BOOM: Tucker Carlson Gets GOOD NEWS After Just One Day in O’Reilly’s Old Time Slot
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Looks like Tucker Carlson did really well last night in his debut in Bill O’Reilly’s slot at Fox News. I’m happy for Tucker. I hope he holds those numbers and does well there. He was gracious to O’Reilly in his opening segment. I’m not sure I could do that knowing what they did to the man there. Carlson had Caitlyn Jenner on, which I’m sure helped his draw last night. He was only off half a million viewers, which is incredible given the shoes he is filling. The Murdochs are probably breathing a sigh of relief, not that they deserve it in my opinion.
The Five made a solid showing at 9 pm — Carlson’s old time slot. The panel show edged past MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show for a win with 2.8 million viewers and 568,000 adults 25-54. (Maddow averaged 2.2 million viewers and 523,000 adults 25-54.) I’m actually surprised more than three people watch that sea beast. Fox wasn’t the only one with changes to their lineup. CNN kicked off its trial run of Jake Tapper at 9 pm. The anchor averaged a robust No. 3 in the hour with 881,000 viewers and, more importantly, 304,000 adults 25-54.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
He matches Bill O’Reilly in the demo.
A night of big shifts in cable’s typical lineup brought a win Monday for Fox News Channel, which topped primetime among both adults 25-54 and total viewers. Most importantly, Tucker Carlson shifted into ousted Bill O’Reilly’s 8 o’clock hour as the night’s dominant telecast.
The first official night without The O’Reilly Factor saw the 8 p.m. telecast of Tucker Carlson Tonight average 3.2 million viewers and 636,000 adults 25-54, per early returns from Nielsen Media. Though it will be some time before there’s a sense of how Carlson’s numbers compare to O’Reilly’s, he at least successfully kept the hour as cable news’ biggest during his premiere telecast. O’Reilly’s final Monday on the air, his penultimate Fox News telecast on April 10, averaged 3.7 million viewers and 635,000 adults 25-54 — so while Carlson may not have pulled the same audience, he was dead even in the demo.
Carlson’s show also topped fill-in host Eric Bolling’s 3.11 million viewer number when he hosted “The O’Reilly Factor” last week. It still remains to be seen if Fox News will suffer from letting Bill O’Reilly go. Time will tell. But there is little doubt that there are a lot of fans of O’Reilly’s that are swearing off the network and going to Bill’s podcasts.
Tucker Carlson had a message for those tuning in last night. He began his program with a message to viewers who made “The O’Reilly Factor” the most-watched show in cable news for nearly two decades. “For those of you tuning in expecting to see someone different in this anchor chair, I know the feeling well. I watched Bill O’Reilly at this hour for years and I always marveled at how well prepared he was, how tough he was and how crisply and directly he expressed his views,” Carlson said. “What O’Reilly did was not easy.” The “Tucker Carlson Tonight” host continued: “He set a high bar and I’m gonna do my best to meet it. Thanks for sticking with us.” Best wishes to Tucker Carlson and his new show. I wish him great success with it.
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