Five replaces Carlson; Bolling replaces Five; and Watters replaces Bolling. Yesterday, FNC honcho Rupert Murdoch “caved”: Joined his boys James and Lachlan in dethroning the King of Cable Bill O’Reilly (statement)–while O’Reilly was on vacation. And, O’Reilly did not get the last word on his once eponymous show last night newly named simply The Factor.
Rather, The Factor fill-in host Dana Perino solemnly declared, “Finally, tonight, it is the end of an era here at the Fox News Channel….Bill O’Reilly is leaving this chair and this network after more than twenty years. Bill has been the undisputed king of cable news, and for good reason: He is an incredibly talented broadcaster who raised the bar for interviewers everywhere; he has also held his staff to exacting standards in his quest to put the best possible program on the air and they are great; and you his audience responded in record numbers making The Factor the number one cable news show for more than sixteen years.” Trying to soften the blow to O’Reilly’s fans further, Dana declared, “In a memo to the staff today, Rupert, James, and Lachlan Murdoch who run Fox News described Bill this way, [saying], “By ratings standards, Bill O’Reilly is one of the most accomplished TV personalities in the history of cable news. In fact, his success by any measure is indisputable. We wish him the very best.”
Even though the Murdochs recently re-signed their FNC flagship anchor and top revenue generator to an 18-million-per-year contract, they decided to jettison O’Reilly amid the continuing allegations of sexual harassment. According to the New York Times, Fox luminaries Rebecca Gomez (2011), Laurie Dhue (2016), and Juliet Huddy (2016) have received settlements: Furthermore, reportedly, erstwhile Outnumbered regular Andrea Tantaros‘s psychologist Michele Berdy said under oath that Andrea “complained to me about recurring unwanted advances from Bill O’Reilly.” To boot, the New York Daily News reported, “On the day before he [O’Reilly] was booted, a black colleague said a leering O’Reilly shamelessly ogled her cleavage and nicknamed her ‘Hot Chocolate.'”
Not amused, O’Reilly responded to his firing, saying, “It is tremendously disheartening that we [Fox News and O’Reilly] part ways due to completely unfounded claims. But that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today. I will always look back on my time at Fox with great pride in the unprecedented success we achieved and with my deepest gratitude to all my dedicated viewers.” [For full statement, link here.]
As to O’Reilly’s dedicated viewers, they will now have “a new evening and prime time lineup” according to Fox News. As of Monday (April 24), Tucker Carlson Tonight will replace the recently renamed O’Reilly Factor (to The Factor); The Five will follow with the usual cast of Kimberly Guilfoyle, Greg Gutfeld, Dana Perino, Juan Williams, and Bob Beckel with the addition of Jesse Watters to take Eric Bolling‘s middle chair (April 24); Bolling gets his own show in the old The Five slot at 5:00 p.m. ET (May 1).
Coaxing his own Tucker Carlson Tonight viewers to make the jump to the new time last night, Tucker concluded his show saying, “There is change coming to Fox News, the channel and to this program: Starting Monday, we are moving to 8 p.m. Eastern Time. You’ve made the journey with us from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.: We hope you’ll come along once more and join us an hour earlier.” Graciously, he aptly added, “We’ve got big shoes to fill: We’re going to do our best.”
Indeed, Tucker does have big shoes to fill: Whether O’Reilly devotees will give Tucker that chance remains to be known. And, to whether FNC fans cotton to James and Lachlan’s kinder, gentler Fox News is another issue altogether: Their father Rupert had the Midas touch with his “Mad Men” mentality. Going PC may be FNC’s folly: Alchemy in reverse.
Tags: Bill O'Reilly, Bob Beckel, Dana Perino, Eric Bolling, FNC, Fox News, Greg Gutfeld, James Murdoch, Jesse Watters, Juan Williams, Juliet Huddy, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Lachland Murdoch, Laurie Dhue, Mad Men, Midas touch, New York Daily News, New York Times, O'Reilly Factor, Outnumbered, Rebecca Gomez, Rupert Murdoch, The Five, Tucker Carlson
Carpe Diem 
April 20, 2017 at 9:53 am
The date of April 4 has been noted twice in this post. Perhaps a typo…Could it be April 24 instead?
April 20, 2017 at 10:56 am
If you believe former Foxettes like Kirtsen Powers, Margaret Hoover, Alisyn Camerota and others, Bill O’Reilly deserved what he got…although if he does get 10s of millions that will no doubt annoy many people.
But what we all lose here is that format hat served him so well — in fact it served Olbermann well back in his prime when he had #1 show on MSNBC.
Namely — and generally speaking — a format with opening remarks (or closing remarks in KO’s case) along with a 50-50 split between political discussions the first 1/2 hour and non-political discussions the second half.
Why CNN never stole this ‘winner’ baffles me to this day.
April 20, 2017 at 11:00 am
To be clear — b/c peeps have misinterpreted this before — when I say “#1 show on MSNBC” that’s literally what I mean. Please don’t infer I mean #1 on cable news.
April 20, 2017 at 1:57 pm
Avondale, thank you for catching the “April 4” clerical errors: It was a little early in the morning for this Louisiana lad. :-)
April 20, 2017 at 2:05 pm
Tom, you may well be right re the former Fox gals now on CNN as to Bill: Of course, imo, FNC rival CNN is going to milk the narrative for whatever it’s worth and then some. A bit of schadenfreude, if you will.
April 20, 2017 at 2:37 pm
Avondale25,
Your username got my attention.
Agua Fria High School
530 E. Riley Road
Avondale, AZ
Have you heard of it? I was a student there for my sophomore year (only) over 50 years ago.
April 21, 2017 at 8:09 am
Reports over the years have mentioned that several female current and former Fox News contributors (big names too) would no longer going on The Factor. One big name was reported that she no longer offered to substitute for Bill O’Reilly. Years ago, Gretchen Carlson had a weekly spot on The Factor, as did Juliet Huddy. I wonder if Ms. Carlson’s lawsuit mentioned Bill O’Reilly.
I also checked Crystal Wright’s twitter page yesterday, and her tone was O’Reilly got what he deserved. I always liked Ms. Wright’s insights on Fox News.
Bottom line: female contributors and Fox News employees refusing to work with O’Reilly – that should speak volumes that something was not kosher.
April 23, 2017 at 10:28 pm
My husband is a psychiatrist, and I asked him the reason that O’Reilly just would not ask a woman out for a date. He said that it was clear that he wanted to dominate in the relationship. I do not understand the reason that he would settle in the millions if there was not substance to the allegations. I tried to forget about the odd behavior with the producer in 2004, but sadly, this seemed to be standard operating procedure. I loved his show. He was a great interviewer. He has hurt lots of co-workers, viewers, and family members. I loved Fox, but even in the past, I thought the attire of the females was embarrassing and seemed to be a coerced choice of dresses that were inappropriate. I was right that something else was going on there. SO SAD. I believed Gretchen Carlson immediately. She had integrity unlike some of the latecomers to O’Reilly’s prosecution.
April 24, 2017 at 1:01 pm
Gigs, you make an excellent point as to the settlements for millions of dollars. But, sex does sell as the old saw reminds us. As such, the gals will be tempted to attract the viewers with more alluring attire than they may normally display. As a consequence, they may get more eyes or better ratings and “the bosses” may hear that siren call–at their peril. Once, Helen Gurley Brown, the legendary editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan and author of “Sex and the Office” wistfully remembered when the guys in her office at an FM radio station in L.A. would engage daily in “Scuttle” in which the guys would choose a girl and chase her around the desk and remove her panties: She bemoaned the fact that she had not been chosen. Link: https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2012/08/25/what-happened-when-women-joined-office/iaCLMPoeUMqICHC4MB1fYO/story.html Ergo, when one introduces sex into the equation, it is not always an easy call.
April 27, 2017 at 4:39 pm
Good riddance to O’Reilly. Waaay too many whispers about him for years. I was shocked that he finally got his proper comeuppance and was fired. I, for one, am happy he’s gone. And I hope he stays gone.
April 30, 2017 at 4:16 pm
FYI, I think Michelle Malkin is the woman who refused to substitute host for O”Reilly, but it was because of Geraldo and Tamara Holder’s comments regarding Malkin and not because of BOR.