Parker "will be gone within a week." Relations between the ex-gov, who once called himself a "[bleep]ing steamroller," and his conservative co-host are at an all-time low. A source said, "Spitzer thinks she's holding him back. The ratings surged when she was out sick, and he anchored alone during the turmoil in Egypt. Only very few anchors have the power to wipe out a co-host, and Spitzer thinks he has it. CNN bosses are high on Spitzer, and he might get his own show. Kathleen has been weighing her options. There's this sense of dread among middle management." We've reported that Parker, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, could be dumped due to lack of chemistry with Spitzer. But our source said, "She's putting up a fight." CNN President Ken Jautz recently said, "There have been lots of press reports that I am contemplating changes, but I'm not going to engage in any speculation." A CNN rep declined to comment.

The Wrap reports:

Kathleen Parker, the co-host of "Parker Spitzer," CNN's four-month-old, ratings-challenged primetime show, is being dropped from the program, according to sources inside the CNN newsroom. Eliot Spitzer, her co-host, will remain.

A representative at CNN did not return an email and phone call requesting comment.

The move has been rumored for some time now. Spitzer hosted the show earlier this month while Parker was reportedly sick, and the show saw a 68 percent jump in 25-54-year-old viewer

The 8 p.m. show was announced last fall, as a replacement for Campbell Brown, with former CNN president Jon Klein's seal of approval. The roundtable format -- with Spitzer, the former New York State governor and Parker, the conservative columnist -- marked a shift to opinion-based programming for CNN, which had shunned the ideological fare favored by Fox News and MSNBC.

And the ratings for "Parker Spitzer" simply never materialized. In its first week on the air, "Parker Spitzer," had an average audience of just 465,500 viewers for its debut week; disgraced former CNN host Rick Sanchez's "Rick's List" averaged 468,000 total viewers during its brief run in the same time slot. (It even lagged behind HLN's Nancy Grace, who averaged 550,000 total viewers during the "Parker Spitzer's" first week.)

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