Today Independence Day had an double entendre aspect for Fox & Friends fans. You were free of FNC TV this morn: you could start the grill, prepare your adult libations, and get into the festive spirit without fear of missing much. F&F’s weekday crew of Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade, Gretchen Carlson, and Alisyn Camerota were replaced by their weekend co-horts of Clayton Morris, Dave Briggs, Ainsley Earhardt, and Courtney Friel. The B-Team offered little excitement with no fireworks donned in their newly conservative wardrobe. The castrato choir were enrobed in their dark suits and their female counterparts were cloaked in mundane midis. Scarily, I almost hoped for some of Clayton’s inanity to enliven the day.
One positive note: Courtney had a less happy take on the death of Larry Harmon a/k/a Bozo the Clown the second time around.
Tags: Bozo the Clown, Clayton Morris, Fox & Friends, Fox News
Carpe Diem 
July 4, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I watched it, and couldn’t remember what day it was. When I woke up enough to realize it was Friday, I was really disheartened. The crew was a lot more sedated today, but left me to z-z-z-z-z ! It was truly boring. They just do NOT have any interesting segments. I don’t know if they have to think up what to show, but it was so boring. And it was truly laughable when I saw their pictures from the 80’s. It makes you KNOW why they are so juvenile….
they ARE juveniles. I enjoyed all of the other 80’s photos during the week, and got watch them make fun of each other, but now, really, who can make fun of a cute kid. They were all cute kids, and you just can’t fathom that they would have been anything else but CUTE. Fox is bound and determined to make us watch them. I have noticed over the last year that Fox’s ratings have been slipping a little. I can’t help but believe that it is the revolving door of hosts.
It’s so very sad. Makes me want to sleep in every morning.
July 4, 2008 at 6:34 pm
I watched for a little bit this morning, and that confirmed my consistent impression that the show still bites. The Three Amigos (Ainsley, Dave, Claytoon) talk all over each other, as well as guests who actually appear to have things to add to the discussion. The worst? The babbling whenever The Romantics were playing!
Britney STILL can’t read headlines off the teleprompter, and it’s more apparent than ever that the speech coaches, image consultants, news/current events tutors didn’t make a dent in her vacant head.
M. Davey made an excellent point about the pics of these dolts from the 80s emphasizing how immature they are. Since these 3 WERE kids then, it didn’t seem that any of them had any of that “80s style” – like the big, teased hair.
Jake, what was that about Britney and the death of Bozo (who might be considered the patron saint of this crew)? Did she make light of the death of yet another TV legend?
July 4, 2008 at 7:56 pm
“…the second time around.” Hehehe. I can easily imagine Courtney Friel (the “Ted Baxter” with nice legs) reading off the prompter, “Bozo the Clown died today take your glasses off look concerned”.
I didn’t watch this morning’s summer school quality team deciding, instead, to check out Kiran Chetry and What’s-His-Name this morning in HD. Not bad, actually. I wanted to see America’s Newsroom after but was on CNN and forgot.
Talent at FNC has been coming and going since its inception and, regardless of how I felt about any particular host leaving, pretty much took it all in stride and justifiably expected that their programming would continue keeping me interested. I may have begun to suspect something not right when Gretchen Carlson replaced E.D. Hill and when Kiran left, but these last few months took it over the brink.
FNC has lost it… whatever that “it” they once had is.
July 4, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Boogiewoogee, I don’t ascribe negative intentions to Courtney. Nevertheless, when she read the story of Bozo’s death the first time, it was if she were reporting a joyful event. The second time she appeared to try to present it in a more mournful and respectful manner.
July 5, 2008 at 6:08 am
Jake, I didn’t mean to imply that bungling the reporting of yet another TV icon’s death was intentional, but just another example of the vapid and cavalier attitude so common on this show.
Well, someone here (not I!) left the TV on FNC last night, so I just watched a few minutes before scrambling for the remote. I noticed that while teasing the headlines, not one story was about serious news – it’s all fluff. Once again, they screw up details, like when trying to tie in a story about the actress who played Cindy Brady into the 80s Week thing. Um no, morons. The Brady Bunch was 1970s. EARLY 70s, you idiots.
Before changing the channel, we were wondering why Britney is wearing her nightgown at work this morning.
July 5, 2008 at 8:49 am
Heavens! At one point I thought I would scream. The country singer did much better that any of the Three Mouseketeers. THey just continually talk over each other. One guest was telling something and Ainsley just kept interrupting and before long Clayton chimed in and they just CANNOT stop the darned slapstick comedy! Somehow I though slapstick was way before their time. But, I guess someone has told them to have a good personality, but it would have been nice if they had told them to use their brains.
And…while I do feel sorry for Courtney, she just absoultely stinks at news reader or anything, really. It’s time to ditch her. Maybe she could help her husband do something.
July 5, 2008 at 10:26 am
If I want to watch “The Three Stooges;” I’ll throw a dvd/tape on and laugh at Larry, Moe, and Curly!
I refuse to watch the F&FW version pushed upon us by the idiots in charge of selecting the “hosts” of this mess!
July 5, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Get rid of Courtney, Anisley, Clayton and Dave and bring back Page Hopkins, Kelly Wright, Greg Kelly, or Juliet Huddy and Mike Jarrett. Fox and Friends weekends suck anymore. we all need to contact Fox and let them know how we feel.
July 5, 2008 at 3:46 pm
I’ve been very careful NOT to turn on the tv when I know the weekend crew is in charge. So, I didn’t watch Friday or today. I absolutely refuse to somehow add one more tv to their ratings. Sounds like I missed only their usual fare–which stinks to high heaven.
I still think the best one to email with complaints is their executive producer, whose name is Dave Brown. I sent an email to dave.brown@foxnews.com several weeks ago. Never got a response–didn’t expect to get one. But, the email didn’t come back so I know someone got it. Whether or not they read them is another matter. We can still give our emails a title like “F&FW Still Sucks”. That gets the point across even if they don’t read the email. Not much of a plan, but it’s the best one I can come up with.
July 5, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Boy you are a tough crowd. The hosts on these shows don’t come up with all of the segments themselves! They meet and may contibute ideas- but there are such people as producers and executive producers whose job it is to “create” the show segments. It is “team work” and no one person makes or breaks these news or non-news segments. I’m guessing you feel Page, Kelly, Greg, Juliet and Mike who are all more experienced (older) walked into their “on air talent” jobs with some inate skills that no one else can gain with age and experience?
July 5, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I tried that email addy to Dave Brown, GRITS, and the response I quickly received back said there was “a fatal flaw”.
Indeed.
July 5, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Michelle, I don’t expect F&FW to magically be up to Mike, Juliet, & Julian caliber. While I like Page, and Kelly, Mike Jarret, et.al., they weren’t up to that level, either, but they professional in their journalistic abilities as well as entertaining to watch.
Perfection is neither attainable nor desired, but this crew is too painful to watch and I miss that part of my weekend mornings.
July 6, 2008 at 5:10 am
While I may be the only one here who’s not a big fan of Mike & Juliet, at least they were watchable.
Wow, Michelle, thanks for telling us what we didn’t already know: that the likes of Page, Greg, Kelly, Mike & Juliet weren’t born on the set of F&FWe. Then again, they actually EARNED it and didn’t make their painful rookie mistakes on a featured show on a national news channel.
With all of the prior incarnations of F&FWe (except when Britney was a poor replacement for Kiran Chetry), I walked away from the show feeling that I was informed and entertained. With this current lineup? I felt neither, just insulted that my time was being wasted and being told that the PTB don’t care about me, since I’m not a horny, male shut-in.
Hey, Michelle. Maybe the producers create these dumbed down segments because they know that the morons aren’t capable of anything serious, let alone complex.
July 6, 2008 at 11:47 am
Well! Michelle! I think we know that it is a team effort, but I was just trying to believe that something was going wrong and the grown-ups were locked in and the children were at work! I choose to believe that experienced people would not have a hand in this juvenile stuff.
Sorry, they are producing some awful segments that look as if they were put together, as I said once before, by the Saturday Night Live crowd, when they did a high school t.v. show. It’s just depressing.
July 6, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Sorry, Al, that the email didn’t go through. I just knew that mine didn’t come back when I sent it several weeks ago. He’s probably had to change his email addy since then.
While I do realize that the anchors do not come up with all the segments they present and that there is a team of folks putting on this show, I am annoyed by this team of amateurs who bumble the news, fall all over each other to get their face time, preen like peacocks, and haven’t a clue as to how to act like adults. As was stated by M.Davey, this looks like a high school presentation instead of a multi-million-dollar network program.
Mike/Juliet/Julian were not my particular favorites. But I didn’t just detest them either, and I did watch them. I personally liked the Greg/Kiran/Kelly or Greg/Page/Kelly set up. They were fun, but not so wet behind the ears. I felt like adults were in charge. That’s not the case now, and I cannot and will not waste my time watching the juveniles. I used to DVR the show so as not to miss a moment. Now, I refuse to turn on my tv. Fox has lost a ardent fan–my viewership of Fox programs across the board is way down. I am just very disappointed in the way these changes have been handled, and I will not have anyone cram something down my throat that I don’t like. That’s just my opinion, and I’m entitled to that!
July 6, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Years ago I took a college blow-off class on media because I needed the credits and, in it, we learned how subtle techniques can be used to influence the audience’s perception of a story or subject of the story. Watching the identical piece from two perspectives, for example, wherein one was of a congressman viewed from above eye level with the camera pointed slightly down. This made him appear petty and foolish, while the exact same scene viewed from just below eye level gave him… wisdom and authority. The adjectives chosen by the reporter often conveyed a similar subliminal message – perhaps without even the reporter realising what s/he had done.
This is a long way around getting to my point that this isn’t just about F&FW I’m bugged about. I’ve known for years that the networks rarely presented a “fair and balanced” perspective and that stupid 3 credit class enlightened me to the fact that CNN wasn’t unbiased, either.
Then I came across F&FW with Mike, Juliet and Julian. Fun, informative, professional, and very fair… so I checked out the rest of FNC’s programming and was pleasantly surprised. Everybody gets the same camera angle on FNC. I was still ticked when FNC didn’t present an issue the way *I* thought it should have been, but I couldn’t honestly claim they weren’t being fair and balanced. I heard all the bs about it being right-wing and the network of “blond babes”, but I often had to re-evaluate my position on something after seeing both sides and their ratings confirmed to me that others probably agreed.
When Alisyn, Kiran and Julian (and later Kelly) took over F&FW it was still a quality show and continued that way when Page came on. I don’t care who they put before the cameras; I want to watch a quality show and I expect the news and discussions of current events to be presented fairly. I fear that the dumbing of F&F will continue to permeate throughout the network…… Laurie Dhue would fill-in for Shep Smith and we still got hard, unbiased news. Anybody here so certain that Courtney Friel won’t be sub-ing for Shep sometime in the near future?
July 7, 2008 at 6:26 am
Filling in for Shep? Nah, think bigger. I’m just waiting for the inevitable day that I turn on our TV @ 6:00 on a weekday and hear “Welcome to Special Report with Brit Hume. Sitting in for Brit Hume tonight is Courtney Friel.”
Or maybe she can do Chris Wallace’s Sunday show on the broadcast network.
Anyway, Al Davis, I think that the bimbosity is already infiltrating the rest of FNC. Jill “Can’t Pronounce the Word ‘Picture'” Dobson is another example. Who’s the idiot who decided that FNC not only needs Britney, but also a full-time “entertainment correspondent” in the person of Dobson?
July 7, 2008 at 5:57 pm
I assume, but have no idea whatsoever, that FNC couldn’t reach a contract deal with either McCuddy and Bernhard and signed Dobson to fill the spot. I believe Friel was already on staff so TPTB must not have thunk she could handle much more than “Lips & Ears”.
July 7, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Friel was hired as an entertainment correspondent, with most of her duties supposedly on the dotcom side of operations. But then things went horribly awry. I think it may have had to do with Kiran Chetry being abruptly bounced from the network.
McCuddy and Bernhard did interviews, while Dobson just sits there and in that ucky voice breathlessly tells us the latest breaking news from Hollyweird.
July 7, 2008 at 8:57 pm
McCuddy needs to come back to FNC … The entertainers that he interviewed actually respected him and they got a big kick out of how he would spin the interveiws during the junkets and ask them different questions than the other entertainment reporters would ask …
Jill Dobson was with one of the tabloids before she got hired at FNC … and I’d regularly see her on CNN / MSNBC / etc … talking about the latest celebrity gossip … It was never hard hitting celeb news …
One of McCuddy’s best skills was doing the celeb retrospectives when a celeb had passed away … He had built a longtime relationship with those in the entertainment industry & you could hear the sadness in his voice in those segments …
The retrospective quality is something that Courtney can’t master … When reading a news bit about Paul Newman dropping out of directing a play because he’s sick, she was all “Get well soon or something” and was doing the Pee-Pee dance at the time … Most insiders say that Paul’s got cancer … Courtney completely disrespected the man …
July 8, 2008 at 5:10 am
Dobson didn’t really work for “Star” in terms of researching and writing stories, but was hired to go on TV and be “the face” of the magazine every time Britney (Spears, not Friel), Paris and Lindsay got stinko drunk/hauled off to rehab/arrested/flashed their junk, and just read other people’s work.
Thank you, tiamatsrevenge, for pointing out how Britney Friel screwed up reporting Paul Newman’s illness and (again) showed disrespect to a legend. At this point, I’d be surprised if this crew of miscreants were ever respectful and appropriate when an older legend is ill or deceased.
July 8, 2008 at 7:43 am
I miss Bill McCuddy. He was very good at his job. He understood that he was “reporting” on total fluff (Hollywood), yet made it interesting, always with a tongue-in-cheek attitude. He was respectful of his subjects, yet had fun with them.
Geez, what has happened to FNC, now that they have messed up on reporting about Hollywood????? Give me Bill McCuddy back! Why did they boot all these competent people, and give us Courntey, Clayton, Dave, Ainsley, Jill…..I cannot stomach CNN/NBC/ABC/MSNBC. Now where shall I get my news? My neighbors, I guess. They are more competent than Courntey/Ainsley. Smarter, too.
July 9, 2008 at 1:05 am
boogie – Courtney really did say “Get well or something” … I was shocked … For someone like her who claims to love all things “Hollywood” … She completely disrespected a living legend … And she was standing on that stupid little platform, dancing around like she had to pee and couldn’t wait for the “headlines” segment to be over …
The fact that the idiot quads are still on … as well as filling in for the weekday hosts … is proof positive that Roger Ailes / Bill Shine / John Moody are ALL suffering from senile dementia and have clearing lost all sense of rational & thought processes … If they thought FNC was the laughing stock of the media a few years ago when stupid Jerry Riviera drew that “map” in the sand whilst in Iraq, the idiot quads have pushed the network to an all-time low … Gosh, why not hire Jenna Jameson & Ron Jeremy for F&FW ?? They’d probably do a better job at it … At least, Ron’s got an advanced college degree …
July 9, 2008 at 2:23 pm
“Get well or something”??? Good freaking grief. Britney considers Hollywood to be all about Lindsay Lohan, Misha Barton, Paris Hilton & that ilk. The other stuff is just “old people.”
I don’t know much about Jenna Jameson (other than I think she’s the one who mutilated herself with way too much plastic surgery), but Ron Jeremy (gross as he is) actually has a brain and a personality. I’d watch him on F&FWe over Claytoon AND Dave.
July 9, 2008 at 7:34 pm
boogie – Yuppers … That’s what she said … That party girl needs to realize that there’d be no Hollywood of today if it weren’t for the “old people” … And in actuality, it’s the celebutards that are killing Hollywood … The Hollywood of today is NOT the Hollywood that I grew up & worked in …
Yeah, Jenna’s the one that had too much plastic surgery & not enough food …
Ron’s gross … but the guy’s got a Master’s degree in Education … and was a Special Ed teacher in upstate New York before he went into the blue movie biz … Tammy Faye Bakker/Messner actually liked Ron (sans his career) when they were on “The Surreal World” & after …
August 19, 2009 at 11:38 am
I refer to the men on the Sunday crew on F & F as Clayton the Clown and Dave the Doofus. These two are truly he pits.