Unless you were living on the planet Pluto, Michael Jackson was found not guilty on all ten counts at his child molestation trial today at the courthouse in Santa Maria, California. He still looks like a pedaphile to me if you'd ask me. 

This is, of course, the Fox News Channel logo today. 

Thoughts On "Fox & Friends"

It is my humble opinion that the weekday version of Fox & Friends with Steve Doocy, E.D. Hill, and Brian Kilmeade is superior to its weekend (Mike Jerrick, Juliet Huddy, Julian Phillips) counterpart. On the weekend show, Mike Jerrick, on too many occasions, acts like a total buffoon. Juliet Huddy (and the show's Sunday newsreader Kiran Chetry) dresses like a fugitive from an all-night party.

Here are Donna Fiducia and Rick Leventhal, anchoring Fox News Channel's coverage of Hurricane Jeanne, on Sunday morning, September 26, 2004. 

Here is a look at Carol Iovanna from Fox News Channel's very earliest days. 

Two Fox News originals at work. Here are David Asman and Uma Pemmaraju (who was filling in for Brigitte Quinn) on "Fox News Live" on January 17, 2005. One caveat: Uma actually left Fox News in September 1999 but returned in May of 2003. 

Here are Steve, E.D., and Brian from the May 4, 2005 "Fox & Friends" telecast. 

Here are Steve (The Weather Guy) Doocy, E.D. Hill, and Brian (The Sports Guy) Kilmeade on the May 5, 2005 telecast of "Fox & Friends," Fox News Channel's popular morning show. 

Here's a blast from the past. That's Uma Pemmaraju, enjoying a cup of coffee after her first day of anchoring, on Fox News Channel's first day on the air, Monday, October 7, 1996 

In case you may have not watched the Saturday version of CBS' "Early Show," that is what Gretchen Carlson looks like. 

New Anchorwoman For Fox News

Gretchen Carlson, a co-anchorman on CBS' Saturday Early Show, has joined Fox News as an anchorwoman. She begins her new gig on June 20.

Fox News Channel senior business correspondent Brenda Buttner. 

Here is Mancow, in Chicago, chewing the fat with Steve Doocy, E.D. Hill, and Brian Kilmeade in New York, on the May 4, 2005 telecast of "Fox & Friends." 

Here is a shot of Erich "Mancow" Muller, a Chicago-based nationally syndicated radio host, who makes frequent appearances of the weekday edition of "Fox & Friends." 

Happy Birthday, Shep. This is from the January 14, 2005 telecast of "Studio B with Shepard Smith." Here, Shep is awarded a Bundt cake by his Fox News colleague, Jane Skinner, during a regulary aired minisegment titled "Skinnerville." 

This is from a Springtime, 1999 telecast of "Fox & Friends" with E.D. Donahey (now E.D. Hill), Steve Doocy, and Brian Kilmeade. All three are still with the Fox News Channel and the program. 

Fox News Radio Begins Five-Minute Broadcasts

As of today, Fox News Radio began offerieng five-minute newscasts to news and talk radio stations. It is now available on 300 stations with 200 more expected to join by the end of this coming Summer.

Happy Birthday to Yahoo! Groups Honoring Uma and Carol!

Today is the one year anniversary of the creation of two great Yahoo! groups, dedicated to Fox News Channel anchorwomen and news updaters Uma Pemmaraju and Carol Iovanna. I sincerely hope you would get to visit these two groups and join.

That's the Fox News Channel logo used in a television promo that aired on the FX cable network during FNC's earliest days. 

Remembering a legend: Max the Wonderdog (January 19, 1988-August 25, 2004)

Remembering a legend: 

Memorial Day Weekend

Here's hoping you folks out there had a good Memorial Day weekend.

Here is Fox News Channel's very own Northwesten Wildcat, Jane Skinner, presiding over an April, 2005 telecast of "Sunday Best." 

Ride 'Em Cowboy! Here, we see Brian Kilmeade, tryin' his best to ride a buckin' mechanical bull on the April 28, 2005 telecast of "Fox & Friends." 

Here is Uma Pemmaraju (anchoring the 11 AM Pacific Time hour of "Fox News Live" in place of Martha MacCallum), discussing the Michael Jackson Case, on February 23, 2005. 

Here's another wonderful talent (and a horse riding champion to boot): FNC's very own Seton Hall Pirate, Donna Fiducia. 

This is Fox News Channel's Carol Iovanna, a veteran broadcast journalist. Some of you may even remember Carol from her days with the now-defunce Satellite News Channel (1982-83). 

Here is Shepard Smith, chewing the proverbial fat with Jane Skinner during the April 28, 2005 edition of "Studio B with Shepard Smith." 

Here's a look at talented, professional Uma! 

Rita's Gone

As you may know, Fox News Channel veteran Rita Cosby, who hosted two weekend shows, The Big Story Weekend on Saturday nights, and the Sunday 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM (Pacific Time) hour of Fox News Live, has left the network roughly a week and a half ago after she and the network were unable to agree on a contract extension. Rita has since moved on to MSNBC, where, beginning in June, she will become an anchorwoman and "special correspondent," and is slated to start hosting a weeknight show beginning in the fourth quarter of this year.

"Fox & Friends"

The Fox News Channel program Fox and Friends is by far the best of the nationally televised morning programs, especially the weekday edition, and espcially when E.D. Hill is on.

Funeral Of Pope John Paul II

Shepard Smith (in Rome) and Martha MacCallum (in New York) are scheduled to host Fox News Channel's live coverage of the funeral of Pope John Paul II, Friday morning at 3:00 AM Eastern Daylight Savings Time (Midnight, Thursday night Pacific Time).

Happy Birthday, Uma!

This coming Thursday, March 31, is Uma Pemmaraju's birthday. On behalf of the Fox News Channel, America's Newsroom blog, let me with this talented and experienced professional a very happy birthday.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, UMA!

New Petition For Donna Fiducia Up And Running

I have created a new online petition calling on the Fox News Channel to give the talented anchorwoman Donna Fiducia her own regular hosting assignment.

BIG NEWS FOR DONNA'S FANS!

A new offical website for Fox News Channel's own Donna Fiducia is now up and running.

Let Uma Host!

I have launched an online petition calling on the Fox News Channel to give Uma Pemmaraju a regular hosting assignment.

Get A Load Of This!

New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer was Neil Cavuto's guest on the Tuesday, February 15, 2005 edition of Your World With Neil Cavuto.

Should Uma and Donna Host?

There are two talented members of the Fox News Channel family who deserve shots at regular hosting assignments. As mentioned in an earlier post Uma Pemmaraju has more than a quarter-century of broadcast journalism experience. In fact, for most of the three years of her first FNC stint (1996-99), Uma was one of the hosts of Fox News Now, forerunner of Fox News Live. She has had hosting opportunities during her second stint, which began in May, 2003. She has subsitituted for Rita Cosby, Geraldo Rivera, and Greta Van Susteren, has hosted weekend versions of The Fox Report and guest hosted Fox News Live. Uma's FNC colleague, Donna Fiducia, is also deserving of a regular hosting assignment. Unfortunately, Donna has been relegated to overnight news updates four nights a week. She had hosted Fox News Live for a number of years until she was banished into overnight duty.

Why Won't New York AG Appear On "Your World?"

Fox News Channel's Neil Cavuto, the anchorman of FNC's Your World With Neil Cavuto has tried several times in vain to get New York State Attorney General (and likely 2006 candidate for that state's Democratic Gubenatorial nomination) Eliot Spitzer to appear on his show. What is Mr. Spitzer so afraid of?

New Electronic Mailing Address

You can eMail me at my new electronic mailing address:

mailto:nunes12345@msn.com

Web Site Defunct

Ye Bob Nunes World Wide Web Site has ceased operations. The internet service provider that house the site ceased operations roughly a month ago and in the last week or so the web page disappeared.

Fox News Iraq Election Coverage

Your Fox News Channel over this past weekend presented strong coverage of the Iraqi elections.

Fair and Balanced

For all the hamming and hawing over Fox News Channel's motto "Fair and Balanced," FNC's coverage is at least fairer and more balanced than that of its competitors and the old alphabet networks.

Possible Changes At Headline News and Possible Effect On Fox News On-Air Talent?

With a meeting at CNN Headline News that was scheduled for today (Monday, December 13, 2004) and with the prospect of the soon-to-be reorganized network handing out pink slips to some of its on-air talent, who if anybody may end up at Fox News Channel, and at whose expense?

If you think you know, you can send me an electronic letter at:

Mailto:cspaniel@cdsnet.net

Thanks for reading.

Fox News Channel Election Coverage

Fox News Channel did a splendid job with this year's election coverage. Brit Hume handled things from Washington. Meanwhile, on the Fox broadcast Network, Shepard Smith headlined things from New York City. After Brit and friends closed up shop at 3:00 AM Eastern Time on Wednesday morning (12 Midnight, Pacific Time), the "Tigress," Uma Pemmaraju and Bob Sellers ran things for two hours before turning things over to the "Fox & Friends" gang.

Donna Hosts!

At 1:30 AM Eastern Time on Thursday morning, September 16, 2004 (Wednesday night, September 15, at 10:30 PM Pacific Time), Donna Fiducia started what would be a two-hour stint hosting on the Fox News Channel. Donna co-piloted the first 30 minutes with Bob Sellers, then went solo for one full hour before sharing the final 30 minutes with Gregg Jarrett. It took a big, nasty, catagory 3 hurricane which was getting set to slam onto the Alabama coast to make Donna's hosting assignment possible. Hopefully, Donna would get other opportunities to host.

Donna Fiducia Fans

Fans of Fox News Channel anchorwoman Donna Fiducia are passionate about their favorite. Many of them are not very happy about Donna being exiled to overnight news update duty. They like the idea of Donna's updates being shoved later into the nighttime hours during FNC's Republican convention coverage (the same thing happened during the network's Democratic covention coverage as well). There are those that contend that the seasoned and talented Miss Fiducia should be given a chance to host, something she used to do with regularity until some two years ago. My thinking is that, like the talented, very professional, and, may I add seductive, Uma Pemmaraju, Donna should be hosting on a regular basis. She too is a consumate professional!

In Memoriam: Max the Wonderdog: January 19, 1988-August 25, 2004

You can find a link to photographs of Max the Wonderdog at http://home.internetcds.com/~cspaniel

Ideal Fox News Channel Schedule

Here's an idea for the perfect (or near-perfect) Fox News Channel lineup:

All Times are Pacific

(Okay, so it's a West Coast bias, so what?)

2:00 AM "Fox News Live First Edition" with Patti Ann Browne; Lauren Green would
handle headline updates and would be Patti Ann's backup.

3:00 AM "Fox and Friends" with Steve Doocy, E.D. Hill, and Brian Kilmeade; Lauren
Green would handle headlines from the "F&F" set instead of the newsroom
and Steve, E.D., and Brian would be seen the entire three hours---no more
rotating hosts. As with the Patti Ann Browne show, Lauren would be the
designated substitute when E.D. isn't there.

6:00 AM "Fox News Live" (with a stronger emphasis on hard news,
plus more field reports, fewer interviewers and no gossip)
Jon Scott: 6-7:30 AM
Uma Pemmaraju 7-9 AM
David Asman 8:30-10 AM
Jane Skinner would handle news headlines for five minutes twice each
hour (and would substitute for Uma in case of absence).
Weather updates from TRAINED meteorologists like Mish Michaels
or Cheryl Lemke.
Sorry, Brigitte Quinn and Janice Dean fans.

10:00 AM "DaySide with Linda Vester" minus the studio audience and "Stupid
Criminals" segment.

11:00 AM "Fox News Live" with Martha MacCallum and Rick Folbaum. Again, Janie
Skinner would handle news updates in studio twice each hour (and would
pinch-hit for Martha in case of absence).

12:00 Noon "Studio B with Shepard Smith;" Jane Skinner strikes again with one
more news update. She would also keep her "Skinnerville" segment
in which she and Shep would continue to chew the proverbial fat. Jane
and Rick Folbaum would be designated as Shep's backups in case Mr.
Smith is absent. This would take effect on both of Shep's shows.

1-8 PM Shows headlined by Neil Cavuto, John Gibson, Brit Hume, Shep
Smith, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes, and Greta
Van Susteren would remain intact with the execption that the
news updates last three minutes each and would be placed right
at the top and bottom of each hour.

8:00 PM I would start a gradual phaseout of the overnight reruns. For this hour
I would place a sports news show with scores and highlights of all
the day's and night's action. I would hire New York cultural icon
Warner Wolf to be that show's anchorman. "Let's go to the
videotape!" There would be two three-minute news updates with
Carol Iovanna and/or David Folk Thomas.

9:00 PM A nighttime version of "Fox News Live" that is more tailor-made for
us West Coast viewers. Perhaps hire someone like Bernard Goldberg
to be the show's anchorman. Perhaps bring in Donna Fiducia or Carol
Iovanna as his co-pilot. There would be two five minute news updates
for each of the two hours.

11PM-2 AM Repeats of the night's "O'Reilly Factor," "Hannity & Colmes," and
"On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" would be relegated to this
three hour period. Eventually, they would be replaced by a one-hour
sports news show from Los Angeles (Chris Meyers and/or Jeanne
Zalasko, perhaps?) followed by a two-hour live feed of Sky News from
London. Live headline updates would continue.

SATURDAY

2:00 AM "Fox News Live First Saturday Edition" with someone like maybe
Rebecca Gomez? This would be a two-hour show.

4:00 AM "Fox and Friends Weekend" with Bill McCuddy, Alysin Camerota, and
Julian Phillips." Dari Alexander would handle headlines in studio and
would be Alysin's backup.
Sorry, Mike Jarrick and Juliet Huddy fans.

7:00 AM The two-hour business news block remains intact.

9:00 AM "Weekend Live" with Tony Snow.

11:00 AM "Fox News Live" with:
Dari Alexander 11AM-12:30 PM
Bob Sellers 12 Noon-1:30 PM
Carol Iovanna 1-2:30 PM
Gregg Jarrett 1:30-3 PM

3-4 PM "The Beltway Boys" and "Fox News Watch" would remain intact.

4:00 PM "The Fox Report" Saturday edition with Rick Folbaum

5-8 PM Shows headlined by John Kasich, Rita Cosby, and Geraldo Rivera
remain intact.

8:00 PM "After Hours with Cal Thomas" expands to one hour.

9:00 PM Saturday night sports news show with news updates.

10:00 PM Saturday late night edition of "Fox News Live," maybe with
David Folk Thomas?

11 PM-2 AM Reruns of "Heartland with John Kasich," "Beltway Boys," "Fox News
Watch," and "After Hours with Cal Thomas." These repeats would
eventually be replaced by a Los Angeles-based sports news show
followed by Sky News feed from London. Live headline update would
continue.


SUNDAY

2:00 AM "Fox News Live First Sunday Edition" with Greg Kelly in Washington.

4:00 AM "Fox News Live Weekend Edition" with Bill McCuddy, Alysin
Camerota, and Julian Phillips, with Donna Fiducia handling
headlines (and filling in for Alysin).
Sorry, Mike Jarrick, Juliet Huddy, and Kiran Chetry fans.

7:00 AM "Fox News Live" with:
Donna Fiducia 7-8:30 AM
Eric Shawn 7:30-9 AM

9:00 AM "Weekend Live" with Brian Wilson in Washington.

11:00 AM "Fox News Live" with:
Dari Alexander 11 AM-12:30 PM
Gregg Jarrett 11: 30 AM-1 PM
Rebecca Gomez 1-2 PM

2:00 PM Replay of "Fox News Sunday" from the Fox broadcast network.

3:00 PM "Fox News Live" with Rita Cosby.

4:00 PM "Fox News Live" Weekend Report with Laurie Dhue.

5:00 PM "War Stories" with Oliver North.

6:00 PM "Sunday Best" with Jane Skinner. "Breaking Point" specials would
air once a month at this time spot.

7:00 PM "At Large with Geraldo Rivera."

8:00 PM "Fox Magazine" with Laurie Dhue.

9:00 PM Sunday night sports news show from New York and/or Los Angeles

10:00 PM Sunday late night edition of "Fox News Live."

11 PM-2 AM Late night sports news show from Los Angeles or Seattle followed
by repeats of "War Stories with Oliver North" and "Sunday Best"
(or "Breaking Point" special). These would eventually replaced by
Sky News feed from London. Live headline updates each half-hour


Any questions or comments?

Thanks for reading.

Convention Coverage

My thinking is that the Fox News Channel will use the same coverage approach to the forthcoming Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City (August 30-September 2) that they used for the Democratic National Convention recently held at the Fleetcenter in Boston.