Page Six reports that, in the short term, Lawrence Jones will be replacing Tucker Carlson in the Fox News Channel’s lineup. A big news item last week was Fox’s decision to part ways with Carlson, the extremely popular host of Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Background
Fox released a statement announcing Carlson’s departure last Monday, saying:
FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor. Mr. Carlson’s last program was Friday April 21st. Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 PM/ET starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named.
As you can see, a lot is left unsaid. We don’t know whether Carlson left or whether he was fired. And, we don’t know what led to Carlson’s departure.
Carlson, since leaving Fox, has released a video statement. But, in that video, Carlson does not address his departure from Fox. He does, though, imply that politics likely played a role.
The bottom line is that a lot of questions about the situation remain unanswered.
In the meantime . . .
Fox has a huge void to fill. Carlson had one of the hottest programs on television, regularly attracting upwards of 3 million viewers during his 8 p.m. time slot.
Reports have indicated that Fox has lost a significant amount of viewership since Carlson’s departure – nearly 60%.
So, the question for Fox is how is it going to fill the void left by Carlson. And, it’s not clear that Fox has a good answer.
Fox’s plan
Last week, it was Brian Kilmeade who filled in for Carlson. And, according to Page Six, this week Jones – who regularly hosts Lawrence Jones Cross Country on Saturday – will take Carlson’s 8 p.m. time slot.
According to the outlet, this is the way Fox is going to handle Carlson’s departure for the time being, by doing some anchor rotation.
Page Six reports, “Fox News is trying out a rotating list of anchors in Tucker’s spot — [last] week it has been ‘Fox & Friends” Brian Kilmeade — but it is significant that they have chosen Jones to step up so soon after Tucker’s departure.”
Jones regularly only pulls about 1 million during his weekly program. That’s a far cry from Carlson’s usual numbers.
The obvious problem for Fox is that Carlson simply isn’t replaceable – which begs the question, why did Fox let Carlson go?
