Tucker Carlson Tonight

Tucker Carlson Tonight is an American talk show hosted by paleoconservative[1] political commentator Tucker Carlson. The show is broadcast live on the Fox News cable television channel at 8:00 P.M. ET on weekdays. Its content focuses on politics, and the show typically includes commentary, monologues, interviews and analysis. It premiered as a 7:00 P.M. ET program in Fox News Channel's lineup on November 14, 2016.[2]

Tucker Carlson Tonight
GenreCurrent affairs program
Presented byTucker Carlson
Country of originUnited States
Production
Production location(s)Washington, D.C. (primary)
New York City (on location)
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time60 minutes (with commercials)
Release
Original networkFox News
Picture format720p (16:9 HDTV)
Original releaseNovember 14, 2016 –
present
External links
Website

In July 2020, Tucker Carlson Tonight broke the record for highest-rated program in U.S. cable news history, garnering an average nightly audience of 4.33 million viewers.[3]

History

Tucker Carlson Tonight was created to replace the show On the Record, which was hosted by Brit Hume on an interim basis after Greta Van Susteren's departure from Fox News.[4]

Following Megyn Kelly's departure from Fox News, the network announced on January 5, 2017, that Tucker Carlson Tonight would be the replacement for The Kelly File at 9:00 p.m. ET beginning January 9, 2017.[5] Martha MacCallum was named as his replacement in the 7:00 p.m. timeslot, with her show carrying the title The First 100 Days.[6]

On April 24, 2017, Tucker Carlson Tonight took over The O'Reilly Factor's 8:00 p.m. time-slot, following the cancellation of the latter program.[7]

Carlson had previously co-founded the right-wing news and opinion site The Daily Caller with Neil Patel. In 2020, Carlson sold his one-third stake in the Caller to Patel in order to focus more attention on his television show.[8]

In July 2020, the show's head writer, Blake Neff, resigned after CNN Business learned via an anonymous tip that he had been posting racist, sexist and homophobic remarks online for years. Neff conducted this under a pseudonym on AutoAdmit, a lawyers and law students message board known for its lack of moderation of offensive and defamatory content.[9] Neff, who previously worked at The Daily Caller, had joined the staff of the television show shortly after its launch in November 2016.[10][11]

Synopsis

Carlson, who co-founded The Daily Caller,[12] typically devotes his show to two or three current events and brings on speakers to debate or discuss such topics. Carlson uses a loose format in which he interviews persons from varied political perspectives and asks them probing questions. The show also includes monologues, commentary, and political analysis.

Carlson typically begins the show with the introduction "Good evening, and welcome to Tucker Carlson Tonight." He describes the program as "the show that is the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness, and groupthink," a catchphrase which he often uses as a closing.[12]

Ratings

The program's premiere episode, viewed by 3.7 million,[12] was rated higher than previous editions of On the Record hosted by Greta Van Susteren and later Brit Hume. Tucker Carlson Tonight currently maintains the network's time-slot dominance over CNN and MSNBC.[13]

In October 2018, Tucker Carlson Tonight was the second-highest rated news show in all of prime time, after Hannity, with 3.2 million nightly viewers.[14]

In April 2020, Carlson's program surpassed Hannity as the highest-rated primetime cable news show, with an average audience of 4.56 million viewers.[15] During the second quarter of 2020, Tucker Carlson Tonight garnered an average audience of 4.33 million viewers, the largest for any program in the history of cable news.[16][17]

Criticism

In 2018, neoconservative pundit Bill Kristol described the views Carlson expressed on his show as "ethno-nationalism of some kind."[18] Carlson responded that Kristol "discredited himself years ago."[19]

In 2018 and 2019, the show was the target of an advertiser boycott. Advertisers began leaving the show after complaints following Carlson saying that U.S. immigration made the country "poorer, dirtier and more divided." According to Fox News, the advertisers only moved their ad buys to other segments.[20] By early 2019, the show had lost at least 26 advertisers.[21][22] By August 2019, Media Matters calculated that the show had lost more than 70 advertisers since December 2018.[23][24][25] By late September 2019, almost 50 advertisers had released statements announcing the discontinuation of advertising on the show; according to The Guardian, "dozens more cut ties without saying anything publicly."[26]

Despite multiple boycotts of the show, the average cost for a 30-second spot on Tucker Carlson Tonight nearly doubled from 2018 to 2019, according to the advertising analytics company SQAD.[27]

In a September 2018 episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight, Carlson coined the nickname "creepy porn lawyer" to refer to Michael Avenatti, ostensibly in reference to the latter's representing Stormy Daniels,[28] which Avenatti objected to.[29] The nickname was lauded by supporters, and regular Tucker Carlson Tonight panelists,[30] and panned by The Toronto Star.[31] Subsequent to the on- and off-air sparring between Tucker Carlson and Michael Avenatti, the latter announced[32] that he was investigating an alleged bar altercation involving Tucker Carlson and a patron.[32] A July 2019 book by author Peter D'Abrosca made reference to the incident.[33]

In June 2020, Carlson's on-air criticisms of the Black Lives Matter movement led corporations such as The Walt Disney Company, T-Mobile, Papa John's, and Poshmark to pull advertising from his program. In July 2020, after combat veteran Senator Tammy Duckworth called for a "national dialogue" about the removal of monuments to founding fathers such as George Washington who owned slaves, Carlson referred to her as a "coward", and "moron" for not joining his show without first receiving a public apology. Carlson's comment that "she was once injured while serving in the Illinois National Guard" was critcized, and he was accused of trivializing her military service; Duckworth in fact lost both her legs while serving in Iraq.[34] A data firm estimated that nearly 38% of Carlson's 2020 advertising revenue had come from MyPillow at half-year. Carlson remained the most-watched cable news host, garnering 680,000 viewers among audience members 25-54.[35] These advertisers had not entirely pulled away from Fox News, according to the television network, but only from Carlson's show.[36]

References
  1. Raimondo, Justin. 2019. "Tucker Carlson: A Buckley for Our Time?." Modern Age 61(Winter):86–88. .
  2. R. Thomas Umstead (November 15, 2016). "Fox News' 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' Has Strong Debut". Multichannel. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  3. Concha, Joe (July 1, 2020). "Trump Dings CNN, 'Morning Joe' Ratings As Tucker Carlson Sets Record". The Hill. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  4. News Hound Ellen (September 7, 2016). "Greta Van Susteren Abruptly Leaves Fox News". Crooks and Liars. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  5. "Fox News Channel Names Tucker Carlson as New 9pm Host". Fox News Insider. January 5, 2017. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  6. Staff (January 5, 2017). "Tucker Carlson takes over Megyn Kelly's slot, Martha MacCallum gets new show". Fox News Channel. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  7. Christine Rousselle (April 19, 2017). "Here's The New Fox News Channel Primetime Lineup". Townhall. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
  8. Hagey, Keach (June 10, 2020). "Tucker Carlson leaves the Daily Caller". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  9. Darcy, Oliver (July 10, 2020). "Tucker Carlson's top writer resigns after secretly posting racist and sexist remarks in online forum". CNN Business. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  10. Johnson, Ted (July 10, 2020). "Writer For Tucker Carlson's Fox News Show Resigns After Reports Of Racist, Offensive Posts". Deadline. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  11. Grynbaum, Michael M. (July 11, 2020). "Writer for Tucker Carlson Resigns After 'Abhorrent' Online Posts Are Revealed". The New York Times. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  12. Darcy, Oliver (December 5, 2016). "Fox News host Tucker Carlson's on-air war with elitism". Business Insider. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  13. R. Thomas Umstead (November 15, 2016). "Fox News' 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' Has Strong Debut". Multichannel News. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  14. Rowland, Geoffrey (October 31, 2018). "Fox News tops CNN and MSNBC combined in October cable news ratings". The Hill.
  15. Grynbaum, Michael M. (April 28, 2020). "Tucker Carlson Beats Sean Hannity as Trump Briefings Give Fox News a Boost". The New York Times. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  16. "Fox News Q2 2020 Ratings: Tucker Carlson Averaged 4.33 Million Viewers at 8 p.m., the Largest Audience in Cable News History". www.adweek.com.
  17. "Tucker Carlson breaks cable news viewership record as networks' ratings skyrocket". Washington Examiner. June 30, 2020.
  18. Harwood, John (January 25, 2018). "Bill Kristol hits Fox News, Tucker Carlson for 'dumbing down' coverage, pushing 'ethno-nationalism'". CNBC. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  19. "Tucker Fires Back at Bill Kristol: 'Former Intellectual Who Now Exists Primarily on Twitter'". mediaite.com. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  20. Katz, A.J. (December 20, 2018). "20-Plus Brands Have Stopped Advertising on Tucker Carlson Tonight After Immigration Comments". Adweek. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  21. Brunley, Gabrielle (March 22, 2019). "If Tucker Carlson Keeps Hemorrhaging Advertisers He Might Soon Be Down to Just 'My Pillow'". Esquire. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  22. Barr, Jeremy (March 22, 2019). "Without Major Sponsors, Tucker Carlson's Show Leans on Ads for Fox Programming". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  23. Uhl, Jordan. "Tucker Carlson returns to Fox News – but advertisers are staying away". Media Matters for America.
  24. Darby, Luke. "Tucker Carlson's Show Bled 70 Advertisers in Less Than a Year". GQ. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  25. "Tucker Carlson's Show Bled 70 Advertisers in Less Than a Year". Yahoo!. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  26. Helmore, Edward (September 28, 2019). "Trump impeachment inquiry sparks 'bedlam' at Fox News". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  27. Katz, A.J. (August 21, 2019). "Despite Controversy and Boycotts, Ad Costs For Tucker Carlson Tonight Are Nearly Double What They Were Last Year". Adweek. Archived from the original on August 27, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  28. Relman, Eliza (May 22, 2019). "Tucker Carlson says immigrants have 'plundered' the US and want to steal Americans' wealth". Beaumont Enterprise/Hearst Newspapers LLC. Business Insider. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  29. Bever, Lindsey (September 14, 2018). "Michael Avenatti furious over 'CREEPY PORN LAWYER' chyron on Fox News". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  30. Steyn, Mark (March 26, 2019). "Creepy Porn Soon-to-Be-Disbarred Lawyer". SteynOnline.com. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  31. Menon, Vinay (September 14, 2018). "Tucker Carlson is the Creepy Party Clown of Fox News". Toronto Star. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  32. Natasha Korecki; Quint Forgey (November 10, 2018). "Avenatti takes on Tucker Carlson after bar incident involving Fox News host's children". Politico. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  33. D'Abrosca, Peter (July 16, 2019). Enemies: The Press vs. The American People. Simon & Schuster. pp. 1–256. ISBN 9781642931990. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  34. Proctor, Stephen. "Tucker Carlson continues attack on 'moron' and 'coward' Sen. Tammy Duckworth". Yahoo. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  35. Joyella, Mark (June 16, 2020). "Tucker Carlson Is Most-Watched Host In Cable News For Last Week". Forbes. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  36. Mazza, Ed (July 7, 2020). "Tucker Carlson Accused Of Echoing White Supremacist Talking Points On Fox News". HuffPost. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
Preceded by
The Story with Martha MacCallum		 Fox News Channel Weekday lineup
8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
12:00 am – 1:00 am (replay)		 Succeeded by
Hannity
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