Wide World of Women

Buoyed by ratings growth, Fox News Channel increases its morning flagship's airtime to four hours.

Starting Monday, Fox & Friends will be one-hour friendlier.


The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusivity that the Fox News Channel is expanding its morning flagship by an hour, airing live for the first time between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. ET. A FNC spokesperson confirms that the new lead, Fox & Friends First, will replace the repeats currently filling the timeslot.

The move comes on the heels of recent 9 percent ratings growth, year over year, in total viewers. Fox & Friends averaged 1.2 million viewers in February, topping CNN and MSNBC's morning programming combined. The series also managed to best broadcast competition, the newly relaunched CBS This Morning, in several key markets, including Atlanta, Detroit, Cleveland and Orlando.

Fox & Friends' fourth hour will be manned by a rotating pair of FNC personalities. Those already on deck to appear are Heather Childers, Dave Briggs, Ainsley Earhardt, Heather Nauert, Juliet Huddy, Julie Banderas, Anna Kooiman, Clayton Morris, Arthel Neville, Jamie Colby and Patti Ann Browne.


Presently manned by Gretchen Carlson, Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade, Fox & Friends first launched in 1998, following the traditional morning format of news analysis, interviews and a variety of recurring segments.

The series originally aired between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. but expanded to start at 6:00 a.m. in 2001

Bringing back First, eh? Wonder what the point is in going on the air at 5.

Ainsley and Anna Kooiman will host the debut show

When does it start?

Ainsley said it starts on Monday.

Cant Wait!!! Fox must have took notice to CNN's Early Start.

Childers, Nauert, Earhardt....oh my.

Can't wait to see the new show. All I ask is that this be shot on the curvy coach. Please, please, Fox News, don't wreck it by putting these lovely ladies behind a desk.

Well that sure will put a cut in the CNN ratings that start at 5.

Finally, Fox is finding air time for people who don't get enough
I wonder how they will divide it
One thing I read is the success of the early shows, not so much CNN or MSNBC, but the local markets that start early (the Detroit Fox affiliate starts at 4:30 and the other stations start at 5) convinced FNC to revive First
Here's what we'll be getting up to Monday morning



From Ainsley's and Anna's Facebook pages

You would be surprised, but people actually do get up that early. When I was going into work at 6 last fall, it was kind of nice to wake up at 515, turn on the TV and see news. And sparty was right about the local markets. Around here, NBC's morning show starts at 4:30, the rest at 5.

Dave and Clayton.


Take those two clowns off the list and you've got one hell of a lineup!

They have so much underused talent.

Here is a preview of what i hope to be the view all the time during the fox and friends first 5:00am show.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/19 ... st5am.jpg/

Whoa. I like that!

That'd be nice but watch 'em eff it up!

If this is the set up,I'm capping immediately

Ainsley posted these pictures on her Facebook page, and she said on F&FW this IS the new set



Ainsley and Anna will host Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

I'm a little split on this. For years there was nothing on, or nothing much on, between the end of Red Eye and start of morning shows. Which was fine with me. Sometimes if up, I saw the reran of the O'Reilly Factor or I saw Early Today and Willie Geist before Fox and Friends. But now there is, even though people can be critical of how good it is, stuff on 24/7 to check out on television with women. For one thing, Late night talk shows are still out there and Shopping channels never slept or reran things.

But now CNN decided to not run American Morning. They changed the anchors and created two shows. For some reason, they felt it was better to move show one up an hour and take over the CNN International feed they ran early mornings. So we get a show now with Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin before Soledad O'Brien. Fine. I started checking it out sometimes and was presently surprised at the fact there is some leg under the table set you can see. And we get standing leg from either Allison Kosik or Poppy Harlow. That will do for the hour before before Fox and Friends.

However...Alas, Newscorp could not be satisfied to leave things as is. They want the rating for that hour it seems. So in comes this.....Fox and Friends 1st is back....wow. I thought it was never returning after it died out in 07 right after Kiran left Fox News and Alisyn came back from maternity leave and Courtney Friel joined Fox News followed by Ainsley later that year and then Shannon Bream.

So it is back, but what is odd is that they will use a different set than the rest of the hours. So it is odd. We shall see how it goes, but I feel that I could have lived with just watching CNN. I still don't get why they want to start this early. So now both shows will come after the rerun of El Gordo y La Flaca on Univision and during the hour the 11:30 eastern news is rerun on Univision which now has Ilia standing leg.

Wild. Just two hours after Red Eye too. And they will use all the women "some" complained about not being on much. So all right then. Sounds good.

f*ck now i'm def going to be late to work