Piers Morgan Tonight on CNN

I also notice that it's not called "Piers Morgan Live" - because the show is pre-recorded. Suggestion is he needs editing...

I think some episodes will be live. Larry King would record big interviews beforehand, although Larry was usually live and ok with live breaking news. I just can't see Piers doing rolling news. Unless i'm wrong CNN programme presenters will do rolling breaking news if it happens during their programme - unlike Fox News.

As for the pre-recorded, one reason is to enable clips to be released in advance for promotional purposes

That's more of a fortunate by-product. It certainly wasn't the intention to pre-record.

Pre-records for promotion was mentioned back in October
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnns-piers-morgan-its-time-to-kick-some-ratings-butt_b34046

Having said that in September the plan was a mixture of live and pre-records
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/piers-morgan-cnns-new-lineup-will-be-provocative-aggressive-and-ballsy_b23315

Strong Ratings for Piers Morgan’s Debut


CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” premiered to 2.1 million viewers on Monday, according to preliminary ratings from the Nielsen Company.

CNN said that Mr. Morgan’s audience was 219 percent larger than the channel’s average audience during the fourth quarter of last year, when “Larry King Live” ended after 25 years. The channel averaged 657,000 in the time slot in that quarter.

Mr. Morgan’s first night was extensively promoted by CNN. And his first guest, Oprah Winfrey, is a proven ratings draw. Still, the overnight ratings are sure to be celebrated at the beleaguered cable news channel.

When Mr. King was on at 9 p.m., CNN generally placed third among the cable news channels, behind the Fox News Channel and MSNBC. On Monday, with Mr. Morgan and Ms. Winfrey, CNN placed second. Fox remained in first place: Sean Hannity, who interviewed Sarah Palin, averaged 2.36 million viewers. MSNBC dropped to third place: Rachel Maddow, who interviewed Michael Moore, averaged 1.11 million viewers.

Of course, the true test for Mr. Morgan will come not on night one or night two, but weeks and months from now. As Monday’s New York Times reported, Mr. Morgan knows he will be judged on whether he improves CNN’s ratings in the 9 p.m. hour over the long haul. “If I do, I’m a genius. If I don’t, I’m a half-wit. There is no middle ground,” he said in an interview last week.

Update: 4:32 p.m.: Mr. Morgan issued a challenge of sorts to Mr. Hannity on Twitter Thursday afternoon. He wrote, “If I don’t smack you down tonight with Howard, I’ll take you on Thursday with Ricky Gervais. love Piers.”