Friday Fox Follies - For What Ailes You

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As this reporter was prepping another action-packed Friday Fox Follies, I was almost distracted from the task at hand by the sight of Steve Doocy in a ~~skirt~~ kilt. Revealing his inner cross-dresser during the last minutes of today’s show, Doocy had the awkward realization, when he sat down on the Curvy Couch, that the Fox Females have to find a way to sit demurely, while revealing more thigh than a KFC franchise.

From the After The Show Show: Be warned: It can’t be unseen. I’ve tried.

AILES, AILES, THE GANG’S ALL HERE: This week The Hollywood Reporter reached across the country to choose The Hollywood Reporter’s 35 Most Powerful People in New York Media 2015. Prominent is Roger Ailes:

WHY HE MATTERS: The dominant cable news network for more than a decade, Ailes’ Fox News funnels billions into the coffers of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. SNL Kagan estimates the channel will earn $2.18 billion this year, the bulk of it from ad revenue and subscriber fees, dwarfing the potential of CNN ($1.16 billion) and MSNBC ($509 million). In fact, Ailes, 74, no longer views those networks as rivals. “We’re competing with TNT and USA and ESPN,” he says. Indeed, in February Fox News was the most-watched network in all of cable in primetime. And for the first quarter of 2015, the net jumped 10 percent in primetime among viewers 25-to-54, the demo most desired by advertisers.

As FFF is fond of pointing out, ratings is not truth. It’s ironic that Ailes compares Fox “News” to 2 fictional channels and a sports network, the models of which Fox resembles far more than a “News” channel. It’s more ironic that Roger Ailes Watches MSNBC to ‘See if Their Blind Pig Finds an Acorn’:

On MSNBC: “I flip to MSNBC occasionally to make sure their blind pig didn’t find an acorn. But they never have once. I tell you who I do like at MSNBC — I like Joe and Mika.”

On CNN: “I don’t watch much CNN, they got out of the news business in primetime. But I look to see if they have a good documentary or movie. If they do, I’ll watch that.”

FULL DISCLOSURE: This reporter has accused Roger Ailes of covering up treason* in collusion with Chief White House Correspondent James Rosen, who also made this weekly round-up of Fox News idiocy.

Inexplicately, Fox Reporter Rosen Tries To Make Walter Scott Shooting About the White House. It’s a mystery why a Fox News Reporter Rushes To Killer Cop’s Defense At White House Briefing unless, as The Daily Banter’s Tommy Chrisopher tells us:

What Rosen is doing here is the yellowest kind of pandering, attempting to concoct, for his audience of panicky old white people, a narrative that the BlackBlack Obama administration is being unfair to the white cop who shot that fleeing tail-light felon, who will probably be cleared once a jury of 12 white Fox News viewers get to “watch the whole tape.”

That’s why it’s not hard to be cynical of Fox’s reporting on Racial Issues. When Fox & Friends Spent More Time on Rob Lowe than Walter Scott This Morning, but the very next day (today) spends a ton of time on the story now that there is dashcam video of Walter Scott running away from the traffic stop.

The fear in the reality communities is that by the time Fox “News” is done, it will be Scott on trial.

GIMME AN F: A Frequent Follies Fibber target is the station’s non-blonde Carlson, Tucker, but only because he deserves it. This week 2 separate clips from the same C-SPAN interview demonstrate why.

Just 2 weeks ago, in Tucker? I Hardly Know ‘Er, FFF reported how Tucker’s seemingly less intelligent brother ~~Brewster~~ ~~Bentley~~ Buckley accidentally hit REPLY ALL and called a spokesperson for NYC Mayor di Blasio a “labiaface.” That was the nicest thing said in that scatological frat boy communication. In his whiny man/boy voice Tucker Carlson Laments Being Labeled A Misogynist Because Of “Some Mean Email To This Chick”. Watch:

Next: Is it believable that Tucker Carlson: Still ‘Don’t Understand’ What Jon Stewart Was Trying to Say on Crossfire? Has he been that incurious that he’s never bothered, in the decade that followed, to use Der Googlizer to see why the entire world thought Stewart scored a direct hit? Or, is it really as Heather at Crooks and Liars would have it, Tucker Carlson Pretends He Doesn’t Understand Jon Stewart’s Criticism Of Crossfire? Watch and decide whether he’s a lyin’ sack of bovine excrement:

Another Frequent Falafel Follies Fibber is Mr. Bill O’Reilly, who had quite a week. His Killing Jesus played on the Fox “News” Channel over the Holy weekend, soon after it premiered on the National Geographic channel. Then this week Fox “News” started promoting Loofah Lad’s Legends and Lies, based on his newest book, which, for a change, doesn’t begin with the word “killing.” Bill OReilly’s Legends and Lies: The Real West (yes, his name is above the title) is, according to Variety (cutting & pasting a Fox press release):

The 21st Century Fox-owned cable outlet billed “Legends & Lies” as a program that will portray critical moments that led to renown for the central figure of each episode. The episodes will also present first-hand accounts from direct descendants and historians, along with archival photographs and special effects. Viewers can then decide, based on forensic evidence and analysis, whether each protagonist’s story is a legend or a lie.

Combining the Legends and Killing memes, Media Matters Presents Killing Truth, An eBook Of O’Reilly’s Legends. The free e-book begins:

It all started with a tweet. At 5:28 PM on February 19, 2015, David Corn’ tweet announced “Bill O’Reilly Has His Own Brian Williams Problem.” And with that, Mother Jones magazine‟s examination of O’Reilly wartime reporting exaggerations went off like a media grenade and the Fox News host scrambled to salvage his reputation.

Watch the trailer, read the e-book, and laugh at the hypocrisy: