Inside Cable News

March 31, 2007

Question of the weekend…

Who would you put in the center chair on Fox and Friends Weekend?

Filed under: Cable News, FOX News Channel - Spud

56 Comments »

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  1. I would personally select Uma Pemmaraju. She would, for openers , provide an air of professionalism to this position. I don’t like the idea of that Center Chair being handed over to someone who had modeled in “Maxim” magazine.

    Comment by Bob — March 31, 2007 @ 2:20 am

  2. Page Hopkins

    Comment by erljr — March 31, 2007 @ 2:25 am

  3. I wouldn’t mind seeing a rotation of all FNC’s women… that are under the age of 37. Oh right, they don’t have very many of them, eh?

    Comment by Terance — March 31, 2007 @ 7:42 am

  4. Uma would also bring an incredible air of boredom to the position.

    Comment by earl fenton — March 31, 2007 @ 8:25 am

  5. I guess Page Hopkins would be my choice. I do agree with Bob, I don’t care for someone who has modeled for “Maxim”. The times she has been on there, I get the impression that all she can think about is herself–how good she looks, etc.

    Comment by Caty — March 31, 2007 @ 8:31 am

  6. Janice Dean, Would like to see how Molly Line would do and if Linda Vester really did leave in good terms with FNC to be a stay at home mom she could comeback for a weekend gig. She would be my #1 choice.

    Comment by Lurker — March 31, 2007 @ 9:14 am

  7. Paige Hopkins. That one that was on this morning and I can’t even think of her name - was awful, almost bimbo-like. Also, please no Alison Camerrota (sp). I think they might need to rethink the two guys they have too. As good as they are they just don’t seem right for this job.

    Comment by SOPHIA — March 31, 2007 @ 10:03 am

  8. Hopkins…hands down. 2nd place goes to J. Dean. What needs to be done as well is to replace both (yawn) guys. The “GI” and “The Gospel Singer” just ain’t makin it.

    Comment by Roger C. — March 31, 2007 @ 10:22 am

  9. I would like to see Alison Camerata or Uma in the center chain. I head Greg Kelly bought a house in NY, I bet those 2 guys get tired of traveling from DC to NY every weekend.

    Comment by VMart — March 31, 2007 @ 10:34 am

  10. I don’t really watch the show on a regular basis, because it is not very appealing. But from the times I have tried to check it out, I have these observations.
    Please, please no more Courtney! Stuck on Stupid!
    Janice Dean is my choice.
    Greg Kelly seems to be relaxing with the job, the longer he stays in it. But I would like to see the other guy replaced. I am sure he is a nice guy, but…….

    Comment by cella — March 31, 2007 @ 11:14 am

  11. Page Hopkins would be my choice also. Kelly Wright is great IMHO; Greg Kelly is getting better. Didn’t like him on that show at first.

    Comment by Scott — March 31, 2007 @ 11:57 am

  12. My vote would be for Betty Nguyen (not sure of spelling) who is currently anchoring CNN’s weekend morning slot. Attractive, perky (in a good way), personable, funny (should have seen her interview Borat), and sharp as whip to boot. She’s the reason I’ve been increasingly switching from F’n'F to CNN weekend mornings. FNC should try to hire her away from CNN when her contract expires.

    Comment by JG in PHX — March 31, 2007 @ 12:49 pm

  13. How about anyone but Courtney Friel!! Seriously, I love Greg Kelly and was so excited to see him get more air time (though I think he would be better on a more newsy or political type show), but I just can’t watch with her hosting. I tried again this morning and it was embarassing to watch. Greg and Kelly Wright seemed embarassed for her, tried to cover for her and even seemed to be making fun of her at times. I think the people who are saying Page Hopkins and Janice Dean are dead on…they are both fun and witty yet smart and good with serious news at the same time. Janice needs more than just one or two minutes of weather each hour.

    Comment by Gab — March 31, 2007 @ 12:53 pm

  14. What about Suzanne Senna? I read somewhere that she almost got the Kathie Lee/Kelly job with Regis, so if she was personable enough for that show, she would be great on F & F.

    Bridget Quinn has filled in on F & F weekdays, and she is excellent in that format. And while I like the two Kellys, that is NOT their format. Both need to be in more newsy-type positions, as mentioned above. And let Courtney do entertainment or something; I agree with those above that she is not a good fit at all for the F & F job.

    Comment by Missy — March 31, 2007 @ 1:02 pm

  15. I say scrap all 3 and start over. Maybe with just 2 host.
    It is hard enough to find good chemistry between 2 people let alone 3. I know it can be done but I don’t even see 2 people that have it on the weekend F&F’s, let alone 3.
    I liked Mike and Juliet on the weekends and I liked E.D on the weekdays Fox and Friends.
    It does look like they are keeping Greg Kelly, like someone else said, he just moved to New York. I liked Julie Banderas with Greg but she already has an hour in the evenings. I like Page and Janice too but I don’t know about the chemistry with the kelly’s. I wasn’t a Kiran or Allison fan either. I agree Courtney is NOT right for the position. After watching Courtney and giving her a fair chance…all I can say is NOOOOOO.
    But for me, I will only be happy with Mike and Juliet and thats not going to happen. So I’m no help here. LOL

    Comment by Noelle — March 31, 2007 @ 1:30 pm

  16. i did not know Linda Vester left on bad terms. Where was that posted. To bad I really thought she was good. I too would love to see Janice Dean on F&F.

    Comment by cathy — March 31, 2007 @ 1:39 pm

  17. Its obvious that Mike & Juliet set the bar way too high for F&F weekend… Kelly Wright took over for Collins Spencer when he left/got fired/whatever for HLN. (prior to being on F&F weekend) And then Julian Phillips left/got fired/whatever and all the sudden Wright shows up in his spot. So, just like Janice Dean is NO weather machine, Wright isn’t a F&F weekend host. Not that I blame either of them for taking the job. I just find it strange for the network who supposedly has this great “B” team sure seems to be lacking when it comes to people with personalities for the weekend show. Finally, I do remember how awful the weekend show was with Bob Sellers, Juliet and Bill Mccuddy.

    Comment by Terance — March 31, 2007 @ 2:51 pm

  18. Vmart: Agree. Alyson Camerota is returning to work next week, maybe we’ll see her in the middle seat next Saturday.

    Cathy: Unlike the others, apparently Linda Vester decided to take more than a few months off to raise her child.

    MrBill: Since it appears you dont watch, both Fox and Friends daily and weekend feature two men and ONE woman.

    Not exactly a chick-fest!

    Comment by Ira — March 31, 2007 @ 2:54 pm

  19. I heard that Alyson was going to be doing the weekday headlines for F&F that Lauren Green used to do. I don’t think she would be a regular on the weekend edition (I hope). Then again it may be different because Kiran isn’t there anymore for them to be silly together.

    I cannot stand to watch F&F weekend anymore. If anyone saw it this morning you would have seen their stupid stunt of a “group hug”. So, so, so stupid. I like Kelly and Greg, but not in this genre of TV. Agreed, that Greg should be on a much newsier show. He is so intelligent, well spoken, and prepared, that this format doesn’t do him justice. Kelly Wright is a great correspondent and works great in DC on the White House beat, but again, this isn’t his forte. He is too easy going, and sometimes just a wee bit too cheesy for this.

    As for Courtney…..when I saw her anchoring this morning I cringed. This is NOT a position for her. She is obviously not well prepped (countless times she had to search her notes for what was going on), she talked over both Gregg and Kelly multiple times, as well as Gregg Jarret who was, at the time, being interviewed by her. At one point she said, “crappy” on air and also was fixing her hair while tossing to Rick Richemuth (sp?).

    I thought Ainsley (forgot her last name) did a great job the one time she was on. My first choice would be Paige Hopkins because she does her job well, but she is also fun and quirky. She has a good balance of both. My second choice would be Bridgette Quinn. She is very professional, not really too much fun though.

    I would be extremely interested to see F&F weekends numbers. What they have going on right now can’t be scoring them anything big. It is really just a disaster.

    Comment by jerziegrl — March 31, 2007 @ 3:19 pm

  20. There is no male better then Mike Jerrick. Funny, witty dirty! That’s why he has a national show right now. You can say Page is like the female version of him. Janice Dean is close behind. Okay I think my fantasy pick would be Mike Jerrick with Janice Dean and Linda Vester.

    A for realz pick would probably have to be Page Hopkins with Janice Dean and I will have to say Greg Kelly. He’s really good with the hard news stuff and I really like his interviews but he needs to be smacked around by the two women until he loosens up and quit being so uptight and defensive. He’s a pretty funny guy that needs to come out of his hard shell.

    Comment by Lurker — March 31, 2007 @ 3:33 pm

  21. Did anyone catch Janice Dean on the ‘Red Eye’ panel this week? She was hilarious and a bit bawdy at times, too. I’m kind of warming up to the idea of her having a spot on F&F.

    Comment by SuperNoxic — March 31, 2007 @ 4:14 pm

  22. I’m sorry I missed Janice on “Red Eye!” I bet that was great. She really needs to be able to talk to more than just doing weather and she handles breaking news really well when she does the overnights headlines.

    I hate to stay on Friel, but have any of you seen her working on the other shows? She’s horrible there too and I really tried to give her a chance. Last week she did an American Idol segment for Studio B and she responded to Shepard with one-word answers or when he’d suggest something she would just agree with him…she would never elaborate. He was having to stretch to fill his and her time. Another night I caught her on Hannity and Colmes and she did the same thing. One word answers and basically acting like she had no clue what she was supposed to do. I think Sean and Alan got annoyed and ended up spending the rest of the segment talking to the other guests on their panel. She’s very young (I don’t have a problem with that, she’s a year older than me, but the problem I have is she acts her age if not younger) and I just don’t think she has what it takes to be in such a big place.

    Comment by Gab — March 31, 2007 @ 5:45 pm

  23. Anybody with good look’in legs : )

    Comment by mike — March 31, 2007 @ 9:13 pm

  24. Just to toss an additional name out that hasn’t been mentioned -

    I know she already has a full-time gig on the network, but I always thought that Jane Skinner would do a great job on that show. Her discussions with Shepard Smith, however brief, shows that she has a wide range and can do what suits a show like fox and friends - talk about serious news at one moment and have a casual conversation about less serious topics the next.

    Comment by FishOil — March 31, 2007 @ 11:11 pm

  25. I really like Greg Kelly and Kelly Wright. The perfect female co-host would be either Alisyn Camerota, Page Hopkins or Janice Dean. Ainsley was too much of a delicate Southern belle who overdramatized things. Courtney needs to realize that she is NOT at San Diego State Univ anymore and needs to get OUT of the party girl mode. Mike Jerrick was horrible as he always tried to make jokes about anything and everything. The problem right now is the rotating center chair which is completely throwing the balance & chemistry off for the show.

    Comment by Tiamat — March 31, 2007 @ 11:13 pm

  26. I caught the tail end of F&F this morning and I actually felt bad for Kelly and Greg. There was Courtney, giggling like a school girl while telling a guest to check out her You Tube page while Greg and Kelly just looked at her. At best, she is unprofessional. At worst, an embarrassment.

    I tend to agree with what the others have said. Page Hopkins is very good in the center seat, and I’d like to see Janice Dean give it a go as well. I’ve also seen Julie B in the mix and, personally, I think shes one of the best they’ve got.

    Comment by CurrentlyAvailable — April 1, 2007 @ 1:16 am

  27. E.D. (I know, I am dreaming). Fox and Friends will never again be Fox and Friends to me without her. I also miss Lauren Green (or is it Loren?). I also would enjoy Molly, the gal you see corresponding from Washington D.C. frequently, in this role.

    Comment by homeschooler — April 1, 2007 @ 1:35 am

  28. FishOil,
    I agree with the Jane Skinner nomination. She’s down homesly, funny, and witty. She’s also pretty hot. Not in the Jessica Simpson sort of way - more like the girl next door. But, I digress.
    Isn’t she married to the current NFL commish? Anyway, I think she’d be perfect for the job but it would never happen.

    Comment by ChrisM — April 1, 2007 @ 3:11 am

  29. FishOil,
    I agree with the Jane Skinner nomination. She’s down homesly, funny, and witty. She’s also pretty hot. Not in the Jessica Simpson sort of way - more like the girl next door. But, I digress.
    Isn’t she married to the current NFL commish? Anyway, I think she’d be perfect for the job but it would never happen.

    Comment by ChrisM — April 1, 2007 @ 3:12 am

  30. Greg Kelly is funny and I enjoy the fact that he gets to do
    some hard news too. Kelly I also think is good and the two
    guys seem to have plans to open the show and thus boost the
    ratings but like many of you have said Courtney is causing
    havoc with the harmony…she is all for herself and not a team player or a show builder so I say…Janice Dean or Paige Hopkins….but never ever Courtney. from the UK

    Comment by Scrat — April 1, 2007 @ 5:05 am

  31. #19, I am curious about F/F weekend ratings myself. Are they getting beat on a regular basis? They need to decide on a 3rd person (preferably Page Hopkins) and move on.

    Comment by Scott — April 1, 2007 @ 11:12 am

  32. paige hopkins! there is no one even close to her in this position - she is well educated, smart but also witty when it’s appropriate - she can do both the hard news and the fun stuff

    Comment by lulu — April 1, 2007 @ 1:34 pm

  33. In a perfect world, Kiran Chetry would come back, but Fox let her get away. Page would be great! This show is meant to be light-hearted and fun, so all this seeking to morph it into a stodgy, hard-news program are way off base. I’d like to see them give Rebecca Gomez a try as well. Greg Kelly is out of his element on the show. He should be a Pentagon correspondent. Courtney Friel is TERRIBLE. Whenever she’s on, all I can think is: Dim Bulb

    Comment by spiffo — April 1, 2007 @ 1:59 pm

  34. I think the hiring of Courtney Friel followed by putting her on F&F weekend brings up a couple of interesting questions. Who made the decision to use her on F&F weekend? Have they been fired yet? I think Ainsley Earhart is light years ahead of Ms. Freil. However, I guess FNC has bigger plans for her. “The pretty blonde won’t be seen again on TV until Feb. 9, she said, when she anchors her first overnight broadcast — from 11:30 p.m. until 4:30 a.m. Her shift consists of these hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.”
    http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/columnists/jjackle/stories/MYSA012607.1P.jakle.496ba7a.html

    With in mind this was written well before Kiran exited.

    Comment by Terance — April 1, 2007 @ 3:02 pm

  35. I vote for Ainsley Earhardt (overnight anchor) who filled in on F&F a few weekends ago. She was a natural. She knew her material, she had chemistry with the other hosts. Ainsley all the way!

    Comment by Robert — April 1, 2007 @ 3:43 pm

  36. If anyone missed Janice Dean on Red Eye I made a recap of it along with another show. Will probably do some more on my free time. There’s another person doing recaps every airing on YouTube you can check out but he doesn’t get all the good stuff imho. Click on my name to get to the page.

    Comment by Lurker — April 1, 2007 @ 5:18 pm

  37. I do remember the first time I saw Courtney - she was introduced on H & C, and involved in the discussion about the Anna Nicole death which had just taken place. Kimberly and others were on, trying to discuss serious legal issues, and there was Courntney, sitting there with her beautiful teeth, smiling away. She contributed NOTHING to the conversation, and I wondered why on earth Fox hired her!

    Again, maybe she’s a nice girl or whatever, but she has no place on the news, even discussing ANS! If they’ve got to keep her, put her on some upbeat entertainment segment (which I never watch anyway); maybe she’ll be a better fit there.

    Comment by Missy — April 1, 2007 @ 5:18 pm

  38. Does anyone know who we would direct an email to, to complain about Courtney? I am a huge FNC fan, but I can’t even watch F & F Weekend when she is on there. Just way too painful!

    Comment by Caty — April 1, 2007 @ 5:26 pm

  39. Caty, maybe Spud can help us out. In fact, there are many issues on this board I’d like to address to management at all of the cable networks. Not that my opinion is such a big deal, but collectively, we as a board seem to agree on many things that we feel need to be changed.

    Comment by Missy — April 1, 2007 @ 6:07 pm

  40. I would love to see more of Janice Dean.
    Courtney doesn’t seem up to the job. If you ever watched her interview on the Maxim website where she is writhing atop a poker table wearing a bikini, it is hard to take her seriously on a news show…esp. when she presents herself as an airhead.
    Another one that I think would do good in the F+F’s format is Greg Jarrett.

    Comment by newsfan — April 1, 2007 @ 6:39 pm

  41. Hey, have you all forgotten Laurie Dhue? I realize a lot of her time is spent teaming with Geraldo Rivera, but it would be great to have her appear on week-ends. There’s nothing wrong with Kelly and Greg; both are great and intelligent, along with having a sense of humor. If Laurie is not available, either Page Hopkins or Janice Dean would be a good choice. But I would miss JD with her sunshiny weather reports.

    Comment by RGL — April 1, 2007 @ 8:06 pm

  42. Lurker - thanks for the Red Eye clips!

    I agree with those saying Ainsley was good, but I’d like to see FNC promote their old talent when they have people who’d work in those spots…especially those who have developed an obvious following. I think she used to host a morning show in Texas didn’t she?

    Comment by Gab — April 1, 2007 @ 8:19 pm

  43. I really like Julie Banderas.But Julie look like she really love hosting a The Big Story.Julie host F&F Weekend in March 17 and March 18-07.Julie really did a great job hosting F&F.I would pick Page Hopkins or Janice Dean to host F&F.I would love to see Julie Banderas host F&F again.

    Comment by Jeff — April 1, 2007 @ 11:04 pm

  44. Jane Skinner is the most refreshing host on ANY news show, but I wouldn’t trade her for the weekend show, because she has such great chemistry with Shep. So out of all the existing choices, it would have to be either Janice Dean or
    Paige Hopkins because they know how to liven things up with intelligence and wit. Definately not Ainsley, Alisyn, Courtney or Uma. What about Rachel Mardsen from RedEye? She would be interesting next to Greg Kelly!

    Comment by cr — April 2, 2007 @ 12:07 am

  45. Courtney did NOT help her case in attempting to win over viewers by her little stunt on Saturday’s show when she pointed the loaded nail gun at Greg Kelly. For those who missed it, go to the video section of Fox’s website. They’ve got it on their under “DIY” for Fox & Friends show.

    Laurie Dhue would be good if they would bring her to F&F and get her far away from Geraldo. She’s hosted the show in the past during one of E.D.’s maternity leaves.

    Comment by Tiamat — April 2, 2007 @ 1:18 am

  46. Two e-mail addresses:
    For the network in general
    comments@fornews.com

    For F&F specifically
    friends@foxnews.com

    Comment by earl fenton — April 2, 2007 @ 9:08 am

  47. The above should be
    comments@foxnews.com

    Comment by earl fenton — April 2, 2007 @ 9:09 am

  48. Greg K - no
    Kelly W - no
    Bridget Quinn - no
    Courtney - absolutely not
    Alisyn - Yes
    Janice - Yes
    Ainsley - Yes
    Page - Yes
    Bring Back Juliet, Mike and Kiran!!!!!!!!

    Comment by Jason — April 2, 2007 @ 1:31 pm

  49. I can’t believe that someone would even suggest Suzanne Sena should work on the weekend morning show. She couldn’t even handle the job when she worked in small market TV. She has no knowledge of world events, geography and politics. She couldn’t even handle James Brown’s death… the one event everyone thought she could effort. They need to start testing anchors like they do writers for television. Just because you’re an aging blonde with a 1/4 of a page resume doesn’t mean you can do news. Leave real news for real women and men.

    Comment by Ailes' Love Child — April 2, 2007 @ 4:15 pm

  50. A monkey. It would do much better than anybody currently on the show. The monkey can do their part of reading verbatum Bush admin talking points.

    Comment by Randy — April 3, 2007 @ 1:02 am

  51. Yawn. Reading cliche’s like #50 makes me sleepy.

    Comment by spiffo — April 3, 2007 @ 7:36 am

  52. I have to agree that Paige and Janice would be refreshing in the weekend spot. Perhaps Kelly Wright in the middle seat with those two bawdy blonds on either side, would be worth watching (Kelly has a great sense of humor and is so laid back, unlike that Julian Phillips guy; he made me cringe

    Comment by debannib — April 21, 2007 @ 7:41 am

  53. I like Paige with Greg Kelly and Kelly Wright. They make a nice team. Courtney needs to go back to the Poker Channel or wherever she came from. I refuse to watch if she comes back on and ever replaces Paige. Someone mentioned E.D. Hill, by the way. I like Gretchen so much better than E.D. on Fox & Friends week day mornings. E.D. was always putting Brian down for something. Brian, Gretchen, & Steve have good chemistry.

    Comment by Shirley — May 20, 2007 @ 9:16 am

  54. Julie Banderas does seem to relish her Big Story weekend slot and she’s great, but I think she would also be great as an F&F weekend anchor. In addition, someone in an earlier comment dissed Suzanne Sena for not being news capable. F&F covers some hard news, but it leans a lot more on fluff and human interest pieces and Ms. Sena has a lot of warmth and appeal. Suzanne Sena would be very welcome on F&F Weekends. Paige Hopkins is fine, but she’s just not as warm and engaging as others.

    Comment by Tom — May 30, 2007 @ 1:19 am

  55. I think Ainsley Earhardt does an outstanding job!!! She is a natural and appears as though she’s had years of experience.

    Comment by Lyn Kelly — March 21, 2008 @ 8:30 pm

  56. Personally I would rather Paige come back to Fox and Friends
    that the blonde bimbo Ainsley. Between her and greg and the other looney tune. I don’t even watch on weekends anymore. Please bring page back.

    Comment by Jean — April 8, 2008 @ 6:00 am

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