Martha in the Middle

For the second day in a row, the attractive Martha MacCallum, has guest-hosted Fox and Friends. The co-anchor of FNC’s “The Live Desk” has acquitted herself quite nicely: she is engaging, informed, and humorous. Also, she appears to really jive in the middle seat with Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy: the trio seem like good friends comfortably discussing the latest news over coffee. She may not be Alisyn Camerota but she’s not Gretchen Carlson either.

Kiran, Fans Play Hookey Tuesday

With Kiran Chetry at the helm Monday, American Morning beat Fox & Friends in the key 25-54 demographic of viewers by a margin of 10,000 viewers (212,000 to 202,000). However, Kiran took Tuesday off and so did many of her loyal fans. In fact, AM lost almost half of the viewers (25-54), a whopping 101,000 of them. Apparently, some of them migrated to Fox & Friends (co-hosted by Alisyn Camerota): F&F increased its share of this key demographic by approximately 12%.

Kiran is back this morning. Are her many fans? AM executive producer, Janelle Rodriguez, no doubt hopes so.

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/07/30/cable-news-ratings-for-tuesday-july-29/4567

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/07/29/cable-news-ratings-for-monday-july-28/4564

Kiran Rules Demo Monday

Monday Kiran Chetry ruled the most desired demographic  (25-54) as she led CNN’s “looser” American Morning to a slim but vivid victory over her erstwhile employer, FNC’s Fox & Friends. (AM: 212,000 and F&F: 202,000.) The deliciously ironic win must have been especially satisfying to Kiran after F&F gave its center seat surprisingly to Gretchen Carlson last year and then unceremoniously canned Kiran for allegedly demanding Gretch’s seat within a specific time period. However, perhaps, tempering the glee, the win did come at the expense of her friend and former colleague on F&FW, Alisyn Camerota, who was substituting for Gretchen Carlson.

Congratulations, Kiran!

Links:

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/07/29/cable-news-ratings-for-monday-july-28/4564

“Looser” AM: Kiran Will Rule

Aly’s On: Gretch On FNC “Vacation”?

Isn’t is refreshing to see Alisyn Camerota with Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade? She has a real rapport with the guys unlike regular Gretchen Carlson: Aly clicks and Gretch grinds. Today Steve and Brian did not roll their eyes and try to “get” the the ditzy blonde in the middle today.

Furthermore, Aly doesn’t mind being eye candy for her audience. E.g., the Italian delight is wrapped in a sexy royal blue sleeveless mini with a taste of cleavage: however, as usual she is on her game today. She’s not a mere airy treat: she a delicious morsel with substance.

Enjoy her while you can on Fox & Friends. After this week she returns to F&FW with the castrato choir of Clayton Morris and Dave Briggs. Unless Gretch is on a FNC “vacation”!

Ainsley’s Fate Sealed

The fate of Ainsley Earhardt, the South Carolina cutie, was sealed as soon as the castrato choir (and Courtney Friel) was enlisted to sail the F&FW ship with her. To Ainsley afficionados, she appears sweet, genuine, and promising whereas to her detractors, she seems saccharine, naive, and green. She may well share all of these attributes in some measure but she never was able to find her footing flanked by the castrato choir.

Why Clayton Morris and Dave Briggs were conscripted after Page Hopkins, Kelly Wright, and Greg Kelly were thrown overboard is unfathomable to this author. I missed FNC’s inexplicably delayed introduction of the pair to the F&FW audience. If anyone gleaned a reasonable explanation, please comment: if not, please feel free to share the import of the segment. Thanks!

AM’s Kiran vs. FNC’s Aly

Former Fox & Friends Weekend co-host contemporaries, Kiran Chetry and Alisyn Camerota, faced off today in a cable morning news battle of brainy beauties. With regular F&F Gretchen Carlson having the week off, F& F guest co-host Aly went toe-to-toe, rather, leg-to-leg with Kiran, American Morning’s co-anchor. Their delightful duel augurs well for the audience this week.

With Aly and Kiiran adorned in similarly hued tops (Aly’s persimmon & Kiran’s reddish orange) and black minis, the two put on a delicious display of witty repartees, intelligent interviews, and overall excellence. Both sexy sirens exhibited their ease in front of the adoring camera and with their captivated colleagues.

Kiran v. Aly. If only this matchup could continue on a permanent basis. Neither luscious lovely is a loser and the viewer is the clear winner!

Back in the Saddle!

Back in the saddle again! Alisyn Camerota has returned to rule the roost on Fox & Friends Weekend. Once a part of the popular earlier F&FW incarnation that included American Morning’s co-host Kiran Chetry and motivational speaker Julian Phillips, Aly has come back to revitalize F&FW’s listing ship. Like her weekday F&F rival Gretchen Carlson, she serves as both co-host and headlines reader. (Ainsley Earhardt will probably continue to be a Fox News news reader in the evening and a correspondent for Hannity’s America while Courtney Friel will probably remain as an FNC entertainment correspondent.)

Not too surprisingly, Aly looks as if she hasn’t been up this early on the weekend for a while: She probably hasn’t. Aly looks somewhat sleepy-eyed albeit with a trouper’s pep and enthusiam. Unfortunately, she grabbed the wrong garb, i.e., a green midi rather than a more flattering mini. Nevertheless, it’s wonderful to see her in the center seat.

Can Aly take Clayton Morris and Dave Morris to a much needed higher level? Time will tell. Let’s hope so.

Aly’s Tease

Delectable Alisyn Camerota is back and raring to rock! In her tease with Clayton Morris of Fox & Friends Weekend on F&F today, Aly purred, “It [F&FW’s show] sounds so good, Clayton, I wish that I could be part of it.” Of course, Clayton then asked, “Would you like to join the weekend team? She replied, “You mean with you and Dave Briggs?…I would love it.” And so will her fans!

Rick Reichmuth will continue as meteorologist. However, will Ainsley Earhardt and/or Courtney Friel still have a role to play? Stay tuned.

Cowgal Gretch Lassoes Wallace

Fetchin’ Gretchen Carlson, clearly excited Chris Wallace, host of Fox News Sunday (FNS) today. Alluding in his FNS promo to an earlier segment with Kinky Friedman with Gretch bedecked in a black cowboy hat and clutching a cigar with her lips, Chris panted, “Let me just say…I was thinking how to clean this up. Gretchen when you were wearing that cowboy hat and smoking that cigar you looked very fetching!” After Chris elaborated on his upcoming show in general, Gretchen re-enacted and accentuated her sultry cowboy/cigar look for Chris. He responded, “Oh! Mama! You should take that home for your husband tonight.” Brian Kilmeade interjected, “Hey, Chris! Is there a shower in that studio?”

Another AM Cover-up [Mea culpa!]

[Mea culpa! See, infra, Tom B’s comment setting me straight and my chastened response.]

For the second time in three days, American Morning producers have done a mid-show cover-up of Kiran. In the second half of the first hour, they did a John Ashcroft-like veiling of her golden globes and today at approximately the same time they cloaked her knees. In an ingenius attempt at subterfuge, they gave Kiran a skirt which was similarly colored khaki but longer in length (from @ 3 in. above the knee to over it) and with a slit in the back.

Does CNN expect a more conservative demographic at 6:30 ET to tune in? Jazz it up, Janelle! Just because you are competing against an Alisyn Camerota-free Fox & Friends doesn’t mean you can let up. Your AM audience is watching!

Golden Globes Eclipsed

“We’ll Be Right Back”

American Morning had an abrupt ending today. After AM’s apparent penultimate segment (update on Dolly in TX), Kiran said, “We’re going to take a quick break and we’ll be right back.” However, when programming returned, CNN Newsroom appeared without the usual farewell to the audience and then a segue to CNN Newsroom by Kiran Chetry and John Roberts. No explanation for the glitch was given.

Non-Green Barack Eats Bacon

Rocking Barack is taking his world tour to the Middle East and telling American voters that he is indeed a Christian not a Muslim as some opponents claim. In a predominantly Muslim area of the globe, Obama ate bacon (a verboten food to observant Muslims) with the troops in Afghanistan and eschewed the color green (a hue associated with Islam) as he toured the Middle East. He has no intention of the New Yorker cover having resonance in the coming campaign.

Golden Globes Eclipsed

The gorgeous golden globes of Kiran Chetry shone brightly at dawn until some prudish producer decided to eclipse them. Adorned in a ravishing red dress with a plunging neckline, a radiant Kiran greeted the American Morning viewer. However, an appreciative audience’s day was soon darkened: in the second half of the first hour, an AM prig pinned her neckline to obscure her bountiful bosom. The silver pin stayed fastly fixed throughout the remainder of the then stodgy show.

Gretch Resigns. Psych!

“Carlson_resigns_with_fnc” according to a TVNewser link provided by a reader named Al. Could it be that after Alisyn Camerota was sent to rescue F&FW from its precipitous decline that Gretchen Carlson would now resign and allow F&F to return to its glory days, too? Had F&F’s fortunes finally turned?

Oh, that it were true. When I read the story, i realized that the link’s absent punctuation marks had merely toyed with me meanly. Gretchen had re-signed not resigned.

Al, thanks for “punking” me!

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/fnc/carlson_resigns_with_fnc_89809.asp

Ainsley 4 F&FW News Reader?

Should Ainsley Earhardt stay on as news reader at Fox & Friends Weekend when Alisyn Camerota takes over as co-host? Yes, Aly is slated to take over the headline reader position, too. However, Ainsley’s would add another attractive female to an otherwise all-male crew. She’s definitely proved that she’s up to that task with her ample appearances in that role on Fox News’ evening programs. Even though her new position might be seen as a demotion, she seems to have alot of grace and humility and should be able to take it in stride.

Since Ainsley is now the F&FW co-host, it would be easier to move to the weekday Fox & Friends for her pride’s sake. However, she would probably make a more suitable news reader on F&FW, since her sweet earnestness would be seasoned with Aly’s saucy sassiness. What do you think?

Out of the box query: Should Clayton Morris or Dave Briggs be a news reader instead with Ainsley in the F&FW co-host chair? (Remember Aly last co-hosted F&FW with American Morning’s Kiran Chetry in a two girls/guy setup.)

Only One More Week

The times they are a’ changing! One more week until the lovely Alisyn Camerota makes her triumphant return to Fox & Friends Weekend as co-host. According to TV News Review, she will also serve as headlines reader. The talented, witty, and sexy Italian delight will be a breath of fresh air to those who remember headier F&FW times.

Aly cannot be expected to cure the program of all its ills, of course. She will have to contend with a frequently childish Clayton Morris and a too oft dull Dave Briggs as she and Kiran Chetry had to deal with a smug, self-centered Julian Phillips. Even though she won’t have a newsreader to play off of, she will have reliable Rick Reichmuth.

Can Aly tune up the constrato choir? Let’s hope that she can whip them into shape. Hope indeed springs eternal!

Link: http://tvnewsreview.com/fox-friends-changes-camerota-takes-over-weekends-179.htm

E.D. Again: Relates 2 “Nut Cut” Comment

Bill O’Reilly guest host, E.D. Hill, continued to push the Obama offense envelope last night. The former co-host of America’s Pulse, who lost her show shortly after asking if the Barack/Michelle Obama knuckle knock was a “terrorist fist jab,” told Geraldo Rivera that she could relate to Jesse Jackson’s “nut cut” comment. Geraldo responded, “What do you mean?” E.D. jested, “I’ve been through a divorce” and clarified that she didn’t mean it in a racial way after an Geraldo prompt. Part of the Texas beauty’s allure is her brash and blunt nature: however, one would expect her to try to be a mite more circumspect in her ad libs after her initial Barack blunder.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/09/fox-anchor-calls-obama-fi_n_106027.html

Feeling Guilty

If you are feeling guilty for enjoying Fox & Friends Saturday more than usual, don’t feel bad. After a week of nothing but Gretchen Carlson on F&F (with the asinine axing of the non-co-host newsreader role), Ainsley Earhardt and Courtney Friel may look better and better this weekend to the dedicated F&F fan. No, the author is not riveted to the television but, at least, there’s a bit of eye candy with the news. Also, one tends to be more charitable when saying goodbye.

Brian: “Beckham’s Boy Toy”?

Fox & Friends continues to portray manbag-toting, “guy-attentive” sportscaster and co-host Brian Kilmeade as a possible B(r)i-an Kilmeade. In its three-part interview with David Beckham, international soccer star, fashion icon, and straight/gay sex symbol, it intimates the blossoming of a “bromance” between the two. Gretchen Carlson, wife of Beckham’s agent, has robustly and relentlessly ribbed Brian about his attention to and affection for Beckham beyond the field. Steve Doocy has rolled his eyes and made a few jaunty jibes himself. Even Chris Wallace has tweaked Brian in a Fox News Sunday promo (kidding that he couldn’t get a Beckham interview), saying, “I’m not David Beckham’s boy toy: some people [i.e., Brian] are.” Taking it in stride, Brian has “blushed” and chuckled.

Even though Brian and Beckham are husbands and dads, it seems that both play off of a bi vibe to increase their popular reach. Putting them together for a much-hyped trio of interviews over two days seems to be a concerted effort to increase ratings by F&F in their target demographics. While F&F may draw more gays, it will probably not lose very many, if any, straights since it is a wink-wink, nod-nod, just-kidding approach.

One seems to hear echoes of a Seinfeld mantra.

AM’s Muse: Chetrylicious!

CNN’s comely Kiran Chetry was once Fox & Friends Weekend’s fox extraordinaire: now the brainy beauty is American Morning’s Muse. On AM this week, the Protean pretty transformed from a sassy sweetie in her short, sexy skirts and smart, strappy stilettoes to a demure mommie in her mundane midis and humble high heels. Hopefully, she will make full circle tomorrow and return to being simply Chetrylicious!