Pete: F&FW “Co-host”

Hegseth in the Middle! Fox & Friends Weekend “host” Pete Hegseth has apparently arrived as the successor to Tucker Carlson. Sunday, Pete was the centerpiece of “‘Sweet’ Surprise: Custom Chocolate with F&F [sic] Hosts’ Faces.”

In their usual promo segment with “Money Honey” Maria Bartiromo who follows them with her own show, co-hosts Abby Huntsman and Clayton Morris displayed a box of chocolates with the faces respectively of Abby on the left on a chocolate, of Pete seemingly strategically placed in the middle on another, and of Clayton on a right one. As the camera featured the Forest Gump-like delights, Abby remarked, “They are so wonderful, and they brought up our personalized chocolate [inaudible]: You can see there Clayton, Pete, and myself.” Aptly, Pete replied, “You should be in the middle though!”

The die seems to have been cast: When one goes to Fox News Insider re Fox & Friends Weekend (“About”), it reads “Join Abby Huntsman, Clayton Morris and Pete Hegseth.” On F&FW‘s Twitter site, the latest Tweet (by Abby on May 5th) reads, “It’s this crew all weekend. Come spend your morning with us!! @fox&friends 6-10am ET @PeteHegseth @ClaytonMorris.”

Oddly, or simply in a dilatory fashion, Fox & Friends’ website names both Abby and Clayton as co-hosts but not Pete. Even though Pete himself stills lists himself simply as a “@FoxNew contributor,” F&FW producers indicated that he was now a co-anchor as it presented the three “co-hosts” Twitter addresses on the hour both Saturday and Sunday and presented them as the trio that reigned from the curvy couch without a hint that Pete was a fill-in.

A la Tucker Carlson, it seems that F&FW simply wants to slip in the latest anchor with little notice to its fans. A mite over a month ago, this Carpe Diem author remarked, “Perhaps, it is a mite premature, Pete: But, welcome aboard the F&FW ship!” Now, he says welcome aboard, Pete: You deserve your seat on the curvy couch.

Pete Hegseth: Next F&FW Co-host?

“Looking forward to many weekends together, [Abby].” Fox & Friends Weekend crew being finalized? Of late, former F&FW co-anchor Anna Kooiman abdicated as queen of the F&FW curvy couch for the Land Down Under, and erstwhile F&FW co-host Tucker Carlson followed suit for his very own eponymous show, Tucker Carlson Tonight. Yesterday, Fox & Friends First co-host Abby Huntsman was named the new queen of the F&FW curvy couch.

Re one permanent F&FW co-anchor seat left outstanding, Fox News Insider declared, “Abby Huntsman, Clayton Morris and a rotating male co-host for the perfect start to your Saturday and Sunday.” However, frequent fill-in co-host Pete Hegseth may have hinted at the actual answer to whom the next F&FW co-anchor is. In a congratulatory Tweet to Abby yesterday, he wrote, “Huge congrats to @HuntsmanAbby! Talented, smart, and fun. Well earned”: Concluding, Pete remarked, “Looking forward to many weekends together. A fun ride ahead, indeed!”

Early this morning, Abby Tweeted, “Thanks Pete!! See you this weekend ;).”

Hmm: It appears that “rotating male anchor” just might be Pete. And, that’s not a bad thing.

Hemmer: Carlson’s “Fun” Parties

“Mom says, ‘Don’t tell me that stuff, Gretchen. I don’t want to know!” Gretchen Carlson, host of The Real Story shared the scoop on her wild ways with American Newsroom Bill Hemmer in their early days. FNC fun: Beefcake Bill and Carlson Cheesecake!

In a new segment entitled “My Friends at Fox,” Gretchen brought out Bill for its inaugural debut with the seeming double entendre hashtag #WHATSYOURBEEF. After posing political queries to Bill, Gretch concluded the interview, saying, “As part of my ‘Friends at Fox,’ we’re also interested in our guests giving us just one more thing, maybe, something that people don’t know about you!”*

Raising his eyebrows and chuckling, Bill sheepishly exclaimed, “Now!”

Giggling, Gretchen replied, “Now, Hemmer…I’ve known you for a long time. I know that you left your job and traveled the world for a year: you’ve been to sixty countries. I know that you love golf–I know a lot more about you!”

After some additional idle chatter, Gretchen concluded their segment together [FNI vid], saying, “Well, time for my take now. Today we kicked off My Friends at Fox is because one of the best things about working in the TV business is what a small world it actually and how you keep running into the same people you’ve worked with before in another life. Well, that happened right here at this office a couple times.”

As a throwback pic of the happy duo embracing appeared onscreen [FNI pics (w/i vid)], Gretchen remarked, “Take a look at these gems! Yep, this is Bill Hemmer and Gretchen Carlson from the early days in our careers.” As Bill jested, “PhotoShop!,” yet another pic of the two happily together appeared: Giggling, Gretchen continued,”The late ’90’s when we were both still in our very young twenties, hanging out and working together at WCPO in Cincinnati. We had a lot of fun, right, Bill!”

Seemingly, starting to remember those times together anew, Bill suggestively responded, “Ah, hnh!”

Innocently, Gretchen intoned, “But, the best thing is that we’ve remained friends all these years….Bill and I both shared the same dream, to work hard and [to] see where we ended up. And, as fate would have it, we both ended up here at the Fox News Channel…Hemmer, truly one of my friends at Fox!”

Apparently, not quite ready for the conversation to end on that note, Bill chimed in, “Thank you, Gretchen. The parties you threw back in day!” As Gretchen try to shush him, Bill laughed, “Do your parents have any idea!”

Gretchen replied, “They do actually.” As Bill arched his eyebrows incredibly,  Gretchen saucily answered, “My mom says, ‘Don’t tell me that stuff, Gretchen: I don’t want to know!’ We had some fun, Hemmer!”

Real Story Throwback Thursday: Hemmer time–with Gretchen!

*The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson – 02/19/15 (@ 2:45 p.m. ET).

 

Molly Henneberg: Back From Maternity Leave

Molly: “Baby Jacquelyn…I miss her.” Today, FNC correspondent Molly Hennenberg was warmly welcomed back from her maternity leave by Happening Now co-anchor Jenna Lee. After Molly’s report (on Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s controversial trips home), Jenna queried, “Molly, where have you been by the way? Welcome back! It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.”* Radiant, Molly answered, “Thank you, Jenna and Jon [Scott]….It’s so good to see you both. I’m back from maternity leave. And, it’s wonderful to see everybody again.”

Meanwhile, as HN producers ran a pic of Molly holding her darling new daughter, Jenna inquired, “We have some photos just to share with our viewers so they know we’re not kidding. You have a cute little baby there….What’s her name?” Joyfully, Molly proclaimed, “Baby Jacquelyn. Her name is Jacquelyn Amanda. And, I miss her, and she’s just the sweetest little baby.”

Subsequently, as a second photo of a lone blue-eyed, brown-haired Jaquelyn in her pretty pink lace dress and then a third of her with her proud papa [Marine Capt. Chris Nagel] at the park aired,  Molly animatedly remarked, “Thanks for putting up the pictures of me. First-time mom knows, it’s, it’s a joy!” In response, perhaps, eagerly anticipating her own future maternal bliss with her new military stud hub [Navy SEAL Leif Babin], Jenna declared, “I love the picture of your husband and your little girl in matching sunglasses….That’s a great shot….The little girl is darling.”

Your “new Redskins fan” is darling indeed, Molly. Congratulations to you and Chris!

*Happening Now – 04/24/12 (@ 12:53 p.m. ET)

Update: For the second and third photos of Jaquelyn, supra, cf. Fox News Insider here.

Martha’s Slip Shows: Roger’s High “Five”

MacCallum right: The Five, Shine’s summer show permanent. Today, Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes confirmed what America’s Newsroom co-anchor Martha MacCallum let slip six days ago as reported by Carpe Diem: I.e., Fox News viewers will “be watching [co-hosts Andrea Tantaros and Bob Beckel] over the course of a year on The Five.” According to Fox News Insider, Ailes announced that “The Five has been picked up as a scheduled program for [FNC’s] 5 PM/ET time slot.

Once again, thanks for the tip, Martha, and, congrats, Five’rs!

H/t, J$P for the Tweet.