'Parker Spitzer' Shows Promise (When You Don't Have to Avert Your Eyes)

CNN calls its new prime-time show "Parker Spitzer," but it's really all about Eliot Spitzer and his rehabilitation, with columnist Kathleen Parker playing his combative but supportive television wife. All I can say after watching the premiere Monday night is that James Carville and Mary Matalin do it better, but the format has promise -- or rather some aspects of it do.

Spitzer calls himself a recovering politician, which means he still loves the sound of his own voice, and in the show's "Opening Argument," he advised President Obama to fire Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, concluding with an insider's wink, or so it seemed: "Give me a call; I've got some names."

I would have rather heard Parker's take on Geithner and the economy, but she took on Sarah Palin, urging her to "drop the tease" and let us know whether she's running or not. Parker was one of the first conservatives to write critically about Palin in 2008. I remember sitting next to Parker at an event that year as she marveled at the flood of hate messages on her BlackBerry. She couldn't believe the device could handle a thousand messages, or that her fellow conservatives would turn on her with so much venom.

Parker has a sarcastic edge that I think works better in print than on TV, and her advice to Palin seemed a tad sexist, telling her to either declare her intentions or "get out of the way" so the other candidates could get on with it. Spitzer defended Palin being coy about her timetable, saying she's no different than any other potential candidate, and the two co-hosts went back and forth like a bickering couple -- a food fight rather than the reasoned conversation the advance publicity promised.

The next segment, "The Arena," was worse, featuring conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart and Thomas Frank, author of "What's the Matter with Kansas?" Let's just say it was more noise.

I would have reached for the clicker except the next segment featured Aaron Sorkin, writer and creator of "The West Wing," the television series that gave America an alternative to the Bush presidency. Sorkin was definitely worth sticking around for. Prodded by Parker, who seems Palin-obsessed, he called Palin "a remarkably, stunningly, jaw-droppingly incompetent and mean woman."

Mean? Parker gasped.

Yes, mean, Sorkin replied, as when she talks about real Americans and not real Americans. Then, remembering he was there to promote his new movie, "The Social Network," Sorkin lamented, "I went on TV and lost ticket buyers." A clip from the movie featured a scene with a lawyer taking a deposition, prompting Spitzer to have Sorkin recall the line in the movie about a deposition being 85 percent emotion and 15 percent perjury. "Every lawyer should watch that," Spitzer said, making this viewer wonder if there's something more he wanted to tell us.

Spitzer then did a solo interview with a former analyst for Merrill Lynch whom he had prosecuted. The analyst, Henry Blodget, had to pay $4 million in fines and was barred from the industry for life. As New York attorney general, Spitzer had uncovered an e-mail trail that found Blodget recommending stock he didn't really believe in. Now the two were commending each other for their successful rehabilitations. Blodget runs a website that gets 4 million visitors.

"Bygones are bygones," Spitzer told him, and Blodget responded, "I applaud you for your comeback." (It turns out the two had never met in person; the prosecution was all done through lawyers.) I would have liked this segment to go on longer, as it seemed too hurried for the subject matter. Blodget told Spitzer he voted for him for governor, and Spitzer said somewhat poignantly, "I'm never going to be in a position to use it, but thank you for that." I guess that means he won't be running for office again, but who knows.

The last segment, "Political Party," was weird, featuring the new faces the show promises, but all I remember was the tech analyst who ate 52 wings in a record amount of time. They all had to say something nice about Sarah Palin, and then Parker asked each of them to reveal their guilty pleasure. That's one of those phrases that a show featuring Spitzer should stay away from, even if his guilty pleasure (or so he said) is NASCAR racing.

This last segment, in particular, was too much mindless yukking it up, and I would have preferred more of the intelligent conversation that both Spitzer and Parker are capable of delivering. It's impossible to say after one episode whether CNN has found a formula that can endure, but it is safe to say that Spitzer has come a long way toward recapturing the image he once had as a spirited prosecutor. Helping him along will be Alex Gibney's new movie, "Client No. 9," opening next month. Judging from a clip of it, it is a sympathetic portrayal of Spitzer's fall from grace, together with an unsparing look at the Wall Street guys and their henchmen who may have had a hand in the scandal.

"There are all kinds of rumors about who brought me down," Spitzer is quoted saying. "I brought myself down." As for his ascent back into the political world, he's gotten a lot of help, and that's what "Parker Spitzer" is all about.