What Should Change About Fox News? (Vanity / Essay)

Self ^ | 12/17/2004 | Self

[Phsstpok]

We know that Fox, among others, has people who regularly scan FreeRepublic for items of interest.  I want to take advantage of that to try to get some ideas in front of Roger Ailes and crew.

I'm going to lay out my ideas below, but I have a feeling that not only will others have their own equally good, or better, ideas,  but that there will also be folks who think my ideas are way off base.  So be it.  That's the idea behind posting this here, so that there can be open discussion of what is of interest to folks "like us," Freepers, pajamahadeen, et al.  Maybe some bits and pieces of a discussion like this will actually get to the powers that be at Fox and have some impact. FR tends to give one delusion of grandeur anyway, so why not?

So, here goes...

[hobbes1]

And with the CBS and NBC anchors in Flux, they could have made Brit Hume the most trusted man in America, overnight.

[LtKerst]

On the record..with Gretta sucks! If that is on, I switch channels.

O'Reily is next, sometimes He gets it right, But he is the biggest Pompos ASS on TV, He constantly interupts his guests and brags about how He is following up on this or that. he is always critisizing the guest or correcting them.

What a Bore!

[airborne]

What should change at FOX?

That annoying woosh sound whenever they put up graphics or cut to another camera.

[1Old Pro]

RE Bill O'Reilly "...pompous, arrogant

Did you ever see the brief side shot of the set they insert now and then? Bill sits about a full foot higher than guests. He needs this false feeling of power I suppose.

[processing please hold]

gem = jem

[iconoclast]

Fox and Friends, Weekdays should be pulled or renamed Romper Room.

The weekend people are 10 times better.

[1Old Pro]

And with the CBS and NBC anchors in Flux,

Yep, in fact now would be an opportune time to start an advertisement blitz on this "new" nightly news show now available on non cable FOX.

[Sam's Army]

Less FoxNewsAlerts!!! With the same stories over and over.

Less Greta

Hire Joe Scarborough

Give Juliet whatsherlastname her own show

Give Ann Coulter a show

[hushpad]

Fox & Friends Weekend - This is Fox News attempt to prove that there are liberal idiots working for them, too. The team doesn't work.

Absolutely true. Mike Garrett is a male "dumb blond", Julia IS a dumb blond, and Julian Phillips is just plain dumb.

[kevinm13]

Britt Hume is the best newsman on television, bar none. Chris Wallace is no Tony Snow but Fox News Sunday is more interesting than any of the other Sunday "news" shows. Fox and Friends tries too hard to be entertaining and doesn't do that well. By doing that it misses out on being a news show. Shepard Smith is a strong number 2 on new reporting to Britt and I wouldn't change anything on his programs.

I love the Saturday morning business block although the shows are not really distinguishable from each other. The hosts need to reign in the guests a bit more to keep it sharp and clean.

O'Reilly is only partially watchable. He was much better 3-4 years ago when his ego was much manageable. He did a very good interview of President Bush in the fall. He should do more of those interviews than to bring on Al Slim Shady Sharpton or others of his ilk.

Hannity and Colmes both whine a bit too much and spend too much time promoting books as does O'Reilly. Pick good topics and have lively debate with the guests. They don't have to be on polar opposites from each other on each issue. There are issues that both liberals and conservatives agree on. Admit it and take some positions in the middle.

Greta Van Sustern is a good news reporter but now that Scott Peterson has been sentenced, she has nothing to talk about. Devoting months to discussing a single case that really was not a political or law making case was wrong. Seems like these kind of cases only benefit all 8-10 lawyers that get on each night (in addition to lawyer Greta) to talk about the case. Call it court tv or something else if the topics stick to the latest hot case in the courts.

Neil Cavuto is an excellent reporter and I happen to like business news. He is not afraid to give his opinion no matter what the topic and he is very thoughtful. I always feel that I learn from Neil. Keep up the great job.

The rest of the schedule is generally very watchable. I especially like Laurie Dhue, Cal Thomas, Heather Nauert, Fox New Watch and Tony Snow. Many of the other shows are uninteresting.

[processing please hold]

Lord I miss Tony Snow. Someone at Fox must of had a brain-fart to let him get away. He's not there enough to give me my Tony fix.

[hgro]

We don't get our due of Dhue due to Dhues' time on the air. How about expanding her time slot to two hours of uninterrupted viewing by interested viewers.

[exile]

No Dhue pics yet? What kind of thread is this?

[ampat]

Just to add to the primetime rant ( I don't watch Greta because I'm not a lawyer wannabe, I don't watch H&C because of the childish arguments of AC, I watch O'R less and less). They run many of the same stories on each show. Who wants to see the same thing 3 times (that's after the pre-primetime coverage). Who wants to listen to the "experts" who don't have a clue, three times. I agree that H&C is becoming crossfire, and O'R is becoming bothersome. Lately he lambasted an emailer by saying so and so is innocent until proven guilty inspite of the obvious knowledge to the contrary, all the while he had pronounced Scott Peterson guilty just two weeks after he was charged.

[alnick]

Studio B with Sheppard Smith - Largely the same format as Fox News Live, but more personality driven. I generally like Sheppard Smith. Generally. Sometimes he can really grate on me, though. I could do without some of what he passes off as humor.

I could do without some of what he passes off as news.

He has a tendency to jump to false conclusions based on early headlines and ignore clarification that comes along later.

[Nasher]

Get rid of Greta's tabloid extravaganza and replace it with either a Laura Ingraham/Ann Coulter or Dennis Miller/Zell Miller show.

[Hard Way]

I can't just sit by and let you Laurie Dhue fans "Freep this poll".

More Kirin Chetry and Loren Green! OMG, they're beautiful.

Also, I wish they'd move Brit Hume to O'Reilly's time slot and O'Reilly to Greta's. Greta can be on at 2 AM. It sux to always miss Brit. Dang, do people really make it home from their commute at 5 pm? I turn on news at 6, and I'm stuck with Shep... arrrgghh!

[Mr. K]

Create FOX2 Headline News

[libertyman]

I like War Stories w/ Oliver North, but I believe it should be on the HISTORY CHANNEL, not on Fox News.

Now that Fox has hired soon-to-be-former Senator Zel Miller, I'd like to see him have his own 30-minuite show...add a little Southern touch to the Yankee-dominated network.

What about hiring Alan Keyes? I love his passion, intelligence, & strong convictions. Fox would be the perfect place for him...& unlike the folks at PMSNBC, the Fox management would probably treat him with a little more respect. Yeah, I know Alan shot himself in the foot by going to Illinois & running for the Senate, but he wasn't given the support by the national GOP (IMHO) that he deserved--he was too much of a hot potato with his conservative views--& that's exactly why I think his voice needs to be heard: to shake up the GOP's bland, politically correct Establishment a little!

[jpl]

More Kiran Chetry, I haven't seen her too much lately.