Bill O’Reilly is making headlines for his most recent Thursday show on Fox News. He used the time to blast last Tuesday’s crossdressing-themed episode of “Glee,” the most popular scripted hourlong on the Fox broadcast network.
“Here's the problem with a show like ["Glee"],” O’Reilly said. “If you make the behavior of these people ... if children hear it, unsupervised children, okay who don't have parents watching their -- they might go out and experiment with this stuff.”
O’Reilly’s concerns may have been prompted by former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who as a boy was a big fan of “Texaco Star Theatre” and Milton Berle, its cross-dressing host.
Almost certainly not in retaliation, Sunday night’s repeat of the “Simpsons” pilot (in celebration of the Fox Network’s 25th anniversary) featured this new title card at the end:
Congratulations FOX on 25 years …
We still love you.**This doesn’t include Fox News.
This is far from the first time “The Simpsons” has disparaged Fox News over the years:
News Corp., which owns both Fox and Fox News (among many, many other things), has always been one schizophrenic conglomerate in this regard.
While O’Reilly rails against the judicial overturn of California’s anti-gay-marriage Proposition 8 and Sean Hannity repeatedly attacks openly homosexual Obama Education Department appointee Kevin Jennings, News Corp. rakes in the bucks airing gay-magnets like “Glee” and “American Idol” and FX’s “American Horror Story.”
No one is saying O’Reilly is jealous of “Glee’s” much larger ratings, but Fox News is said to attract television’s oldest audience, and has seen massive ratings declines in recent years. Here’s how “The O’Reilly Factor” has been doing compared to “Glee” on recent Tuesdays:
Tuesdays, Jan. 31-April 17, 2012
(adults 18-49; previous weeks in parentheses; repeats in gray)
3.3 (3.5) (3.2) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) The Voice
3.0 (3.1) (1.9) (3.5) (3.4) (2.1) (2.4) (3.5) (3.6) (3.9) (4.2) (2.0) NCIS
2.7 (2.8) (2.3) (2.6) (2.7) (2.8) (3.0) (---) (3.0) (3.1) (3.5) (3.5) New Girl
2.5 (2.3) (2.8) (3.1) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Dancing/Stars
2.4 (2.7) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (3.0) (2.8) (3.3) (3.7) Glee
2.3 (2.1) (2.0) (2.0) (2.3) (2.1) (2.0) (2.0) (2.3) (2.1) (2.3) (2.1) Biggest Loser
2.0 (2.4) (1.5) (3.0) (2.8) (1.9) (1.9) (3.1) (2.7) (3.2) (3.1) (1.8) NCIS LA
--- (1.9) (2.0) (2.0) (0.9) (1.4) (0.9) (1.4) (1.5) (1.2) (---) (1.0) Body of Proof
1.8 (1.8) (1.6) (1.5) (1.6) (1.8) (2.1) (---) (2.1) (2.1) (2.1) (2.0) Raising Hope
1.7 (---) (---) (0.8) (0.8) (2.1) (---) (---) (2.1) (2.6) (2.2) (2.3) Private Practice
1.6 (1.8) (---) (---) (1.9) (1.3) (1.3) (2.2) (2.2) (2.2) (2.4) (1.6) Last Man Standing
1.5 (1.8) (1.5) (1.5) (1.8) (1.6) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Fashion Star
1.5 (1.8) (1.2) (2.1) (2.1) (1.3) (1.4) (1.9) (2.0) (2.3) (2.2) (1.4) Unforgettable
1.4 (1.5) (---) (---) (1.6) (1.4) (1.5) (1.6) (1.7) (1.8) (---) (---) Cougar Town
--- (---) (1.3) (1.4) (1.3) (1.5) (1.7) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Breaking In
1.2 (1.4) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Deadliest Catch
1.1 (1.2) (1.1) (1.3) (1.2) (1.2) (1.3) (1.3) (0.6) (1.2) (1.4) (1.6) The Game
1.1 (1.4) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) NBA Basketball
1.0 (0.9) (0.9) (---) (1.1) (1.0) (0.9) (0.9) (1.0) (0.8) (1.1) (---) Real Housewives OC
0.8 (0.7) (0.9) (0.9) (---) (0.9) (0.7) (0.8) (0.9) (0.9) (0.6) (1.1) The Daily Show
0.8 (0.7) (1.0) (1.1) (1.1) (---) (0.5) (0.5) (0.5) (0.9) (0.9) (1.1) Hardcore Pawn
0.8 (0.9) (0.9) (0.9) (1.0) (0.9) (0.8) (1.0) (---) (0.9) (0.9) (1.1) Let’s Stay Together
0.8 (0.9) (0.8) (1.1) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) 16 & Pregnant
0.8 (0.8) (0.6) (0.7) (0.7) (0.6) (0.7) (0.6) (0.7) (0.8) (---) (---) Top Shot
0.7 (0.6) (0.6) (0.7) (---) (0.6) (0.6) (0.6) (0.7) (0.7) (---) (0.7) Colbert Report
0.6 (0.7) (0.7) (0.6) (0.9) (0.8) (0.8) (0.6) (0.8) (0.6) (0.7) (0.9) Chopped
0.5 (0.4) (0.6) (0.6) (0.6) (0.5) (0.5) (0.6) (0.5) (0.6) (0.5) (0.5) Conan
0.5 (0.4) (0.4) (0.5) (0.5) (0.4) (0.5) (0.4) (0.5) (0.4) (0.5) (0.6) Ringer
0.4 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Amish
0.4 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Fact Or Faked
0.4 (0.4) (0.4) (0.4) (0.4) (0.4) (0.4) (0.4) (0.4) (0.5) (---) (---) House Hunters Intl
0.3 (0.3) (0.3) (0.4) (---) (0.3) (---) (---) (0.3) (0.3) (0.4) (---) Hannity
0.3 (0.4) (0.4) (0.3) (0.5) (0.4) (0.4) (---) (0.4) (0.4) (0.4) (---) House Hunters
0.3 (0.3) (0.3) (0.7) (0.7) (0.6) (0.7) (---) (---) (---) (0.7) (0.7) 90210
0.3 (0.3) (0.3) (0.4) (0.3) (0.3) (---) (0.4) (0.3) (0.3) (0.4) (---) O’Reilly Factor
While “The O’Reilly Factor” has long stood as the top show on the cable news networks, the real story is that in this Internet age, virtually no one watches the cable news networks.
Last Tuesday, “The O’Reilly Factor” drew a smaller 18-49 audience than very old basic cable repeats of “Big Bang Theory,” “American Dad,” “Robot Chicken,” “Law & Order SVU,” “Storage Wars,” “Tosh.0,” “The Boondocks,” “Pawn Stars,” “Friends,” “CSI,” “Swamp People,” “Two and A Half Men,” “Seinfeld,” “Criminal Minds,” “The King of Queens” and “Hardcore Pawn.”
A 2:30 a.m. repeat of “Family Guy” on the Cartoon Network drew (and not atypically) TWICE the audience of “The O’Reilly Factor” that night.
“The Colbert Report,” essentially a parody of “The O’Reilly Factor,” garners more than twice the key demo audience of “The O’Reilly Factor.”
Find a more complete list of cable repeats that beat "O'Reilly" here.
Find the New York Daily News’ story on the matter here.
