O'Reilly: Think back to Joe, Morton, Rush, Dennis and others on TV.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

Virulent polemicists on TV have a very short effective shelf life. Think back to the careers of Joe Pyne, Morton Downey Jr., Dennis Miller and Rush Limbaugh: all went away rather quickly and rather suddenly. All dealt in outrage as commodity of the day and all spun the facts to fit their brand of outrage. All found themselves unable to sustain their arc and even get credible guests. Rush lasted about as long as the lifespan of a Mayfly.

Constant outraged polemic only lasts so long in the populace, especially when the outrage is based upon presented "facts" that are divergent to what is really going on around people. It also wears people out. They tune in for a while, buy into it for a while, then their viewing gets less and less. It's a one-trick-pony. You know what they are going to say before they say it and frankly, people need more intellectual stimulation than that. Besides, outrage in support of the established powers, especially in a time of sustained economic downturn and disenfranchisement, like this...that ain't gonna cut the ice.

Put O'Reilly's ratings descent on a scatter graph, next to the others who have been and gone and I predict that he is tracking for cancellation, just like they were. First of, to middle of next year, I reckon. You can mark that prediction. Below a certain point, the ad dollars are gonna get tight. His capacious ego will not be able to sustain the fall and he will announce that he is leaving to spend more time with his new Home Depot paint mixer(custom fitted with seat belt). Such a toy would be the only device capable of providing the diverting vibrations needed by a giant like Bill O'Reilly.

But never fear, after a suitable period of re-tooling, a "kinder and gentler" remake will pop up on some lesser cable light. It always works that way.

O'Reilly's descent is another data point that marks a national mood change. You can also hear it in Limbaugh: the increasingly outrageous metaphors and fallacious comparisons, the whining, the lies in an attempt to create their own truths. They know. The really know.

Their era is coming to an end. Theirs were the voice of opposition. Such voices are dulled when they are on the side of the power.

[dave502d]

1. Tandalayo Scheisskopf ,You are 100% right,good post.n/t

[rodeodance]

2. lets hope so

[MarianJack]

3. Among the Others...

...you can add a mid 80s idiot named wally george!

[LSparkle]

5. OMG -- "Wally, Wally, Wally!"

I used to watch "Hot Seat" just for laughs ... that cheesy set adorned with Nixon and Reagan pics, the incoherent ads he threw in. And he'd invite punkers on his program and taunt them about "worshipping Satan" ... Better than WWF!

[BillZBubb]

4. I wish I shared your optimism.

In America, there is always a huge market for a rabid, right wing mouthpiece.

O'Really's sinking ratings probably have more to do with his publicly proven perversions than with any decline in available audience.

[KharmaTrain]

6. There Is A Difference

Rushbo, Pyne, Downey and Dr. Laura failed on over-the-air commercial television. Call it "mainstream TV" as it's still the largest watched part of the television world. As someone wisely pointed in another thread, O'Reilly's nightly numbers on Faux nationally still don't equal the nightly WNBC-TV New York Newscast.

Cable's given O'Reilly a haven to incubate and now fester. He's got a patron in Murdoch who hand-picked this pyschopath to be his "everyman" type and he'll stick with this guy until he self-falafals.

Cable also gives shelter to a lot of wingnuts as the hundreds of channels mean a smaller ratings pie to measure from and then when segemented the ratings of a Faux or CNNServative seem a lot bigger than they really are. Rarely will you see Faux's numbers next to ESPN or MTV...the generally have 4 to 5 times this network's audience on any given week night.

The Right wing will have their cable havens since the niched nature of the medium suits it...just like it does a channel for selling porcelain vases and another with people cooking. Radio is another story...while there's more frequencies than there previously were, it's still a finite medium and this needs to be re-balanced or redefined...but a topic for another thread...maybe for another time.

Cheers.

[MarianJack]

7. Excellent Analysis, KharmaTrain,...

...but I do believe that faux would cancel o'lielly if his ratings got too low.

he would, however, get another job on another right wing network and get good initial ratings because of the big publicity push.

[efhmc]

8. You forgot "Dr" Laura.

TV is much too revealing for these cretins.

[Clark2008]

9. What are his latest ratings?

And how do they compare with last year?

Do you have a link? I love looking at ratings to watch for shifts (even though I rarely watch television. I'd rather watch those doing the watching. :) )

[Jane Austin]

10. Where can I see his ratings decline?

Thanks.