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Fox Chooses Tucker to Replace Megyn
The big media news on Tuesday was Megyn Kelly leaving Fox News for NBC. Now Fox has announced her replacement:
Tucker Carlson, the veteran cable television host and conservative writer, will succeed Megyn Kelly in the coveted 9 p.m. slot on Fox News, the network announced on Thursday.
The move comes just weeks after Mr. Carlson, a former co-host of CNN’s “Crossfire” and founder of the Daily Caller, a right-leaning news and opinion site, took over Fox News’s 7 p.m. hour, where he has beaten network rivals in the Nielsen ratings.
Martha MacCallum, co-anchor of Fox News’s morning news show “America’s Newsroom,” is to succeed Mr. Carlson at 7 p.m.
Ms. MacCallum’s 7 p.m. hosting duties will initially be for the first 100 days of the administration of Donald J. Trump, according to people briefed on the discussions.
In his current short stint hosting for Fox News, Carlson has already gone viral with his combative yet funny takedowns of liberal writers. Are you more likely to tune in for Tucker than you were for Kelly?
Published in General
Sounds like the change will leave both networks with better reporting. Kind of like the joke about a guy moving from one state to a different one raising the average IQs of both states.
So the nightmare scenario now is Megan changes her mind and decides to stay.
Seawriter
I rarely watch live TV. But the few times I’ve caught Carlson’s show, I didn’t like the format. He was excellent as a guest on Bret Baier’s show (the only news show worth watching). But inviting unreasonable guests just to talk past each other is a recipe for noise. I prefer an informative, thoughful debate to the “smackdown” format many viewers seem to like. If the obnoxious format works for O’Reilly, it will work for Carlson.
MacCallum is a good choice. Like Megyn Kelly when she first started (I haven’t watched often enough to know if she changed), MaCallum was always more serious than her show partners.
Still, it saddens me that the network isn’t doubling up on Bret Baier’s (Brit Hume’s) format. There’s still too much sensationlist junk and inch-deep reporting.
Yep I am looking forward to his coverage. My guess is that this has all been in the works for sometime, and that Tucker got his show up and running in anticipation of Kelly leaving.
My guess is that Fox News, who knew for months that Kelly was a strong bet to leave, couldn’t get comfortable with any female replacements at the prime hour of nine o’clock. So they decided to put Tucker there as a dependable, reliable show – and then use Tucker’s current 7pm slot as audition time.
I suspect that network executives, knowing that the audience is at least 50% female, don’t want Fox News to have a reputation of driving away female “talent.” (Especially after the Ailes thing.) So, I’ll bet they’re going to give several women a shot, and hope that one of them can catch on. Maybe they’ll try for “balance,” and hire a centrist or even a semi-liberal to counter the all-male conservative roster.
I’m actually hoping for someone new. We’re going into January. Baseball doesn’t start for a couple months, the NFL is all-weekend, hockey and basketball wont get interesting until the playoffs. That, and the opening of the Trump Era, might entice me sample some of those political shows again.
And if that doesn’t work, there’s always Keith Olbermann.
First Fox News ran off Greta and now Megan. Both were replaced with a man. Obviously they are sexist, female hating pigs.
Rosie O’Donnell is free, isn’t she? Make for a great interview with President Trump…
Local girl makes good! Martha MacCallum was born in Buffalo.
Martha’s a little young for Fox News’ Demo – she’s only 52. (She looks great for 52 , BTW)
Sexist enough to dish out millions in sexual harassment lawsuit settlements, and fire Roger Ailes because of it.
From what I have seen of the Tucker’s show it is doubling down on all the worst features of O’Reilly’s show. At least he doesn’t have Water’s do a whole segment that is just ripping off an old Jay Leno bit. But from what I saw it was just Tucker ambushing what ever hapless liberal agreed to come on his show. Kind of reminds me of John Stewart’s Daily Show, but that was only 30 minutes long, and at least had a few jokes once in a while. Too bad they aren’t going for more Brit Hume style shows. Ah well.
I’ve only watched parts of Tucker’s show, but I’ve liked it. Plus from what I understand his ratings were out of sight. For the little bit of TV I watch, this is an upgrade for me. Good luck to Tucker and MacCallum.
I like Tucker, still won’t watch TV news/opinion.
Indeed, she does look great – a fact that does not go unnoticed by…Martha MacCallum.
I dislike O’Reilly, but I have occasionally tuned in when “forced” to watch live TV, i.e., when Mrs. Dubya is using the TV that has the DVR. I don’t know if MacCallum still appears on Bill’s show, but I recall in the past being highly amused by how often the camera caught her looking at the monitor, i.e., at herself. It was constant, and it was obvious what was going on, because she was looking downward, not at the camera, and wore the same expression that a person has when looking in a mirror.
A strange habit for a seasoned broadcast professional. I know it’s neither here nor there, but I just found it funny.
Time to usher in the Tomi Lahren era at Fox? Guaranteed ratings gold. The left hate her but can’t resist.
Agreed.
And I might be in the minority here, but I find Hannity unwatchable.
Amen on both counts. More Hume-Baier style reporting and less Hannity. I’ve begun to warm a bit to Trump, but I just can’t watch Hannity. It’s one thing to have a point of view; it’s quite another to be nothing but a shill.
And way less of the two people talking over each other format.
What little I’ve seen of Carlson has been a bit uneven, but he certainly has potential.
Mr. C and I have been DVRing Tucker pretty much from the get-go. We think of it as the, “Did he just say what I think he said?” show. We are entertained. And we’re still trying to figure out how he gets his non-“friend” guests to come on the show. I don’t think Jen Rubin will make that mistake again, for the third time.
Did you catch his interview with the gun control guy?
Guest: Have you ever fired an AR-15?
Tucker: Yes, I’ve fired an AR-15 — I own one!
Yes, there’s more information and erudition in Bret Baier’s show, but that’s not why we tune-in to Tucker. It’s more for the blood sport.
My one critique: He needs to practice a more neutral expression while he’s listening (like WFB). The scowl looks like he’s working too hard.
I used to feel that way too, but he being the only one to really support Trump has put him in a positive light for me lately. Hannity grasped the mood of the public way before anyone else.
Is it reasonable to assume that the President-elect won’t have to worry about catching Tucker at the wrong time of the month?
I saw this and cheered, Fox News appears to be going back to what made them #1 – Conservative hosts tearing apart liberal guests and policies. Megyn was great early on, but you could see her change as her star rose, she seemed to buy into the hype of Megyn.
As others have pointed out, one network stealing away a large profile female news anchor has rarely worked out well for the anchor. Megyn Kelly hosting hour 3 of the Today show..? “Upcoming! Great new recipes for feeding a family on the go!” or doing guest spots on MSNBC shows? She will soon look at herself and exclaim “What have I done!?”
Tucker is great btw, he’s really matured as an interviewer, this was a great move for Fox News.
Agreed, Hannity tapped into the national mood long before the rest. He’s been spot on with the tea party movement as well as the general mood of being sick of business as usual in Washington, Shawn has been out in front on most of that. That might serve to make his show pretty darn predictable at times, but certainly not “unwatchable”.
You want unwatchable? I give you Bill…O…Reilly.
I was hoping Kimberly Guilfoyle would get the job.
It depends. What does he look like in a dress and heels?
I like him. I’d argue that those that find him too ‘smash-mouth/ambush-like’ that while he certainly is biased, he invites “non-biased/MSM journalists” to defend what they report and advocate (and give those who he interviews more time than O’Reilly and Hannity). For as much pretense as they put on, you’d think they could defend themselves and their positions better.
It will be interesting to see if he keeps same format or if he changes things up a bit. Going more Special Report would be welcome.
The last clerk I dealt with was a guy with a girl’s hair and daintily painted nails. Who knows anymore?
Bill is not my favorite, but he’s light years ahead of Shep Smith. :)
I think I’m just tired of the concept in general. It seems people come on these shows from one side or another, and mindlessly defend one position and hammer away at the other without much thought or analysis. Sure people have their own positions, but I’d rather watch people at least trying to have a thoughtful discussion.
I’m pretty sure we could choose five Ricochet members at random and put them on the air and improve the Fox News evening line-up that follows Bret Baier. Better yet – give Dave Carter a show.