CNN has named Liza McGuirk executive producer of its upcoming 8 p.m. program co-hosted by Eliot Spitzer and Kathleen Parker.
McGuirk has been the executive producer of Fareed Zakaria's Sunday morning program.
"After working with Fareed Zakaria, I'm delighted to be working with two people, Eliot and Kathleen, who are truly his equals at exploring the world of intelligent ideas," she said in a statement. "Most of all, I look forward to bringing that kind of elevated discussion to primetime."
The appointment is effective immediately.
The 8 p.m. show, set to launch this fall, is part of a primetime make-over at the cable news network. Spitzer and Parker's program, which is envisioned as a topical point-counterpoint discussion hour, will replace the news program previously hosted by Campbell Brown, who recently left CNN citing, among other things, her show's low ratings amid opinionated 8 p.m. hosts on Fox News (Bill O'Reilly) and MSNBC (Keith Olbermann).
The overhaul includes a new 9 p.m. hour hosted by Piers Morgan, who recently renegotiated his contract with NBC, where he is among the judges on the network's summer hit America's Got Talent. Morgan's new NBC contract included an extra year of service keeping him at Talent for three years, as well as precedence for Morgan's NBC duties. The latter will mean that Morgan will have to tape his CNN program, a departure for the hour, where Larry King hosts a live nightly interview show. King announced June 30 that he will retire from his nightly talk show after 25 years.
