Fox & Friends Information

Fox & Friends is an American morning television show on the Fox News Channel.

History

Fox & Friends is an early-morning opinion talk show that begins at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time with the latest Fox News Live headlines and analyzes the news of the morning from a politically conservative perspective. It continues with a variety of segments including interviews, updates of news stories with correspondents at any number of bureaus and analysis from the hosts and entertainment segments. Fox & Friends evolved from Fox X-press, Fox News Channel's original morning news program.

The show also has a list of regular contributors, including Dr. Manny Alvarez with "Ask Dr. Manny" and "Dr. Manny's Healthbeat", two regular health segments, Mancow Muller with a short chat session towards the end of the weekday edition of the program, and any number of other contributors.

After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, an additional hour was added to the beginning of the weekday show, but branded as a separate show called Fox & Friends First. It was the first Fox News show to air live for the day, starting at 6:00 a.m. It was discontinued on July 13, 2008 and replaced with an additional hour of Fox & Friends (such a change, however, is only cosmetic: both shows were produced by the same staff and cycled the same anchors, with the only difference being the graphics package). The Fox & Friends First title was later reintroduced on March 5, 2012, also as a separate show airing one hour before the main three-hour program, but using a separate slate of rotating anchors. After the show has ended for the day, they stream an online-only web show named After The Show Show, which features behind-the-scenes footage not shown on air. They show the same hosts that day. It ranges from less than 3 minutes to 10 minutes at the most.

Elizabeth Hasselbeck, left her co-host position at The View, and will join the show as a co-host, replacing Gretchen Carlson in September 2013.

Political stance

The New York Times wrote that Fox & Friends "has become a powerful platform for some of the most strident attacks on President Obama." The program has provided a platform for conspiracy theories about Obama's religion and, in May 2012, aired a 4-minute video attacking Obama's record as President. The video was widely criticized as a political attack ad masquerading as journalism, TIME television critic James Poniewozik wrote: "It's hard to imagine a more over-the-top parody of Fox raw-meat-hurling, fear-stoking, base-pleasing agitprop."

In response, a Fox News exec vice-president 'disavowed' the video, blaming an associate producer and that the video 'slipped by' senior managers at the network. Fox stated that the show was entertainment and "does not pretend to be straight news." Citing anonymous sources, the New York Times reported that some reporters, producers and executives at Fox were 'embarrassed' by the show, which remains by far the highest-rated cable show in its time slot as of June 2012.

Personalities

Weekdays

• Steve Doocy, co-host and FoxCast weather personality
• Elisabeth Hasselbeck, co-host
• Brian Kilmeade, co-host and sports-news anchor
• Maria Molina, meteorologist

Weekends

• Clayton Morris, co-host
• Alisyn Camerota, co-host
• Tucker Carlson, co-host
• Rick Reichmuth, FoxCast meteorologist

Regular contributors

• Patti Ann Browne
• Dr. Manny Alvarez, FNC medical contributor
• Mancow Muller, Chicago radio personality who regularly chats with weekday hosts
• Judge Andrew Napolitano, FNC legal contributor
• Stuart Varney, Fox Business host.

Former personalities

• Dave Briggs, Weekends co-host, left at the end of 2012 to join NBC Sports Network
• Gretchen Carlson, Weekdays co-host from 2006 to 2013, replaced by Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
• E. D. Hill, Weekdays co-host from 1998 to 2006, replaced by Gretchen Carlson.