Goodbye Larry King

During an interview in 2003, Larry King inspects a ring Elizabeth Taylor was given by Richard Burton during the actors' marriage. Photograph: CNN/Getty Images

Two last shows for Larry King. Hopefully, the end of an era, and the beginning of something much better!

Goodbye Larry.

Tomorrow night television history will be made. One of the legends of the small screen will be broadcast live at precisely the moment that his trousers fall down.

At least that's what will happen metaphorically. Larry King will hang up his famous braces.

For 25 years, night after night, Larry King Live has been a pillar of American culture, as comforting and dependable as Mickey Mouse and Hershey. But even cultural pillars can grow structurally unsound; in the case of King some would say that happened years ago.

CNN are being tight-lipped about the guests for the final show, which goes out at 9pm [eastern time], revealing only the names of fellow TV hosts Ryan Seacrest and Bill Maher while withholding those of the 14 other participants.

Some of the unidentified personalities will be politicians, CNN says. Which raises the possibility that Mario Cuomo will be among them — a pleasing touch were it to happen as Cuomo, then New York governor, was King's very first guest on 1 June 1985.

It also holds out the possibility of King being rejoined by Ross Perot, who helped put Larry King Live on the map in 1992 when he declared on the show that he was running for the presidency. There again Al Gore might also be in attendance: the debate between him and Perot in 1993 was arguably the show's finest hour – transfixing a nation and attracting 20 million viewers.

For media watchers like Mark Feldstein, a former CNN correspondent, now journalism professor at George Washington University, such TV events were a boon to the network as it set out as the first 24-hour news operation.

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