| The O'Reilly Factor | |
|---|---|
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| Also known as |
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| Genre | |
| Created by | Bill O'Reilly |
| Presented by | Bill O'Reilly |
| Theme music composer | Scott Schreer |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 21 |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company | Fox News |
| Original release | |
| Network | Fox News Channel |
| Release | October 7, 1996 (1996-10-07) – April 21, 2017 (2017-04-21) |
The O'Reilly Factor (originally titledThe O'Reilly Report and also known asThe Factor) is an Americancable television news andtalk show.[1]The O'Reilly Factor first aired in the United States onFox News Channel on October 7, 1996, the same day the network launched. It was hosted byindependent commentatorBill O'Reilly, who discussed current events and controversial political issues with guests. The final episode aired on April 21, 2017.[2]
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The O'Reilly Factor was generally pre-recorded, though on occasion it aired live if breaking news or special events were being covered (e.g.,presidential addresses that occurred during prime-time anddebate coverage). It was usually taped between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.Eastern Time and aired weekdays at 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. The show was recorded "live to tape,” meaning that the recording broke for commercials as if the show was actually on the air while being recorded. Some guests were interviewed before the "live to tape" period and were slotted in the program as appropriate.[3] He began every show with the catch phrase from September 2004 to April 11, 2017, "Caution! You are about to enter the No Spin Zone. The Factor begins right now!" followed by the theme song, and then saying "Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly, thanks for watching us tonight," introducing the topic of the first segment, followed by "and that is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo,” a monologue which was often followed with an interview on the same topic.[4]
O'Reilly and his producers discussed potential topics twice a week.[5] Guest hosts included:Eric Bolling,[6]Monica Crowley,[7]Greg Gutfeld,[8]E. D. Hill,[9]Laura Ingraham,[10]John Kasich,[11]Michelle Malkin,[12]Tony Snow,[13] andJuan Williams.[14]
Early in 2009, the show's ratings increased.[15] In July 2009, Hal Boedeker blogged thatThe O'Reilly Factor peaked at 3.1 million viewers which was an increase of 37% from the previous year.[16] In September 2009,The O'Reilly Factor was the #1 cable news show for 106 consecutive weeks.[17] In May 2014,The O'Reilly Factor still held this top position, but average monthly viewers were down to 2.1 million, with a median age of 72 years.[18] In March 2015,The O'Reilly Factor remained at the number one spot on cable news ratings for its 60th consecutive quarter, experiencing 19% growth in viewership among individuals aged 25 to 54 years old.[19]
Ratings were initially high aftersexual harassment allegations against O'Reilly resurfaced in April 2017.[20] In the time duringBill O'Reilly's week-long vacation preceding his firing (in whichDana Perino guest hosted), the ratings dropped 26%.[21][22]
Michelle Malkin was a frequent guest host. A conservative commentator, she began boycotting the show in 2007 due to controversy involving remarks made against her by Geraldo Rivera over her position onillegal immigration.[23]
2008 presidential contenders
Fox News producers had tried for years to getHillary Clinton to come on the show.[24] On April 30, 2008, Clinton agreed to come on the show as part of a pre-taped interview that would be broadcast over two days.[25][26][27][28][29] The host also held an exclusive, four-part interview with then-presidential candidateBarack Obama. Both interviews drew significant media attention as they were front runners for the 2008 presidential election. In the same election cycle,Ron Paul and O'Reilly got into a testy exchange over the issue of Iran. The 2008 Republican candidate for vice president,Sarah Palin, and then Democratic vice presidential candidateJoe Biden were also invited to the show, but chose not to make an appearance.[30]
In 2005,The Colbert Report premiered onComedy Central. The show, hosted byStephen Colbert, was asatiricalspoof of pundit shows likeThe O'Reilly Factor, spoofing its format and the mannerisms and ideology of O'Reilly, whom Colbert called "Papa Bear." Colbert made no secret of his spoofing O'Reilly: upon hearing the news that O'Reilly approved ofThe Colbert Report, he declared on-air that "I like you too. In fact, if it wasn't for you, this show wouldn't exist."[31] On January 18, 2007, Colbert appeared onThe O'Reilly Factor and O'Reilly appeared on The Colbert Report.[32][33] After O'Reilly left his show, the character Colbert played onThe Colbert Report appeared "via satellite" on his new show,The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, to bid a satirical farewell to Bill.[34]
The O'Reilly Factor has also been spoofed onSaturday Night Live, first byJeff Richards and later on byDarrell Hammond, and then withAlec Baldwin, where Baldwin played both O'Reilly andDonald Trump in the same sketch in an interview segment. OnMADtv, the parody was byMichael McDonald. O'Reilly himself has appeared onMADtv.[35] Richards also played O'Reilly in an episode ofMind of Mencia where O'Reilly is a senator in the year 2016.[36] The show was also spoofed by the TV seriesThe Boondocks, first in the episode "The Trial of R. Kelly" where O'Reilly is shown talking aboutR. Kelly's latest legal trouble.[37] Later in "Return of the King,” O'Reilly is shown attackingMartin Luther King Jr. for saying that America should "love thy enemy" and "turn the other cheek,” even in respects to the9/11 attacks.[38]The Chaser's War on Everything featured a segment in its second season where it poked fun atThe O'Reilly Factor.[39]
After fivesexual harassment settlements by O'Reilly and Fox News were reported byThe New York Times,The O'Reilly Factor lost more than half its advertisers within a week,[40] almost 60 companies withdrew their ads.[41][42][43] Despite the loss of advertisers,The O'Reilly Factor's ratings increased during the controversy.[44][45] On April 11, 2017, O'Reilly announced he would take a two-week vacation and would return to the program on April 24, 2017.[46] His plans to return, however, would not come to pass, as he was fired eight days later,[47][48] and his show was cancelled soon afterwards. Online, references to O'Reilly on FoxNews.com were immediately removed, with the main show website redirecting to the FoxNews.com homepage and its content removed.[49] The program continued for three more episodes without O'Reilly, but the title was shortened toThe Factor.[50][51][2]Dana Perino guest hosted the show on April 19, 2017 and April 20, 2017 andGreg Gutfeld hosted the final episode on April 21, 2017.[2]
In the April 19, 2017 episode, Perino read a prepared statement about O'Reilly's dismissal equivalent to what the network had released earlier in the day.[52][53][54] The reasons for his firing and the sexual harassment allegations were not mentioned in the program itself.[50][55] Thetermination of employment of the former host was a major feature of news coverage on bothMSNBC andCNN, outside of the prepared statements, it was not mentioned on-air during the program and other regular topics were covered.[50] The following day, images of the host were removed from the front windows of theNews Corp. Building.[55][56] O'Reilly was not given an opportunity to sign-off on-air, instead releasing a statement through his agency about the matter, while continuing to deny the sexual harassment allegations against him.[57][52][49] During the final episode Gutfeld spoke about the program's legacy and the loyalty of the show's staff after a segment with Tucker Carlson, followed by afading of the stage's lighting to a dark state, revealing the set now blank of anything identifying the show.[1]
The three-day interregnum allowed the network to sort out a new prime-time lineup to start on April 24, 2017, which sawTucker Carlson Tonight move into the formerThe O'Reilly Factor time-slot, followed by the move of the late afternoon programThe Five to 9:00 p.m. ET.[58]
| Fox News Channel primetime 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm timeslot | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by New network, first timeslot broadcast programming | The O'Reilly Factor 1996 – 2017 | Succeeded byas 2017 – 2023 |