Fox News has shuffled its hosts to address the departure of Tucker Carlson.
Sean Hannity stays at 9 p.m. Eastern. Laura Ingraham moves from 10 p.m. to 7 p.m. Jesse Watters shifts to 8 p.m. Greg Gutfeld dips into primetime in the 10 p.m. slot.
READ MORE from Daniel J. Flynn: Tucker on Twitter Proves That Carlson Needed Fox
Tucker Carlson offered viewers meat-and-potato viewing. They replaced that with candy in Jesse Watters.
I like candy. I eat it. I cannot live on it.
Gutfeld, even more outside of the news than Watters, brings more candy into the primetime lineup. Outnumbered and The Five also go down the light, breezy path.
Fox News needs these shows. They set it apart from CNN and MSNBC. But to flood your lineup with them turns serious viewers away. A host need not come across as a stern crusader or anything like that. But on a news channel, man-in-the-street interviews, comedy skits, and animal videos should not devour so much time.
This isn’t a knock on Watters, who is a talented broadcaster — Bill O’Reilly plus a sense of humor and minus the peculiar vocabulary (pithy, counselor, what say you) — and Gutfeld, who, like a prime Howard Stern, attracts an audience not so much for what he says or does but for the cast surrounding him. It’s entertaining — right before midnight when the sandman sneaks up on you.
Fox News erred in not finding new talent outside of the network. It feels all very stale with the same hosts bouncing around and the guests — often contributors on the payroll — mouthing cliches and talking points.
Mostly, the fare does not fill. The sugar rush may boost ratings in the short run. They need something substantive around which to anchor their primetime lineup. Instead, they feed their viewers more junk food.
Fox News executives do not know their audience, which explains its diminution.
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