Fox & Friends

For the 1975 German film, see Fox and His Friends.
Fox & Friends
Genre
Presented by Weekdays:
Steve Doocy
Ainsley Earhardt
Brian Kilmeade
Lawrence Jones
Janice Dean
Carley Shimkus
Weekends:
Will Cain
Rachel Campos-Duffy
Pete Hegseth
Rick Reichmuth
Country of origin United States
Original language English
No. of seasons 25
Production
Production locations New York City, New York
Camera setup Multiple-camera setup
Running time Weekday 180 minutes Weekend 240 minutes
Original release
Network Fox News
Release February 1, 1998 –
present

Fox & Friends is an American daily morning news and talk program that airs on Fox News. It premiered on February 1, 1998, and is currently hosted by Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, Brian Kilmeade and Lawrence Jones on weekdays. Will Cain, Rachel Campos-Duffy and Pete Hegseth host on weekends.

It begins at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone with the latest Fox News Live headlines and news of the morning and continues with a variety of segments including current events, interviews, updates of news stories with correspondents, political analysis from the hosts, and entertainment segments.

History

Fox & Friends evolved from Fox X-press, Fox News Channel's original morning news program.

After the September 11 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. The Fox & Friends First title was 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.

Format

Current weekday Fox & Friends hosts (l to r) Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade

Fox & Friends has been described as being more akin to the Big Three television networks than its cable competitors (particularly CNN This Morning and MSNBC's Morning Joe), with a mix of news, entertainment and lifestyle-oriented segments, and a generally casual presentation. However, as with the morning shows on competing cable news channels, its news content largely concentrates on politics. Currently, Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, Brian Kilmeade and Lawrence Jones co-host the program Monday-Friday. Will Cain, Rachel Campos-Duffy and Pete Hegseth co-host on the weekends.

Some regular fill in hosts include celebrities (actors and actresses), Todd Piro, Katie Pavlich, Joey Jones, Kayleigh McEnany, Griff Jenkins, Lisa Boothe and Carley Shimkus.

Recurring segments

  • The 'Summer Concert Series' features a live music concert in the Fox News Plaza each Friday from Memorial Day weekend though Labor Day weekend.
  • 'So Sue Me' is a segment in which Peter Johnson, Jr. (an appellate and trial lawyer) offers his perspective on current events with legal implications.

Ratings

The New York Times has reported the show is one of the most successful on the network. After the arrival of Elisabeth Hasselbeck in September 2013, the show climbed 23 percent in total viewers compared to its average for the third quarter of 2013, and 22 percent in the key 25–54 news demo. For Hasselbeck's first four weeks on the show, Fox & Friends averaged 1.226 million total viewers, up from the 1.058 that the show averaged for the third quarter of the year.

In February 2017, the program's average ratings increased to around 1.7 million viewers, fueled by the recent inauguration of Republican candidate Donald Trump as president.

Political stance

See also: Donald Trump on social media

In 2012, 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 Barack Obama religion conspiracy theories 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 magazine television critic James Poniewozik wrote: "It's hard to imagine a more over-the-top parody of Fox News raw-meat-hurling, fear-stoking, base-pleasing agitprop." In response, a Fox News executive vice-president 'disavowed' the video, blaming an associate producer and that the video 'slipped by' senior managers at the network. Fox News stated that the show was entertainment and "does not pretend to be straight news."

Former U.S. president Donald Trump is a regular viewer of Fox & Friends, and praised the program for its favorable coverage of his presidency. Critics noted that Trump often tweeted about stories on Fox & Friends as they aired, creating a "feedback loop" when the stories were subsequently discussed as national issues because they were mentioned by Trump on social media.

Trump was a frequent guest on Fox & Friends before his presidency. In 2018, Fox News announced that he would appear on the show to offer commentary every Monday.

On April 26, 2018, Trump was interviewed by phone on Fox & Friends in a segment that stretched to nearly half an hour, and discussed several recent topics and controversies surrounding himself and his government. Trump said that he might interfere with the Special Counsel investigation, acknowledged that lawyer Michael Cohen had represented Trump in the Stormy Daniels–Donald Trump scandal, and said that he had gotten a card and flowers for Melania Trump, his wife, whose birthday was the same day.

Hosts

Weekdays

Weekends

Former