Variety‘s Brian Lowry thinks watching Bill O’Reilly “has become a blander experience” lately, because the Fox News host seems to be picking guests who will only agree with him. Lowry posits that since accusations of O’Reilly’s perceived reportorial embellishments came to light, “the sight of such naysayers within the host’s ‘no-spin zone’ has seemingly grown more rare.”
We would argue that O’Reilly’s guest list hasn’t changed much at all — in years, even.
In fact, it’s quite formulaic. And from a TV programming perspective, that’s perfect. Viewers have an expectation of what they’re going to get — and they get it. And for the O’Reilly Factor, that includes a very health does of other Fox Newsers: if it’s Monday, you’re getting Charles Krauthammer and Megyn Kelly; if it’s Tuesday, a Did You Know That? segment featuring other Fox talent (which we first noticed in January); on Wednesday it’s Eric Shawn and Shannon Bream; on Thursday, Bernie Goldberg talks media, and on Friday Greg Gutfeld and Bernard McGuirk drop by to yuck it up.
You don’t get to the be the #1 show on cable news for more than a decade by messing with the formula.