Tucker Carlson left Fox News at the end of April, and until then, the conservative network had not set a permanent replacement for the long-standing anchor, who amassed millions of viewers on his show. After a few months of debate, they have finally found a replacement who will be in charge of filling Carlson’s primetime spot at 8 pm.
Since Carlson’s departure, Fox has taken his place with “Fox News Tonight,” an opinion show that constantly rotates hosts. For example, Kayleigh McEnany, Lawrence Jones and Brian Kilmeadeson have been among those sitting in the host’s chair.
As previously reported by Voz Media, the network had a range of candidates to replace Carlson: some of those included Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Jesse Watters.
The first is the most veteran of the three, with almost three decades on the network and who had his primetime program since 2009, baptized with his last name. He was among the first to publicly endorse Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election, and it is rumored that the two were in dialogue quite often during his presidency.
Ingraham, a former speechwriter during the Ronald Reagan administration, began her media career in the 1990s. She also has her own show on Fox News, “The Ingraham Angle,” which she has hosted since 2017.
The last option is the youngest of them all. The 44-year-old Watters landed at Fox News after graduating from Trinity College in 2003. Starting as a production assistant, he worked his way up the ranks to earn his political commentary and talk show, “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
After nearly four months of debate, Fox News chose the latter as Tucker Carlson’s natural replacement. So now the television network’s primetime lineup will be as follows: Ingraham will take the 7 pm time slot, Watters will take Carlson’s 8 pm and Hannity will appear a little later, at 9 pm. Greg Gutfeld will close primetime at 10 pm.
The changes will be effective as of July 17. For many years, Fox News programming was among the most watched on cable television, consistently averaging millions of viewers weekly.
“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,” said Suzanne Scott, CEO of the conservative network.
“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,” she added.
