Crossfire host dumped by CNN-Jon Stewart fallout?

[SirFozzie]

Jan. 5, 2005 | New York -- CNN said goodbye to pundit Tucker Carlson on Wednesday, and with him likely the "Crossfire" program that has been the granddaddy of high-volume political debate shows on cable television.

CNN will probably fold "Crossfire" into its other programming, perhaps as an occasional segment on the daytime show "Inside Politics," said Jonathan Klein, who was appointed in late November as chief executive of CNN's U.S. network.

Klein on Wednesday told Carlson, one of the four "Crossfire" hosts, that CNN would not be offering him a new contract. Carlson has been talking with MSNBC about a prime-time opening replacing Deborah Norville.

"I would host any kind of show for (MSNBC chief executive) Rick Kaplan," said Carlson, whose Friday night PBS show "Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered" resumes this week.

He said he enjoyed every minute working for CNN, but that he had told executives last April that he wanted to do something different from "Crossfire."

The bow-tied wearing conservative pundit got into a public tussle last fall with comic Jon Stewart, who has been critical of cable political programs that devolve into shoutfests.

"I guess I come down more firmly in the Jon Stewart camp," Klein told The Associated Press.

He said all of the cable networks, including CNN, have overdosed on programming devoted to arguing over issues. Klein said he wants more substantive programming that is still compelling.

"I doubt that when the president sits down with his advisers they scream at him to bring him up to date on all of the issues," he said. "I don't know why we don't treat the audience with the same respect."

"Crossfire" began in 1982 and was once a mainstay of CNN's prime time. Pat Buchanan from the right and Michael Kinsley from the left were two of its most prominent hosts.

But as Fox News Channel perfected the format with popular hosts Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, "Crossfire" lost favor among CNN executives and was moved to the afternoons in 2002. It averages 447,000 viewers each weekday, down 21 percent from the previous season, according to Nielsen Media Research. Carlson rotates as host with conservative columnist Bob Novak. Paul Begala and James Carville are the left-leaning ringleaders.

Klein said he hoped Novak, Begala and Carville would continue with meaningful commentator roles at CNN.

Carlson had one failed bid at prime time on CNN with "The Spin Room," which was canceled after less than six months in 2001.

He subbed last week for newscaster Aaron Brown as Klein wanted to see him in a different role before making a decision about his future. Klein said his views on wanting to change the tone of political coverage were separate from the decision to keep Carlson.

"His career aspirations and our programming needs just don't synch up," Klein said. "He wants to host his own nighttime show and we don't see that in the cards here. Out of respect for him and his talent, we thought it would be best to let him explore opportunities elsewhere."

An MSNBC spokesman had no comment on CNN's decision.

"We think Tucker is a great journalist and we're exploring our options for a new 9 p.m. show," said MSNBC's Jeremy Gaines.

[QuikSand]

"I guess I come down more firmly in the Jon Stewart camp," Klein told The Associated Press.

That's a really odd quote. Even if it were true, I'm not sure I'd offer that up. I think I'd go with the generic "we're going in a different direction..." sort of thing.

[sachmo71]

Say bye-bye to the bow tie.

[CamEdwards]

perhaps CNN would like Jon Stewart to come host a show? Then it wouldn't be that odd of a quote. He's a hot property, and CNN's primetime has no ratings to speak of right now. Might be a good move if they can pull it off.

[Ksyrup]

That's a really odd quote. Even if it were true, I'm not sure I'd offer that up. I think I'd go with the generic "we're going in a different direction..." sort of thing.
I believe, although I may be wrong, that that comment is referring more to the decision to can Crossfire than Carlson.

[Subby]

Jon Stewart 1
Partisan Hacks 0

[CamEdwards]

Partisan Hack on Comedy Central 1
Partisan Hacks on CNN 0

fixed it for ya.

[sachmo71]

fixed it for ya.

sweet

[Subby]

fixed it for ya.
Heh...Jon Stewart is no hack, baby :)

[sachmo71]

Heh...Jon Stewart is no hack, baby :)


His book was funny.

[NoMyths]

Saving America 1
Hurting America 0

[Arles]

Isn't this the old "if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around - does it make a sound" cliche? I wasn't even aware that Crossfire was still on the air. I guess all 8 viewers will be in mourning today.

[Raven Hawk]

Neckties 1
Bowties 0

[CamEdwards]

Making fun of America 1
Yelling about America 0

fixed that one for you too. :)

[Subby]

I guess all 8 viewers will be in mourning today.
Or 447,000 :)

[Raven Hawk]

Or 47,000 :)
Cats and Dogs that happen to walk by the TV when the show is on don't count. Numbers have been adjusted accordingly.

[Suicane75]

So this dude watched the show 100,000 times a day?
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20050105/capt.sdsio20101051918.half_ton_man_sdsio201.jpg

[oliegirl]

Tucker Carlson is hot in a "college professor I'd have a crush on" way....

[Raven Hawk]

Those are some impressive man-boobs. . .

[Suicane75]

Tucker Carlson is hot in a "college professor I'd have a crush on" way....

Dude.........I know you're a chick but........Dude.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Having Carlson on CNN is about like having Al Franken on FNC (or at least a poor man's version of him) ... it just ain't gonna work these days.

[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

Tucker Carlson is hot in a "college professor I'd have a crush on" way....

Yeah I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one. Men with less testosterone than I are not hot.

[oliegirl]

Radii will attest to my strange taste in men from time to time...I can't explain it, but I think he's kind of hot.

[Suicane75]

Radii will attest to my strange taste in men from time to time...I can't explain it, but I think he's kind of hot.

Dude.

[NoMyths]

fixed that one for you too. :)hehe

[clintl]

Radii will attest to my strange taste in men from time to time...I can't explain it, but I think he's kind of hot.

So does this tell us anything about Radii?

[BigJohn&TheLions]

I wonder if the bow tie spun when he was fired...

[SackAttack]

Either the answer to that is "yes," or else that's the most unfortunate turn of phrase around here in a long time.

[Maple Leafs]

Radii will attest to my strange taste in men from time to time...I can't explain it, but I think he's kind of hot.
Paging Dangarion...

[Dutch]

Radii is a testament to my strange taste in men from time to time...I can't explain it, but I think he's kind of hot.

Ewww!!! :)

[terpkristin]

To add something to this, I'm watching The Daily Show right now and Jon Stewart has said that Crossfire will be cancelled and Tucker (Carlson?) will be going to MSNBC..

~tk

[WussGawd]

fixed it for ya.

Jon Stewart has more talent than any three partisan hacks I know, liberal or conservative....gotta be a reason he keeps winnning awards for news programs when he's following puppets making crank calls.

[CamEdwards]

Jon Stewart has more talent than any three partisan hacks I know, liberal or conservative....gotta be a reason he keeps winnning awards for news programs when he's following puppets making crank calls.

wait a sec... i thought Stewart said he doesn't do a news program, he does comedy, and that's why he's NOT a partisan hack.

i'm confused now. :(

and i never said he wasn't a talented partisan hack, only that he is indeed a partisan hack.

it takes one to know one, you know. :D

[Calis]

wait a sec... i thought Stewart said he doesn't do a news program, he does comedy, and that's why he's NOT a partisan hack.

i'm confused now. :(

and i never said he wasn't a talented partisan hack, only that he is indeed a partisan hack.

it takes one to know one, you know. :D


I believe he has said that, and it makes it all the sadder that he's winning the awards for news shows.

Partisan or no though, love his show and think it's one of the funniest on TV. Never really looked at it for deep and meaningul political insight, which I think is his point. He's not marketing it as something it isn't, whereas Crossfire for instance made itself out to be a debate show, which it wasn't..it was barely a show.

[terpkristin]

From http://www.realitytvworld.com/index/articles/story.php?s=1000982
I think the best part of the following article is how CNN president Klein said he realized that Stewart was right...
CNN to cancel 'Crossfire' following Tucker Carlson's departure


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<!-- END:AdSolution-Tag 4.1 --></td></tr></tbody> </table> <!-- http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo2.gif (http://add.my.yahoo.com/rss?url=http://www.realitytvworld.com/index/backend.php) --> UPI News Service, 01/06/2005

CNN is planning to cross off "Crossfire," the smash-mouth political slugfest, from its U.S. lineup, the Washington Post reported Thursday.

<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="340"> <tbody><tr> <td align="center"> ADVERTISEMENT </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <center> <iframe id=\"a4657086\" name=\"a4657086\" src="http://a.realitytvworld.com/adframe.php?n=a4657086&what=zone:15" framespacing="0" frameborder="no" height="280" scrolling="no" width="336">&lt;script&gt; &lt;!-- document.write ("&lt;nolayer&gt;"); document.write ("&lt;a href='http://a.realitytvworld.com/adclick.php?n=a4657086' target='_blank'&gt;&lt;img src='http://a.realitytvworld.com/adview.php?what=zone:15&amp;amp;n=a4657086' border='0' alt=''&gt;&lt;/a&gt;"); document.write ("&lt;/nolayer&gt;"); document.write ("&lt;ilayer id='layera4657086' visibility='hidden' width='336' height='280'&gt;&lt;/ilayer&gt;"); //--&gt; &lt;/script&gt;&lt;noscript&gt;&lt;a href='http://a.realitytvworld.com/adclick.php?n=a4657086'&gt;&lt;img src='http://a.realitytvworld.com/adview.php?what=zone:15&amp;amp;n=a4657086' border='0' alt=''&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/noscript&gt;</iframe> <!-- Place this part of the code just above the </body> tag --> <layer src="http://a.realitytvworld.com/adframe.php?n=a4657086&what=zone:15&rewrite=0" width="336" height="280" visibility="hidden" onload="moveToAbsolute(layera4657086.pageX,layera4657086.pageY);clip.width=336;clip.height=280;visibility='show';"></layer> </center> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> The network signaled its decision within hours of conservative co-host Tucker Carlson's announced move to MSNBC. Carlson told CNN last April he wanted out of the high-decibel, low-data broadcast begun 22 years ago.

CNN/U.S. President Jonathan Klein sided Wednesday with comedian Jon Stewart, who used a "Crossfire" appearance last fall to rip the program as so much hackery.

"I think he made a good point about the noise level of these types of shows, which does nothing to illuminate the issues of the day," Klein said. Viewers need useful information in a dangerous world, he said, "and a bunch of guys screaming at each other simply doesn't accomplish that."

Carlson praised the show but said that he felt constrained by its partisan format.

"When my opinions diverged from those of the White House it was difficult" to conduct the expected debate, "particularly when I opposed the Iraq war," he said.

[Sharpieman]

wait a sec... i thought Stewart said he doesn't do a news program, he does comedy, and that's why he's NOT a partisan hack.

i'm confused now. :(

and i never said he wasn't a talented partisan hack, only that he is indeed a partisan hack.

it takes one to know one, you know. :D
People who don't watch Jon Stewarts show on a regular basis think he's some liberal partisan hack. But he's not, he attacks both sides of the political spectrum. Partisan hacks also will spin everything that happens. Stewart doesn't do that even if he's more of a liberal. People who watch his show, liberal or conservative like his show because he isn't a partisan hack. They like it because its funny yet truthful about many of the news stories.

[Sharpieman]

Carlson praised the show but said that he felt constrained by its partisan format.

"When my opinions diverged from those of the White House it was difficult" to conduct the expected debate, "particularly when I opposed the Iraq war," he said.
Maybe he has some brain cells after all.

[korme]

Dude.
Quit judging her interpretation of man-hotness. You got some kind of better taste in men, sweetcakes?

[duckman]

What is CNN?

[Bubba Wheels]

People who don't watch Jon Stewarts show on a regular basis think he's some liberal partisan hack. But he's not, he attacks both sides of the political spectrum. Partisan hacks also will spin everything that happens. Stewart doesn't do that even if he's more of a liberal. People who watch his show, liberal or conservative like his show because he isn't a partisan hack. They like it because its funny yet truthful about many of the news stories.

Sorry, Stewart is a liberal, partisan hack. Last time I attempted to watch him, thinking he was a liberal partisan hack, was before the Pres campaign. Stewart first took his usual shot at Bush (how did Bush ever get that big, o'l jet into the air being as stupid as Stewart always claims he is?)

Ok, I thought, now Stewart gets his chance to 'even the scales' with something on Kerry. Stewart then goes on about how 'According to Kerry's critics, Kerry was never even IN Vietnam!" Deadpan look at camera, pause for laughing. See, Stewart attacks Bush with the usual 'he's so stupid' cheap shot, but then instead of giving Kerry his turn Stewart instead actually attacks Kerry's CRITICS!

Just a matter of point-of-view I guess, but if I want funny political jokes I'll just watch Dennis Miller (who at least ADMITS he's sympathetic to conservatives and doesn't try to blow smoke about being 'neutral.") Liberals claiming to be 'neutral' while being complete partisan hacks (Jon Stewart) just reinforce their true hypocrasy to me, but that's a different thread.

[SirFozzie]

In other words, give me a conservative joke bringer rather then a neutral/"liberal" one.

[Bubba Wheels]

In other words, give me a conservative joke bringer rather then a neutral/"liberal" one.

No, if Stewart just went ahead and admitted he was what he was, a partisan political hack, I could at least respect his honesty. But apparantly liberals are easy marks for 'smoke blowing', meaning Stewart's audience. ;)

[Bubba Wheels]

There is a local talk radio host/columnist/author that is nationally syndicated. Maybe you've heard of him? Mitch Album. He just had a movie on TV about a book he wrote "The Five People That You Meet In Heaven."

Album always claims that he is 'neutral' and such, but he leads his program off by pretty much ticking off the democratic party's talking points for the day (as issued forth by the NY Times.) One guest he had one called him what he was, a "Trendy Lefty." Love that term! Fits him and most of the Hollywood crowd to a T. But the point is that conservatives always admit their political bias, liberals usually don't (Al Franken is an exception.) Why is that? Do some folks actually believe you can be 'neutral' and 'unbiased?' I don't think that is really possible to begin with.

[miked]

No, if Stewart just went ahead and admitted he was what he was, a partisan political hack, I could at least respect his honesty. But apparantly liberals are easy marks for 'smoke blowing', meaning Stewart's audience. ;)

Well, I guess on the one day you watched it for 5 minutes, he didn't make fun of Kerry...

He made fun of every single candidate during the Democratic primaries and spared nobody. He made fun of John Kerry quite frequently, but he and the writers most likely are democrats. As a person who didn't support Bush, I find a lot to make fun of. As a person person who supports Bush, you obviosuly find a lot in Kerry to make fun of. Increase your sample size...I'm not saying you won't find more Bush jokes than Kerry jokes, but you'll find a lot more democrat jokes than you think.

[Maple Leafs]

I'm a big fan of Stewart from his pre-Daily Show days, and I still think Daily Show is one of the more entertaining shows on TV. That said, I'm not sure how anyone could watch it and realistically argue that it's balanced. The show clearly slants to the left. I don't think it's a reflection on Stewart himself or even on the writers, so much as it's just the reality of knowing your audience. The Daily Shows viewers are typically young and very often are students. That demographic is more likely to respond to anti-Bush jokes, so that's what they get.

I think the quality of the show suffered last year. The combination of the war and the election lead to so much anti-Bush sentiment that the writers didn't have to work very hard to get their laughs. For a while, the jokes all followed the same pattern: 1.) Show Bush quote. 2.) Cut back to Stewart. 3.) Stewart deadpans something along the lines of "The president then added, I'm a poo-poo head". 4.) Hysterical laughter and applause from studio audience. It was just lazy writing. But they seem to be back on track lately -- perhaps re-energized by the Crossfire incident and the success of the (excellent) textbook parody.

Remember, nobody said that a show like the Daily Show had to be fair. The show can still be very, very good and very, very funny with a liberal bias (even if you don't share its politics). But let's not pretend it's balanced, because it's clearly not.

[DanGarion]

Paging Dangarion...
You rang?

[Calis]

Hmm, I guess I don't see it so much as bias as it is more fun of making fun of those in charge.

Do people actually think if the Democrats were running things he wouldn't be bashing them daily? I don't, but maybe so. Think people like to see those in charge being made fun of, not the "losers". It's a comedy show, and it's being provided plenty of easy material. Can't blame them for using it. I think if the political power in the country swings the other way, so will The Daily Show.

Either way, if it is partisan hackery, it's by far the best version of it around, nothing on the left or right really comes close imo.

[Suicane75]

Quit judging her interpretation of man-hotness. You got some kind of better taste in men, sweetcakes?

Brad Pitt is gorgeous, Dule Hill is smoldering, George Clooney is too cocky for his own good, Colin Ferrel is not half of what he thinks he is, Roger Clemens is alot more attractive than people ever give him credit for.

And before you start in with me, let me point out that i've never had a pair of balls on my forehead, mmmmkay.