Bobby Burack
Videos by OutKick
After President Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office, I explained in a column that while there was a lengthy list of cable news losers, there were select individual personalities who had benefitted from the change in political leadership. With Donald Trump gone, there is more separation between the stars and the pack.
Dan Bongino and Trey Gowdy are among the hosts who I predict will join Tucker Carlson, Rachel Maddow, and Bill Maher as the early post-Trump winners. Over this weekend, both Bongino and Gowdy launched new weekly Fox News programs.
Following President Joe Biden's first 100 days in office, I wrote that individual draws would become far more crucial across cable news. Thus, @dbongino and @TGowdySC's big debuts over the weekend.
Bongino's FNC show led cable news this weekend at 1.8M. https://t.co/c5zGRbZHx1
— Bobby Burack (@burackbobby_) June 8, 2021
Bongino’s Unfiltered led the weekend in cable news, with wins in both total viewership (1.8 million) and the 25-54 demographic (307,000). The key number to watch is the 25-54 demo. As with his new radio show, Bongino has the opportunity to draw a younger TV audience because of his reach on social media.
Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy debuted to 1.3 million. I was particularly interested to see Gowdy’s format.
When previewing the show, Gowdy told OutKick he plans to approach the program as if it’s a courtroom trial. He said:
I look at live TV like the courtroom. You have interesting witnesses. They’re called guests on television, not witnesses, but you ask them different questions. Then you let the jury — in this case, the audience — make up its mind. So, I think the new show got a start there, at 7 pm.
I ask questions for a living. That’s what I’ve always done. That’s what I did before I got to Congress. That’s what I do now. That’s what I wrote my last book on. That’s what I will do on Sunday nights.
Here’s the most important thing: to hear other sides besides my own. I can’t think of a single issue for which there are not at least two sides. Oftentimes, there are six sides. I’m welcome to mine, and you are welcome to yours. We are better as a country if we understand where other folks are coming from.
Other numbers from the weekend are still trickling in, which include the NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs, and Belmont Stakes. Eyes now turn to the PPV sales for Floyd Mayweather’s (sort of) win over Logan Paul.
Meh, The mouth from the south loved his camera time as a congressman so no surprise here. Freedom caucus reps mentioned time and time again that they tried to subpoena swamp creatures and deep state goons while the GOP controlled both houses, but Gowdy, Graham and Ryan refused. TG spent the majority of Trump’s administration thumping for Comey and Mueller and continuously vouched for their character, even as the Russia Hoax was falling apart. Shocker he finds a home with Fox, whom his old buddy Paul Ryan is now a board member.