TV News Review

The best 10 minutes of TV is never seen on TV. Every weekday morning at 9am ET the ‘Fox and friends’ gang hand off to Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly. Then the ‘F&F’ gang begin their internet broadcast called the “After Show Show”, (jokingly referred to be some fans as the ASS) and the real fun begins!

Alisyn, Steve, Gretchen, Brian, the crew and sometimes a guest kickback and just talk. It reminds me of years gone by when ‘Fox and friends’ was the anti-morning show, more about being fun and entertaining than it was about seeing how many news maker interviews they could squeeze in. Back then you never knew what Steve, E.D. and Brian might do, neither did they! It was a roller coaster ride going where ever the moment took them.

That energy and fun of unexpectedness has been missing from ‘Fox and friends’ for quiet a while now, only glimpsed from time to time on the 6am ‘Fox & friends 1st”, but even it is too tightly scripted and planned out. But the ‘After Show Show’ brings back the spontaneity and wildness that first made ‘Fox and friends’ MUST WATCH TV, and damn is it good to have back!!

You never know what might be said on the ‘After Show Show’.  Gretchen and Steve seem to still censor themselves somewhat, uncomfortable with the newer freedom they have by being an internet broadcast. Luckily they have Alisyn, the true spark plug of this experiment. (She is also the magic that gives a reason to watch ‘Fox and friends’ instead of Robin Meade on CNN-HN, or CNN’s “American Morning” with John Roberts and Kiran Chetry, who do news better than ‘F&F’.) Alisyn understands they have more freedom to say what they want and how to bring the fun. Without the energy and vivaciousness that Alisyn brings, the ‘After Show Show’ might well leave you wondering why they had wasted your time, but as it is, with Alisyn on the only wondering you will do is wondering how you can get them to expand the ‘After Show Show’ to 30 minutes, or longer.

For those that can’t view the streaming broadcast live, later in the day the show is provided for viewing on Alisyn’s blog, ‘Alisyn in the Greenroom“  http://greenroom.blogs.foxnews.com/  Alisyn’s blog gives a look behind the scenes of ‘Fox and friends’.

The Greenroom blog is becoming a Fox fan favorite, showing rapid growth, recently having nearly 15,000 hits in one day. Alisyn tells what is happening behind the scenes, providing pictures of guests, and takes suggestions from the viewers that log into to read and respond to the blog. It is worth checking out several times a day as Alisyn often updates it with new photos and information about guests and segments that will be on in upcoming days. Alisyn’s blog and the ‘After Show Show’ go hand in glove. Together these two provide an interaction with the fans that makes the show much more entertaining.

‘Fox and friends’ used to be much more fan friendly, taking calls from viewers, reading emails throughout the show and often going outside to talk to fans that stopped by. But in recent years that interaction has been cut off. The show has been isolated even to having the windows frosted over so the fans outside can’t be seen. The show that was built on being the anti-morning show, the show that was more fun and didn’t take itself seriously like the network shows, has in many ways become less friendly to the fans and is more serious than GMA or Today are. Even at Halloween ‘F&F’ didn’t have a pumpkin on the set much less let the hosts wear costumes. This from a show that once had the hosts dressed up as characters from ‘Star Wars’.
Oh for the good ol’ days of fun and real belly laughs.

Alisyn’s blog and the ‘After Show Show’ are exactly what F&F needs to bring the wild fun and viewer participation back to the show. Once again it feels that the show cares about the viewers and is interested again in hearing from us. Hopefully the fun from the ‘After Show Show’ will become spread throughout the entire show and bring back the energy that made so many of us tune in every morning to see what would happen. Until then you must log onto www.foxandfriends.com and watch the streaming broadcast or watch it on Alisyn’s blog at http://greenroom.blogs.foxnews.com/

There is no other ASS better than the F&F ASS! No ifs, and or butts about it.

One Eyed Man