Comments on: Eric Burns on Fox News Watch…

by: Jan

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 19:20:17 +0100

Up: The Beltway Boys and Eric Burns as the moderator of Fox News Watch

Down: The weekend crew of Garrett, Banderas, Courtney, and the fellow with the glasses. The whole lot is BORING!

I agree with the previous comments stating that the Beltway Boys is the only segment worth watching on the weekends.

And why does Martha McCallum have to share the spotlight on the Live Desk? She’s a super host on her own.

by: Vicki

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:30:21 +0100

PLEASE~Bring Eric Burns back ASA
P !!! “News Watch” WAS my #1 week-end news program !!!

by: Marian Boone

Sat, 31 May 2008 18:04:46 +0100

Eric Burns was a far better host for News Watch. I am sorry to see Fox fill its time with trash like Red Eye and some silly female hosts like E.D. Hill who giggle all the time. Also, Fox and Friends has stooped to having females shorten their skirts and the camera spends more time of their legs than their faces. I am a conservative and hate seeing Fox follow the national trend of being too wrapped in selling good looks and sex instead of newsworthy discussions.

by: Haile Welde

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 06:28:38 +0000

“Haile: And this relates to his Friday on-air stint being dropped.”

ira: Good point.

“However, I do agree with Burns that in recent months the show was not actively promoted. And the shift in the time slot, plus no having re-airs also did not help.”

I also agree with that. The part where I’m doubtful of Burns’ claims is, I don’t think Fox promised to promote that show in recent months. It seems to me they’ve been planning it’s demise for quite some time.

Note to Burns… if you’re going to burn your former employer, don’t do it in the New York Times. That just looks low and desperate.

by: ImNotBlue

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:59:43 +0000

KO went to bat for him earlier this week.
Comment by randy — February 11, 2008 @ 1:14 pm

Well, I’m sure that’ll help!

by: randy

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:14:09 +0000

KO went to bat for him earlier this week.

by: Ira

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:22:58 +0000

And he acts surprised that he was let go, when in fact he was reduced from ’staff’ to ‘contributor’ a year ago? What clearer sign do you need you’re on your way out?

Haile: And this relates to his Friday on-air stint being dropped.

However, I do agree with Burns that in recent months the show was not actively promoted. And the shift in the time slot, plus no having re-airs also did not help.

by: notmyrealname

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:45:49 +0000

“Typical sniping? The man is talking to The New York Times, the paper that trips over itself to bash FOX. That does not make Eric Burns the credible one in this exchange.”

So the fact that he talked to the NYT makes him all of a sudden less credible? Are you serious?

Wait ’til his contract ends, you know they’ll bury him on his way out like they do most of their talent.

by: sivart

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:39:35 +0000

They can carp about the demo all they want…I’m in the demo, and News Watch was my favorite show on FNC. This isn’t about ratings, because they weren’t all that bad, even in the demo. This is about profit, this is about advertisers not properly matched with the right show…and instead of fixing the problem and either promoting the show properly to draw in the target audience or changing the sponsors, they screw with the format and content of the show. BOR griping on air at Burns for not glove slapping Gabler and challenging him to a duel really didn’t help matters any either.

by: ImNotBlue

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:38:04 +0000

Beltway Boys won’t be going anywhere, IMO. Those two guys are too valuable on other programs, so they won’t risk upsetting them by canceling their show.

I like that show… although those two guys are easily the least TV friendly people on the network. Lots of stuttering, stammering, falling over their words. Good content, not a great presentation… but not going anywhere just yet.

by: Dee

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:41:13 +0000

Fox News Watch and the Beltway Boys was the only tolerable hour on weekends. With the check-out line taking over the couch for what seemed like forever was too much. Now there’s no reason at all for me to watch Fox on weekends.

by: Missy

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:14:55 +0000

I remember reading that Fox News Watch did quite well in the ratings as opposed to Howard Kurtz/Reliable Sources. So in that respect, it was a success.

I always found it entertaining and don’t see how they can’t allow it to remain on the schedule when they have hour after our of Jarrett, Courtney, Julie and the guy with the glasses, as sophia mentions above. 30 minutes of a different format like that really added a lot to Fox’s sometimes monotonous format.

by: sophia

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:05:14 +0000

I personally think weekend Fox News at any time (except for
Brian Wilson) is awful. Greg Jarrett, Julie Bandaras, and Jaime Colby are unwatchable for me and whoever thinks that Griffin guy with the black horn-rimmed glasses is a good mix is nuts. He is awful, just plain silly. They have had such good people in the past that they let go and have good talent now that they don’t use that I cannot figure out why they can’t figure out why their weekend news is so bad. I fall closer to the older end of the demographics they want but I find it impossible to watch these people. Bridget Quinn doesn’t need Jaimie Colby to share the reading of the news as she is fine on her own. What’s next to go - The Beltway Boys?

by: wenchie

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 08:35:47 +0000

I admit I have never seen the show promoted and it was by accident that I discovered it….and then became a regular viewer

by: david

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 08:22:00 +0000

Sad. I loved “Fox News Watch” but was never quite able to figure out when it aired.

by: SuperNoxic

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:14:28 +0000

Oh God, I can’t wait to see what this replacement show is going to be. I suppose while “the current talent” is unable to cover new media topics, Courtney Friel is?

And could Burns be any more right about the zero promotion the show got? In the past couple of years I can remember exactly two promos that aired. And every single time that Jane Hall appears on the Factor’s weekly media segment, does O’Reilly ever mention her regular status on News Watch? No. But he will spend five minutes reading off the long title of Bernie Goldberg’s several-months-old book. Even when Cal Thomas and Hall appeared on that segment together — which would have been the perfect time to mention their show — nothing.

by: Terance

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:23:10 +0000

Haile, do you by chance know any website design? Because word has it, FNC has one of the absolute worst in cable news. And I think if we “translate” your long posts into “code” FNC could be completely rewritten in a matter of weeks.

by: Haile Welde

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:08:22 +0000

And he acts surprised that he was let go, when in fact he was reduced from ’staff’ to ‘contributor’ a year ago? What clearer sign do you need you’re on your way out?

What makes more sense is that FOX decided a year ago to change the program, and kept him on until making plans for a replacement show.

Personally, I’ve said this before, I wouldn’t be surprised if FOX simply wanted to be rid of a host that didn’t sufficiently challenge Gabler to substantiate all his FOX-bashing. Changing the show’s focus to new media would be a plus.

by: Haile Welde

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:01:03 +0000

Typical sniping? The man is talking to The New York Times, the paper that trips over itself to bash FOX. That does not make Eric Burns the credible one in this exchange.

by: Mike Beckham

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 03:17:25 +0000

“not having a contributor agreement renewed is something that’s very difficult to accept.”

Typical snipping from FOX PR