Gutfeld Beats Colbert--However... (Take 2)

[Mark Jeffries]

Even though I deleted my first attempt at this post from the board, those of you who get the group by mail have already seen the part I wrote, so I'll pick up where I left off.

I was saying that the aging Fox News audience has been watching the channel all night, if not most of the day, and that the 2.19M viewers is fairly constant from Billo the Clown's former buttboy at 7 p.m. to Carlson to Hannity to Ingraham.  If they're still awake at 11 p.m., they're gonna watch Fox News no matter who's on, unless they're going to start airing "Democracy Now!"  And Colbert's audience is younger and more advertiser-desirable, even if CBS runs frickin' direct response ads in the first break.

Also, Colbert has not been on the air with a first-run show since Aug. 11, when he announced Jon Batiste's departure and Louis Cato's official taking over of the band.  Which means that with Colbert off and Kimmel with guest hosts for the entire summer, Gutfeld's only first-run with the regular cast all present competition after 11:35 is Fallon  (Noah has the problem of his lead-in being "Office" reruns).  Of course the ratings are going to be different with two of the hosts not present.

It seems like Fox News goes through this every year when the other guys are taking time off so they can proclaim Gutfeld the new king of late-night.  To quote Thomas Pussycat, "DON'T YOOOOUUU BELIEEEEVE IIIIIIT!"