Fox News Channel, tinkering for the first time in eight years with its popular early evening lineup, is replacing its 5 p.m. news broadcast, "The Big Story," with an election-theme program for the foreseeable future. The network confirmed this week that "America's Election HQ," a program that displaced "The Big Story" temporarily last month, would continue indefinitely. The program's hosts, Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly, also anchor the network's mid-morning newscast and are seen as rising stars on the channel. The change was first reported by the blog TVNewser.com. John Gibson, the longtime host of "The Big Story," will continue to have a role on television, the network said, although it appears that his future for now lies mostly on radio.
A former MSNBC host, Gibson has become known for semi-frequently attacking his former employer, particularly its left-wing host Keith Olbermann, whom Gibson refers to as "Bathtub Boy." The reference is to Olbermann's extreme reluctance to cover the Monica Lewinsky scandal of then-president Bill Clinton. According to Gibson, Olbermann preferred to stay at home and sit in the bathtub rather than come in to work.
Update 04-08, 0:39. A ray of hope for Gibson fans? Unlikely. Being "indefinitely" preempted is almost certainly networkspeak on the part of FNC execs who don't want to offend "Big Show" fans.
