When Kathleen Parker started at her new show alongside Eliot Spitzer, she clearly thought it was going to be an even partnership, or even one that was tipped in her favor: She was the smart, pretty Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist, and he was the sleaze who got himself bounced out of political office for cheating on his wife with prostitutes. (And let’s be honest, he kind of looks like an alien). But that’s not how things turned out: Spitzer has turned into the star of the show. He’s quick, he’s energetic, and he’s forceful. And while neither of them are a laugh riot, Spitzer appears far more comfortable with the laugh-y drivel required of cable-news hosts. So it’s perhaps no wonder that, with tensions high over the show’s relatively low ratings (they’re way down from Campbell Brown’s ratings at this time last year), Parker’s beginning to lose her cool.
According to “Page Six,” Parker actually stormed off the set a couple of weeks ago over her jealousy of the way Spitzer dominates the show. The fracas occurred during filming of a pretaped segment, and she returned shortly after to finish. But things on set are uncomfortable. “Her weaknesses are felt internally,” a source sniped to the Post. “[Spitzer is] smart, tenacious — he turned out better than they thought.” A CNN rep told the tabloid that the network “loves” both Kathleen and the way that Liza McGuirk, the show’s producer, has been handling the show. The on-set spat, however, went undenied.
