FOX News Channel announces who will replace Tucker Carlson in primetime shake-up

Back in April, Fox News Channel let its most popular primetime show’s host go. Since the cancellation of Tucker Carlson’s show, FNC has felt the wrath of its Carlson fans. Today the network issued a press release to announce its new primetime line-up. Who will take the Carlson time slot? Jesse Watters.

Watters has a popular show that currently airs the hour before the 8:00 PM/ET timeslot that was Carlson’s. His show will be moved up and Laura Ingraham will be moved from her longtime spot at 9:00 PM/ET down to Watters’ old spot at 7:00 PM/ET.

Suzanne Scott, CEO of FOX New Media, made the announcement on Monday. Ingraham kicks off the primetime line-up at 7 PM/ET, Jesse Watters will be at 8 PM/ET, then Sean Hannity at 9 PM/ET, and Greg Gutfeld’s show moves to the 10:00 PM/ET time slot. FOX News @ Night with Trace Gallagher wraps up the line-up at 11:00 PM/ET.

Kicking off the network’s primetime programming at 7 PM/ET will be cable news’ highest-rated woman Laura Ingraham with her pivotal Washington, D.C. based show The Ingraham Angle. The program has been the top-rated show in the 10 PM/ET timeslot since it launched in 2017. Throughout her tenure with FNC, Ingraham has interviewed several notable political figures, including presidents, members of congress, and White House officials. She has hosted a series of highly rated town halls including Red State Trailblazers, Time for Class and Georgia and the Battle for Senate. A former litigator and Supreme Court law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, Ingraham joined FNC in 2007 as a contributor, providing political and legal analysis to FNC’s daytime and primetime programming.

Jesse Watters will move to 8PM/ET with his signature opinion program Jesse Watters Primetime. The show originally launched last year in the 7 PM/ET timeslot and earned the title of the fastest growing cable news program, crushing the competition across the board with 2.6 million viewers and 270,000 in the 25-54 demo year to date. Featuring Watters’ fresh take on the major headlines of the day while interviewing newsmakers from across the country, the show has been number one in its timeslot for the 18 months since it launched, delivering the highest-rated 7 PM/ET hour in cable news history. In addition to hosting Primetime, Watters is also a co-host of The Five, the 5 PM/ET roundtable discussion program that has been number one in cable news and all of cable for the last seven consecutive quarters.

Just enough re-arranging so that Watters has a good launch. All of FNC’s primetime shows usually lead their time slots in ratings. That probably won’t change. In fact, the later shows like Gutfeld and Trace Gallagher’s will likely pick up viewers since they will be on a little earlier.

Gutfeld! hosted by Greg Gutfeld, has been a pleasant surprise. I try to watch it every night. The show is such a refreshing change of pace from the tired old formats of other late night shows. And Gutfeld isn’t a bat-crap crazy liberal who insults conservative viewers. The show fills a vacuum, that’s clear.

Launched in 2021, Gutfeld! delivered its most-watched year ever in 2022 and continues to upend the genre, becoming the first late-night show to unseat CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in viewers since 2017 while also besting ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Dubbed the “King of Late Night” by Newsweek, the program has been number one for 27 straight months, posting double digit gains in all categories with an average of 1.8 million viewers, 273,000 in A25-54 year to date. Notably, Gutfeld! has the highest median income in late night with those aged 25-54 and 18-49 and is the number one late night program with upscale viewers (100k+) in total viewers and the younger demo. In addition to hosting Gutfeld!, he is also a founding co-host of the number one cable news show, The Five.

The network used a weekly rotation of guest hosts during the old Carlson time slot. Some were pretty good. Some were not. None were really up to the task quite yet and frankly, it isn’t much of a surprise that Watters’ show will move into the time slot. He’s been a rising star with the network and his show has received good ratings from the start. The idea of some of the hosts taking over the prized 8:00 PM/ET slot with their own show was enough to make my teeth grind. Rachel Campos Duffy, for example? Please, no. I don’t even watch Fox and Friends Weekend show because I just can’t with her. I’m sure she’s a lovely person in real life. YMMV.

The new schedule begins on July 17th. FNC primetime is consistently the cable show ratings leader. That will likely continue.