Tucker Carlson briefly returned last night at 8:01 PM EDT

Tucker Carlson returned — albeit briefly — to his previous 8pm EDT time slot.  That’s when he reappeared for a two minute video message on his Twitter account, noting

And yet, at the same time, and this is the amazing thing, the undeniably big topics, the ones that will define our future, get virtually no discussion at all. Wars, civil liberties, emerging science, demographic changes, corporate power, natural resources. When was the last time you heard a legitimate debate about any of those issues?

Good evening pic.twitter.com/SPrsYKWKCE

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) April 27, 2023

Hmmm, he’s certainly discussed some of these issues and his views on his broadcasts, discomforting many.  He didn’t delve into these issues last night though.  Instead, he closed with – maybe — hints of his future plans.

When honest people say what is true, calmly and without embarrassment, they become powerful. At the same time, the liars who’ve been trying to silence them shrink. They become weaker. That’s the iron law of the universe. True things prevail. Where can you still find Americans saying true things? There aren’t many places left, but there are some, and that’s enough. As long as you can hear the words, there is hope. See you soon.

O-o-kay.  Immediately, media analysts from the entire political and social spectrum interpreted and analyzed what he meant.  What does “see you soon” mean? 

We’ll find out.  Soon. 

Fox Corp stock, which tanked immediately after their…uh…separation from Carlson was announced has not recovered, losing over $600 million in value in just the past three days. 

Meanwhile, as for Fox News immediate ratings:

CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  Life post Tucker Carlson only got tougher for Fox News.  Although THE FIVE was the highest-rated cable news show of the day at 0.15/0.27/2.9M, the 8PM FOX NEWS TONIGHT fell from Monday’s 0.14/0.24/2.6M to a puny 0.08/1.7M.  On the other networks, MSNBC’s THE BEAT WITH ARI MELBER was at 0.11/0.17/1.6M, and CNN’s ANDERSON COOPER 360 was at 0.10/0.13/700K.

However, Fox’s temporary replacement news show headed by  Brian Kilmeade still managed to beat the competition, a albeit without the coveted (by some) younger demographic. 

Fox News Tonight, the 8 p.m. replacement for Tucker Carlson Tonight, won its hour in total viewers on Tuesday night but landed in third place in the key 25-54 age demographic.

The hour hosted by Brian Kilmeade on Fox News brought in 1.7 million total viewers, which beat Chris Hayes’s 1.45 million total viewers on MSNBC. CNN’s Anderson Cooper landed in third place with 678,000 viewers. Newsmax, which has seen a ratings boost this week, was just behind Cooper with 562,000 viewers.

In the demo, however, Cooper won the hour with 163,000 viewers. Hayes came in second with 162,000 and Fox was in third with 149,000. Notably, Carlson — who was fired on Monday — dominated the demo and regularly led all of cable news.

Fox still won the day in both total viewers and the demo in total day and prime time averages.

Proving, maybe, the wisdom of “I don’t care what you say about me, just spell my name right.”  

FOX

More to come.  Soon.

Photo credit: Twitter video screengrab