I learned something the other night, on the new Fox Business show The Independents: Mr. John Stossel’s eponymous show is the highest-rated show on that same network.
It’s no shock. It’s my favorite show, there, too. And I know folks who have even upped their cable or satellite packages solely to view Stossel every week.
Call it a comfort, call it a relief, call it whatever, but it’s nice to know that one’s own political and rhetorical tastes are shared by a growing number of others.
One thing to like about Stossel is also a reason to like The Independents. The hostess, saucy Kennedy (of MTV fame), and her cadre of commentators, Matt Welch and Kmele Foster, aim to keep the debate civil. They said as much. And followed through. No yelling; a minimum of over-talk. Apparently the format of the show is to invite two guest commentators every episode (one from “the left” and one from “the right”), and on the debut episode we watched Fox contributors Basil Smikle and Jedediah Bila . . . the latter ostensibly a conservative, but who sounded just as libertarian as the show’s core committee.
Fox’s increasing independent-minded viewership — and, like the show’s creators, I’m using “independent” partly as a code word for “libertarian” — is being rewarded with more fare to their tastes.
Modern society needs an independent streak. We gain; Fox gains.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
2 replies on “The Independents Streak”
Paul, I too am delighted with the airing of “The Independents” and hope the trend continues on FBN, including at least a weekly, if not daily, resurrection of Judge Napolitanio’s Freedom Watch.
Kennedy could use a bit more polish and be less off-color, and I understand the show and is clearly seeking a younger audience which it hopes to awaken.
The show is in its formative stages, and I wish it great success and that FBN continues trending “independent”.
I briefly tried to verify this by looking at Nielsen ratings, unfortunately I was unable to find a table showing them for the various shows. Sigh.
I’ve heard O’Rielly’s commercials that his show was #1. What’s the truth? (I’m not surprised that O’Rielly has lost viewership, he very much supports more government in a lot of social conservative cases.