Fox News Channel Election Coverage

Fox News Channel did a splendid job with this year's election coverage. Brit Hume handled things from Washington. Meanwhile, on the Fox broadcast Network, Shepard Smith headlined things from New York City. After Brit and friends closed up shop at 3:00 AM Eastern Time on Wednesday morning (12 Midnight, Pacific Time), the "Tigress," Uma Pemmaraju and Bob Sellers ran things for two hours before turning things over to the "Fox & Friends" gang.

Donna Hosts!

At 1:30 AM Eastern Time on Thursday morning, September 16, 2004 (Wednesday night, September 15, at 10:30 PM Pacific Time), Donna Fiducia started what would be a two-hour stint hosting on the Fox News Channel. Donna co-piloted the first 30 minutes with Bob Sellers, then went solo for one full hour before sharing the final 30 minutes with Gregg Jarrett. It took a big, nasty, catagory 3 hurricane which was getting set to slam onto the Alabama coast to make Donna's hosting assignment possible. Hopefully, Donna would get other opportunities to host.

Donna Fiducia Fans

Fans of Fox News Channel anchorwoman Donna Fiducia are passionate about their favorite. Many of them are not very happy about Donna being exiled to overnight news update duty. They like the idea of Donna's updates being shoved later into the nighttime hours during FNC's Republican convention coverage (the same thing happened during the network's Democratic covention coverage as well). There are those that contend that the seasoned and talented Miss Fiducia should be given a chance to host, something she used to do with regularity until some two years ago. My thinking is that, like the talented, very professional, and, may I add seductive, Uma Pemmaraju, Donna should be hosting on a regular basis. She too is a consumate professional!

In Memoriam: Max the Wonderdog: January 19, 1988-August 25, 2004

You can find a link to photographs of Max the Wonderdog at http://home.internetcds.com/~cspaniel

Ideal Fox News Channel Schedule

Here's an idea for the perfect (or near-perfect) Fox News Channel lineup:



All Times are Pacific



(Okay, so it's a West Coast bias, so what?)



2:00 AM "Fox News Live First Edition" with Patti Ann Browne; Lauren Green would

handle headline updates and would be Patti Ann's backup.



3:00 AM "Fox and Friends" with Steve Doocy, E.D. Hill, and Brian Kilmeade; Lauren

Green would handle headlines from the "F&F" set instead of the newsroom

and Steve, E.D., and Brian would be seen the entire three hours---no more

rotating hosts. As with the Patti Ann Browne show, Lauren would be the

designated substitute when E.D. isn't there.



6:00 AM "Fox News Live" (with a stronger emphasis on hard news,

plus more field reports, fewer interviewers and no gossip)

Jon Scott: 6-7:30 AM

Uma Pemmaraju 7-9 AM

David Asman 8:30-10 AM

Jane Skinner would handle news headlines for five minutes twice each

hour (and would substitute for Uma in case of absence).

Weather updates from TRAINED meteorologists like Mish Michaels

or Cheryl Lemke.

Sorry, Brigitte Quinn and Janice Dean fans.



10:00 AM "DaySide with Linda Vester" minus the studio audience and "Stupid

Criminals" segment.



11:00 AM "Fox News Live" with Martha MacCallum and Rick Folbaum. Again, Janie

Skinner would handle news updates in studio twice each hour (and would

pinch-hit for Martha in case of absence).



12:00 Noon "Studio B with Shepard Smith;" Jane Skinner strikes again with one

more news update. She would also keep her "Skinnerville" segment

in which she and Shep would continue to chew the proverbial fat. Jane

and Rick Folbaum would be designated as Shep's backups in case Mr.

Smith is absent. This would take effect on both of Shep's shows.



1-8 PM Shows headlined by Neil Cavuto, John Gibson, Brit Hume, Shep

Smith, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes, and Greta

Van Susteren would remain intact with the execption that the

news updates last three minutes each and would be placed right

at the top and bottom of each hour.



8:00 PM I would start a gradual phaseout of the overnight reruns. For this hour

I would place a sports news show with scores and highlights of all

the day's and night's action. I would hire New York cultural icon

Warner Wolf to be that show's anchorman. "Let's go to the

videotape!" There would be two three-minute news updates with

Carol Iovanna and/or David Folk Thomas.



9:00 PM A nighttime version of "Fox News Live" that is more tailor-made for

us West Coast viewers. Perhaps hire someone like Bernard Goldberg

to be the show's anchorman. Perhaps bring in Donna Fiducia or Carol

Iovanna as his co-pilot. There would be two five minute news updates

for each of the two hours.



11PM-2 AM Repeats of the night's "O'Reilly Factor," "Hannity & Colmes," and

"On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" would be relegated to this

three hour period. Eventually, they would be replaced by a one-hour

sports news show from Los Angeles (Chris Meyers and/or Jeanne

Zalasko, perhaps?) followed by a two-hour live feed of Sky News from

London. Live headline updates would continue.



SATURDAY



2:00 AM "Fox News Live First Saturday Edition" with someone like maybe

Rebecca Gomez? This would be a two-hour show.



4:00 AM "Fox and Friends Weekend" with Bill McCuddy, Alysin Camerota, and

Julian Phillips." Dari Alexander would handle headlines in studio and

would be Alysin's backup.

Sorry, Mike Jarrick and Juliet Huddy fans.



7:00 AM The two-hour business news block remains intact.



9:00 AM "Weekend Live" with Tony Snow.



11:00 AM "Fox News Live" with:

Dari Alexander 11AM-12:30 PM

Bob Sellers 12 Noon-1:30 PM

Carol Iovanna 1-2:30 PM

Gregg Jarrett 1:30-3 PM



3-4 PM "The Beltway Boys" and "Fox News Watch" would remain intact.



4:00 PM "The Fox Report" Saturday edition with Rick Folbaum



5-8 PM Shows headlined by John Kasich, Rita Cosby, and Geraldo Rivera

remain intact.



8:00 PM "After Hours with Cal Thomas" expands to one hour.



9:00 PM Saturday night sports news show with news updates.



10:00 PM Saturday late night edition of "Fox News Live," maybe with

David Folk Thomas?



11 PM-2 AM Reruns of "Heartland with John Kasich," "Beltway Boys," "Fox News

Watch," and "After Hours with Cal Thomas." These repeats would

eventually be replaced by a Los Angeles-based sports news show

followed by Sky News feed from London. Live headline update would

continue.





SUNDAY



2:00 AM "Fox News Live First Sunday Edition" with Greg Kelly in Washington.



4:00 AM "Fox News Live Weekend Edition" with Bill McCuddy, Alysin

Camerota, and Julian Phillips, with Donna Fiducia handling

headlines (and filling in for Alysin).

Sorry, Mike Jarrick, Juliet Huddy, and Kiran Chetry fans.



7:00 AM "Fox News Live" with:

Donna Fiducia 7-8:30 AM

Eric Shawn 7:30-9 AM



9:00 AM "Weekend Live" with Brian Wilson in Washington.



11:00 AM "Fox News Live" with:

Dari Alexander 11 AM-12:30 PM

Gregg Jarrett 11: 30 AM-1 PM

Rebecca Gomez 1-2 PM



2:00 PM Replay of "Fox News Sunday" from the Fox broadcast network.



3:00 PM "Fox News Live" with Rita Cosby.



4:00 PM "Fox News Live" Weekend Report with Laurie Dhue.



5:00 PM "War Stories" with Oliver North.



6:00 PM "Sunday Best" with Jane Skinner. "Breaking Point" specials would

air once a month at this time spot.



7:00 PM "At Large with Geraldo Rivera."



8:00 PM "Fox Magazine" with Laurie Dhue.



9:00 PM Sunday night sports news show from New York and/or Los Angeles



10:00 PM Sunday late night edition of "Fox News Live."



11 PM-2 AM Late night sports news show from Los Angeles or Seattle followed

by repeats of "War Stories with Oliver North" and "Sunday Best"

(or "Breaking Point" special). These would eventually replaced by

Sky News feed from London. Live headline updates each half-hour





Any questions or comments?



Thanks for reading.

Convention Coverage

My thinking is that the Fox News Channel will use the same coverage approach to the forthcoming Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City (August 30-September 2) that they used for the Democratic National Convention recently held at the Fleetcenter in Boston.

OOPS! Time For Proper Introduction

In my haste to produce this new weblog, I've forgotten to properly introduce this weblog.  The is the Fox News Channel weblog dedicated to the network for Fair and Balanced news coverage (regardless of what some folks think).  Please feel free, whether you're and FNC fan or not, to read my pithy writings.