No foxes left on Fox News hot plate
Fox News Channel just grabbed America by the jockstrap - without Megyn Kelly there will be more rock-ribbed, red meat and testosterone in Fox News Channel's new primetime lineup than at a WWE event.
By handing Kelly's 9 p.m. timeslot to Tucker Carlson, instead of one of the many talented women at the right-leaning channel, America's most watched cable news network just whipped out a move that will drench the airwaves with three hours of bloviating man-flavored gasbaggery: Bill O'Reilly, Carlson and Sean Hannity.
The choice of Carlson, a fine broadcaster in his own right, leaves Rachel Maddow (photo) as the sole female voice in primetime cable news, a fact that was not lost on her Wednesday night.
"Now there are no more women in news, in primetime at least," Maddow told Entertainment Tonight. "Greta Van Sustern left Fox, now Megyn, who was 9'oclock, she's left there. So I'm starting to feel a little lonely because I'm not all that girly, and I have to hold up all the girl energy — it's gonna be hard." It will be hard. Even if Fox fills the Tucker hole with a woman, the move is just as shocking in its own way as hiring Kelly was for NBC [http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/megyn-kelly-learnplay-nbc-article-1.2933553 ].
After all signs pointed to nextgen Murdochs tweaking the network for a future that's more diverse — in opinion, if not in actual people — the Carlson promotion doubles down on the Trump playbook. It's literally balls out. And it's got Rupert's fingerprints all over it.
For anyone who thought the ouster of his partner in devastatingly-successful-pandering -masked-as-news Roger Ailes, heralded a new era, think again. What looked at first like a softening of the media baron's grip on the Fox News agenda — insiders attribute Ailes' kill to the younger Murdochs — instead appears to be another win for the famously loyal and yet opportunistic old mogul.
And what a perfect chance for Rupe to indulge both tendencies: While it doesn't exactly remove those tire tracks from when he was forced to push Ailes out the door, moving up Carlson tacitly endorses the notion of an old boys club. Worse, even when you call them out on it, they demand apologies [http://www.nydailynews.com/ entertainment/roger-ailes-callsnews-seek-apology-headlinearticle-1.2916637]
And whaddya know, it also ingratiates them all with the new President. Nice how things work out!
Fox's read on NBC poaching its future? When they go low, we go lower.