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O’Reilly on His Way Out at Fox News?
The rumor mill keeps spinning faster. From New York magazine:
The Murdochs have decided Bill O’Reilly’s 21-year run at Fox News will come to an end. According to sources briefed on the discussions, network executives are preparing to announce O’Reilly’s departure before he returns from an Italian vacation on April 24. Now the big questions are how the exit will look and who will replace him.
Wednesday morning, according to sources, executives are holding emergency meetings to discuss how they can sever the relationship with the country’s highest-rated cable-news host without causing collateral damage to the network. The board of Fox News’ parent company, 21st Century Fox, is scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss the matter.
Sources briefed on the discussions say O’Reilly’s exit negotiations are moving quickly. Right now, a key issue on the table is whether he would be allowed to say good-bye to his audience, perhaps the most loyal in all of cable (O’Reilly’s ratings have ticked up during the sexual-harassment allegations). Fox executives are leaning against allowing him to have a sign-off, sources say. The other main issue on the table is money. O’Reilly recently signed a new multiyear contract worth more than $20 million per year. When Roger Ailes left Fox News last summer, the Murdochs paid out $40 million, the remainder of his contract.
According to sources, Fox News wants the transition to be seamless. Executives are currently debating possible replacement hosts. Names that have been discussed include Eric Bolling, Dana Perino, and Tucker Carlson, who would move from his successful 9 p.m. slot and create a need for a new host at that time. One source said Sean Hannity is happy at 10 p.m. and would not want to move.
If O’Reilly is on his way out, who would you like to replace him?
Published in Entertainment
Jamie, I believe it’s called “showbiz”.
Agreed, they need to bring in McInnes. Liberal heads will explode every night at 9 PM ET.
That might make the most sense.
O’Reilly’s Next Book: Killing Bill O’Reilly
(I didn’t make that up.)
Carolla? The more you think about it, the more you think about it…
Is he too libertarian for Fox as Jamie suggests, or just the lunchbucket libertarian for Fox?
What recent events? What kind of shenanigans?
Seriously, I get the whole thing with Ailes, but we know very few specifics regarding O’Reilly.
His views on trade. That and he did write a very good article before the primaries with a tacit approval of Trump. I didn’t agree with it, but he made the best case for Trump in print that I have seen.
I wonder if Mike Huckabee would do well. He’s got a softer personality than the typical cable news host (O’Reilly, Carlson, Hannity, Kelly) but he might be a good change of pace. Put Carlson at 8 PM and Huckabee at 9 before Hannity.
There’s also Judge Jeanine Pirro who would attract an O’Reilly audience.
Mike Rowe
Mollie!
Mollie!
Mollie!
You people have no imagination. I’d stand on my head to see @MollieHemingway interview @jasonrudert.
TV would never be the same again.
What? I love it. I’m not saying his giggle is as cute as @MollieHemingway‘s but it’s close.
Red Eye
I think you have solved it. He is interesting, funny, timely, and far enough to the right. I have watched his entire hour many times, and enjoyed every segment. “The Dobbs Drubbing” would be a good name. Bring in Kennedy now and then for some of that Libertarian Red Meat. Some Meghan McCain for a little Centrist viewpoints (and for the heterosexual males) and that that McInnes dude for the ladies.
This could work!
O’Reilly’s show is 95% ego. The only man with an ego and audience large enough to replace him is Rush Limbaugh.
I have long maintained that if it weren’t for Rush Limbaugh, O’Reilly would to this day be still peddling smut stories on Inside Edition.
Having said that, I can’t think of a faster way to send Fox News to the TV graveyard by bringing in Limbaugh.
Through all the lineup changes that MSNBC and CNN have went through over their histories (except for the last two years), they’ve maintained and expanded profitability thanks to increasing cable subscriber fees.
Fox News now gets to have upheaval in its programming lineup right at the time when increasing cable subscriber fees is no longer sustainable. In fact, I’ve been maintaining that Fox News will be the first major cable network to have subscriber fee CUTS forced upon it. Combine that with the fact that FNC is far behind the other two in viewship/ease of use on mobile internet devices, the ability to get top-dollar talent to work for FNC at 8PM Eastern may be a secondary worry.
I’ve never been able to watch a whole episode of Lou Dobbs’ show. I will give Bill O’Reilly credit, he would have guests on his show with whom he disagreed. Sure, he would interrupt them but at least they had a shot. Each time I’ve watched a segment of the Dobbs show I’ve only ever seen guests who agree with him. Lou Dobbs strikes me as the Ed Schultz of the right, right down to the silly polls where 98% of the audience agrees with the host’s position.
You may have exposed a possible solution: Multiple hosts. Try a rotation and see if somebody becomes a standout candidate.
If what “The Hill” just posted is true, I think we are watching a Network commit suicide.
Granted, their options here were limited, but putting a show on at 9 PM featuring two hard-Leftists? Lunacy.
“Tucker Carlson Tonight” will move from its 9 p.m. spot into O’Reilly’s longtime 8 p.m. slot.
Taking over at 9 p.m. will be “The Five,” a panel show with six co-hosts: Kimberly Guilfoyle, Dana Perino, Bob Beckel, Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters and Juan Williams.
Fox’s announcement also noted that “The Story with Martha MacCallum” will debut on May 1 at 7 p.m.
EDIT: It is true, Fox has posted it here. Idiots.
Excuse me for a few minutes. I have to run out and get some more popcorn.
As I write this, Bret Baier is covering the story with Howie Kurtz. Tucker Carlson goes in at 8, The Five goes primetime. I think they covered it matter-of-factly, which is why I like Bret Baier.
That looks like a place-holder lineup to me.
Why isn’t it called “The Six”?
Because it takes two Leftists brains to make one brain.
Rush is kind of auditioning his future replacement this way via his guest hosts. It is obvious (to me anyway) who is in the running and who needs to go away. Most of them are an automatic turn-off-the-radio.
I think they have Williams and Beckel in rotation.
I haven’t been home in time to see “The Five” in a while. I haven’t been missing it either.
Many, many moons ago, on a Red Sox discussion board (off-topic section), there was a thread on O’Reilly and sexual harassment suits. This was like 1999/2000 era. I got into a discussion about it with someone, assuming, wrongly, that anyone with so much to lose wouldn’t be an idiot, and that the charges might have been something other than accurate.
I did profess not to know otherwise, and the person I was discussing this with had some inside industry information, saying his bad behavior toward women was rampant. So apparently it takes decades to dynamite someone out of their chair if they’re earning their keep.
Once the keep drops, and the cost to keep him there goes up, well, you do the math. Sounds like he earned his firing a long, long time ago.
Same here. At least a year. I seem to remember turning it on and seeing Kimberly and watching, seeing Dana and watching, then seeing Bob Beckel and click!
For what it’s worth, I thought this was interesting:
http://www.glennbeck.com/2017/04/19/exclusive-proof-that-liberals-are-working-to-remove-bill-oreilly-from-fox-news/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20170419GBDaily&utm_term=GB-Control
Will Fox News finally break the eery silence and talk about this? We’ll find out in 10 minutes.
Lisa Kennedy. She does great interviews and commentaries.
O’Reilly was so egotistical, both my husband ns and I could barely tolerate him. I did read one of his books, “Killing Patton”, and found it pretty elementary.