Jesse Watters will take over the 8pm prime time slot on after Tucker Carlson was fired by the network.
Announced as part of a shuffle that will also see Laura Ingraham shift earlier in the evening and late-night host Greg Gutfeld move up to 10pm, Watters’ will now man the hallowed 8pm slot – left vacant by longtime fixture Carlson back in April.
will also see Ingraham, previously the host of the 10pm hour, kick off the primetime programming block at 7pm.Seasoned commentator Sean Hannity, meanwhile, will keep his old 9pm time, top brass confirmed in a statement.
It comes almost two months to the day that Carlson was days after it paid $787.5million to to settle a defamation suit linked to remarks made on the air by the commentator.
In the time since, rumors swirled as to a possible replacement – with a frontrunner eventually surfacing in 44-year-old Watters, whose rise can be traced back to his days as a production assistant on the O’Reilly Factor when he was just 24, when he gained notoriety as a dogged man-on-the street correspondent.
Longtime Fox News commentator Jesse Watters will take over the 8pm prime time slot vacated by Tucker Carlson after his firing by the network, brass confirmed in a statement Monday
The anticipated rearrangement comes almost two months to the day that Carlson was abruptly axed from his longtime post at Fox, days after it paid $787.5million to to settle a defamation suit linked to remarks made by the commentator – who had long been Fox’s golden goose
Jesse and Emma Watters are pictured at the Metropolitan Opera House in Manhattan last week
A combination of quippy, ambush-style interviews and charisma saw Watters’ O’Reilly Segment, years later, become a full-blown weekly series airing every Saturday, nearly a decade-and-a-half into his O’Reilly tenure.
Carlson similarly rose through the ranks at ‘s news station, before his firing, to become one of the highest-rated anchors on cable TV – prior to suddenly being let go in April after a sterling 14 years.
Suzanne Scott, the network’s CEO, announced Watters would be replacing Carlson in a statement early Monday morning.
‘Fox News Channel has been America’s destination for news and analysis for more than 21 years and we are thrilled to debut a new lineup,’ Scott, the network’s top exec since 2018, wrote in the bombshell notice.
She added: ‘The unique perspectives of Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity, and Greg Gutfeld will ensure our viewers have access to unrivaled coverage from our best-in-class team for years to come.’
Fox’s announcement came as many had pegged Watters to be the clear-cut choice to replace Carlson, given the ratings he commands and the screen presence he exhibits on-set.
His current show, Jesse Watters Primetime, which only began airing last year, currently boasts an average of about 2.6 million viewers a night, while his longrunning Saturday show, Watters’ World, drew in 1.9 million viewers before being pulled in 2022.
By comparison, Carlson’s stint was just as – with the talking head currently one of the key faces of politics – but also riddled with controversy, thanks to the 53-year-old’s opinionated, oft-polarizing commentary.
That said, Fox News has remained the number one network in primetime and total day across the board, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Rupert Murdoch’s Manhattan based news outfit announced the anchor – currently the host Jesse Watters Primetime – would be replacing Carlson in a statement early Monday morning
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