Heather: Happening Now Happily

Tony Snow: “God made you beautiful: Now you’ve got to make yourself smart.” Quirky Fox & Friends newsreader Heather Nauert seems to have found a more fitting slot of late on FNC as guest co-host of Happening Now.  Paired with HN regular co-anchor Jon Scott oft now that Jenna Lee is on maternity leave, the “Chicago” chirper excels in her new chair as a sharp counterpart to FNC’s whilom Shakespearean actor/go-to aviation “expert” Jon: Consequently, fans of F&F are treated to a more mellifluous Carolinian cadence in the early morn as F&F First co-hosts Heather Childers and Ainsley Earhardt often fill in for Heather N. as headline news anchor.

F&F fans can now enjoy their show more as the Southern belle beauties ameliorate their Yankee (Rhode Island) colleague Elisabeth Hasselbeck‘s too oft nasal sounds with their delightful drawl. To boot, the viewers are not subjected to a pedantic Ms. Romper Room Nauert who too oft wants to “tell you about this” before she actually does.

Yes, the “younger sister of another Heather (Locklear)” is beautiful, and she is smart. But, she can be pedantic and irritating a la erstwhile F&F anchor Gretchen Carlson when she talks down to her audience who generally know as much or more than she does. Like the former Miss America [vid] with her new show (The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson), Heather now seems to be more relaxed and at ease on HN–not feeling as if she has to prove her smarts to her audience vis-a-vis the boys, F&F co-anchors Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy.

Heather Happening Now: beautiful, smart–and, finally, starting to chill.

[Author’s aside: The subtitle, supra, is based on a Tony Snow quote cited in a Paul Farhi article in the Washington Post.]

F&F: Ainsley Replaces Heather?

Elisabeth Hasselbeck: “I love seeing you in the morning.” Yesterday, Fox & Friends First co-host Ainsley Earhardt filled in for F&F newsreader Heather Nauert. Regrettably, only for the day.

And, seemingly, that is the sentiment that co-anchor Elisabeth Hasselbeck expressed mid-show Monday. Segueing to Ainsley to proclaim the headline news, Elizabeth exclaimed, “You know who looks good? Ainsley!”* Turning to Elizabeth with a big smile, Ainsley cooed, “Aww, you’re so sweet!” Feeling the love, Elisabeth aptly answered,  “I love seeing you in the morning!” Perhaps, presciently, Ainsley responded, “Thanks! I love being with you guys!”

Ainsley does fit in rather well with Elizabeth and the F&F boys. Even though she may not have that “alpha bitch” prerequisite a la Lis to co-host with Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade, the South Carolina belle does add her delightfully genteel manner–friendly, funny, and deferential to the “stars” of the show. Instead of the awkward ad hoc observations that Heather too oft makes, Ainsley facilitates a smooth transition from and back to the co-hosts.

For fans of the Chi-town chick (like White House press secretary Tony Snow who told her “God made you beautiful”), she is not bad to look at–at all. But, sometimes, the leggy blonde beauty is just a bit too perky and chirpy for the Fox & Friends dawn. Ironically, an hour earlier, paired with the other Heather (Heather Childers), she can be a delightful wake-up call.

F&FF: Wake up to Heather–in fact, both of them! F&F: But, greet the day with Ainsley and Lis!

*Fox & Friends – 01/21/14 (@ 7:34 a.m. ET).

F&F First’s Nauert: Heather Who?

The late Tony Snow knew: “God made you [Heather] beautiful. Now you’ve got to make yourself smart.” Leggy lovely Fox & Friends First co-host Heather Nauert lit up the screen all week as she delivered the news much too early in the morn. As FNC viewers watched the tow-headed delight make her mark in the morn, they could be forgiven for asking, “Heather who?”

Before providing his particular answer,  Los Angeles Times columnist Paul Farhi posed a similar question albeit almost twelve years ago, asking, “Who the heck is Heather Nauert?” In a column entitled, “The Voice of Experience? Um, Not Exactly,” Farhi likened the then regular FNC contributor to the “younger sister of another Heather (Locklear), almost snidely noting that she shared Regis Philbin’s William Morris agent (while unsuccessfully reading for a Robert De Niro cine part) and was the “first to admit that she didn’t work her way up the journalist rungs. Even though Farhi seemed snarky initially, he rather fairly followed Heather’s journalist journey from an aspiring sixteen-year-old “Chicago-area [Rockford] scion” to FNC’s Senior VP of Programming Bill Shine’s hire in 2001.

Filling in the facts for his readers, Fahri related that Heather matriculated into Arizona State University in 1992; interned at WB as a country music veejay on “Young Country”; and graduated from Mount Vernon College. Further, he shared that she snared a position on NET “Youngbloods,” a parochial political polemics program (for “twentysomething conservatives and liberals). Then, when the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal occurred, Fahri recorded that Heather like other purported “pundettes” such as Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, etc. hit the proverbial pay dirt. Not necessarily admitting as such, Shine said, “When I first saw her, I thought Heather was our demographic, that she could bring in younger people.”

Poignantly, Farhi included the sage advice of the revered and deceased Tony Snow, former  “Fox News Sunday” anchor and whilom Bush 43 White House Press Secretary, to Heather.  Snow wisely cautioned, “God made you beautiful. Now, you’ve got to make yourself smart….TV can be a blond wasteland.” (Following his perspicacious counsel, seemingly, Heather now sports “her masters in journalism from Columbia University.”)

Subsequently, Heather did leave FNC  in  2005 for a few years: In June of that year, she went to ABC as an Los Angeles based correspondent, reporting for Good Morning America, World News Tonight, and Nightline. However, she returned to the Fox fold in February 2007 as co-anchor of “Big Story with John Gibson & Heather Nauert and later joined FOX 5 as “Good Day Wake Up” co-host (2009). Heather is still a FOX 5 morning anchor: however, she now also serves as co-host on the brand new, highly rated Fox & Friends First as co-host.

With regard to Heather personally, she and her hubby Scott Norby live in a beautiful Page-Six-Magazine-featured Glen-Cove-area home (or, at least, as of 2007). The couple have two sons, two-year-old Peter Raymond (baby1 vid) and fifteen-month-old Gage William (baby2 vid). They also have three dogs, German shepherds.

Heather who? A beauty, yes, but also, a brainy one, Tony. And, a sexy maternal addition to Fox & Friends–First.

Tony Snow Revisited

In the wake of Tony Snow’s death, we should remember his spirit of charity and good will towards all. Some readers have disagreed with my assessment of yesterday’s memorial show of Tony. I deemed it a job well done, and it was. Could it have been done better by the A-Team or those who knew him personally? Certainly. However, I found it refreshing that the B-Team actually struck the right chord in remembering Tony and what a special person and talent that he was. We should applaud effort even if it comes from a struggling team.

F&FW: The Tony Snow Show

Another media giant has fallen. Tony Snow, co-creator of Fox News Sunday, host of his eponymous radio show, and presidential speech writer (Bush 41) and press secretary (Bush 43) died early this morning of colon cancer at the age of 53. He is remembered as a man of good will toward all, including his political foes, who cherished God, his country, and his family above all else. Among the luminaries feting Tony today on Fox & Friends Saturday were President George H.W. Bush, former First Lady Barbara Bush, Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes, former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, NPR commentator and FNC contributor Juan Williams, and Roll Call executive editor and Beltway Boys co-anchor Mort Kondracke.

President George W. Bush also weighed in. Fox News’ Washington bureau correspondent Julie Kirtz read his eulogizing statement which said, “Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of our dear friend, Tony Snow. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Jill and their children….The Snow family has lost a beloved husband and father and America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character….All of us here at the White House will miss Tony as well as the millions of Americans he inspired with his brave struggle against cancer. One of the things that sustained Tony Snow was his faith and Laura and I join people across our country praying that this good man has now found comfort in the arms of his Creator.”

Today F&F’s A-Team did not step in as it had when Pope Benedict XVI visited the U.S. and when NBC’s Meet the Press legend Tim Russert died. However, F&F’s B-Team stepped up to the plate today: Ainsley Earhardt, Dave Briggs, and Clayton Morris acquitted themselves well and maintained a sober and respectful atmosphere. Even tragedy-averse Courtney Friel seemed subdued and did her best to dignify Tony’s death.

F&FW, a job well done: Tony deserved it.