Fox News announces new prime-time lineup shuffle to fill Tucker Carlson timeslot

Fox News revealed its new prime-time lineup, finally adding some permanence to its timeslots that have been shrouded in uncertainty since the departure of Tucker Carlson.

Since the departure of Carlson in late May 2023, Fox News has publicly struggled to replace the former top-rated cable news anchor, often rotating a carousel of guest hosts in the coveted 8 p.m. position.

Brian Kilmeade, Lawrence Jones, Will Cain, and former Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany all took turns as informal replacements for "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

The new lineup will see long-time Fox News cornerstone Jesse Watters sliding into the 8 p.m. hour, according to Mediaite. That drops "Jesse Watters Primetime" back an hour and Laura Ingraham's "The Ingraham Angle" will move up three hours into Watters' former time of 7 p.m..

Network staple Sean Hannity will stay at 9 p.m., while late-night juggernaut Greg Gutfeld will move up to 10 p.m. from 11 p.m. with "Gutfeld!" which was the most-watched late-night show in the country. Gutfeld had more than a 500,000 viewer advantage over second place MSNBC in his timeslot, according to recent ratings.

Trace Gallagher, host of "Fox News @ Night" and one of Carlson's go-to commentators, moves up from midnight to replace Gutfeld at 11 p.m.

Recent ratings had "Fox News Tonight" beating MSNBC's Chris Hayes at 8 p.m., with a wider lead for Hannity's matchup against their network adversary in the next hour. However, the 10 p.m. slot had Ingraham come up short against "Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell."

The coveted 25-54 age demographic has seen an epic downfall for Fox News, who once dominated the daily viewership in that age range. That success appears to have been thanks to Carlson's mere presence on the airwaves. As per June 22, 2023, seven of the top 10 most-viewed shows in that demographic belonged to CNN, two of which were separate hours of "The Lead with Jake Tapper."

Carlson has since moved his show to Twitter audiences and has average approximately 60 million views on his video posts through the first six episodes of "Tucker on Twitter."

Early reports have also surfaced that Carlson plans on starting a new media company. Carlson was a co-founder of outlet the Daily Caller in 2010, before departing in 2020.

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