CNN's 'Parker Spitzer' debuts this week

He's obviously got some baggage. She is a relative unknown. Is there chemistry?

Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa have nothing to worry about from that perspective.

But it's only the first hour, which felt a bit disjointed and rushed.

They opened with a summary of how they hope the show will be.

"This is a show about ideas, ideas that drive American politics," he said.

"I hate labels," she said. "We come to the tables from different perspectives. I'm from the South. You're from the North. I'm a journalist. You're a politician."

"Recovering," he said.

Does that actually make a credibly entertaining show to watch during prime time? The viewers will certainly decide if they even bother to sample it.

Spitzer and Parker each offer up thoughts on two different topics, in an obvious attempt to show they are contrarian. Spitzer said Pres. Obama needs to fire Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for being too much in the pocket of Wall Street, not Main Street. Parker said Sarah Palin has been too coy about whether she wants to run for president or not.

Later, they bring in different guests, including Aaron Sorkin, who is promoting his film "The Social Movement" about Facebook. Instead of talking about his film, they grill him on his predictably liberal political views. He had to note twice that the film has no politics in it and joked that he may have turned more people off from his film by trashing Palin and the Republicans.

CNN also brought in Andrew Breitbart, the conservative blogger who released video excerpts of a speech that made Shirley Sherrod, the Georgia State Director of Rural Development, look like a racist. But Breitbart barely got to say much of anything. Elizabeth Warren, the new consumer protection agency head, did get more time and Spitzer was naturally thrilled she got the job.

The most intriguing moment came when Spitzer brought in Henry Blodget, the former Merrill Lynch analyst who Spitzer turned into the poster child of rah-rah Wall Street cheerleading. "He symbolized everything that was wrong with Wall Street," Spitzer said. Blodget would promote stocks he knew were lousy investments and thanks to Spitzer, he was kicked out of Wall Street as a result. Blodget actually said some nice things about Spitzer's efforts to change the system while continuing to defend his wicked ways. But even that segment felt like it needed more breathing room.

The final segment featured four guests in a political "party" round table that felt a wee bit cramped. They were asked thrilling questions such as what celebrity should run for president in 2012 (Jared from Subway?) and what their guilty pleasures were (one dude said the Real Housewives franchise).

Overall, it was congenial but hardly riveting. There's always tomorrow.

(UPDATE: Early reviews were scathing:

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