Jump to content

The O'Reilly Factor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 38.117.172.236 (talk) at 15:21, 4 April 2008 (→People who decline to appear on The Factor). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The O'Reilly Factor
O'Reilly Factor promotional image from FoxNews.com
Created byBill O'Reilly
StarringBill O'Reilly
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes2690 as of January 26, 2007
Production
Running time60 minutes, 43 minutes excluding commercials and news breaks
Original release
NetworkFox News Channel
ReleaseOctober 7, 1996 –
Present
File:Oreillyfoxbroadcastingojsimpson.JPG
An example of The O'Reilly Factor's Talking Points Memo

The O'Reilly Factor is an American talk show on the Fox News Channel hosted by commentator Bill O'Reilly, who discusses current political and social issues with guests from opposing ends of the political spectrum. The show premiered in 1996, along with the Fox News Channel. It was previously known as the O'Reilly Report, and O'Reilly's first guest was General Barry McCaffrey, then the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (or "Drug Czar").

The O'Reilly Factor is currently the highest rated show on cable news. O'Reilly is known for his confrontational interview style and strong opinions, for which the program has been both criticized and praised.

Format

The program is done "live to tape", meaning that unlike other Fox News Channel programs at night, The O'Reilly Factor is prerecorded. The program is live for breaking news or special events. The show usually tapes between 5 and 7pm Eastern Standard Time, and airs weekdays at 8pm, 11pm, and 5am ET some guests are interviewed before the "live to tape" period and are slotted in the program as appropriate. (Some guests have suggested that interviews are edited after taping, although O'Reilly's producers insist that editing happens only when an interview exceeds the available length in a program of which the total is 43 minutes for an hour-long slot, once commercials and news breaks are added.)[1][2]

O'Reilly and his producers discuss potential topics twice a week.[3] A producer will research the story and book guests for O'Reilly, and an information packet will be produced with possible angles for O'Reilly to explore. The producers will often "pre-interview" the guest so that they know what potential points he will make.[4] For each show, O'Reilly with the assistance of his staff will produce a script with the words for the "Talking Points Memo" and "Most Ridiculous Item of the Day" segments, and points of discussion and questions for the guests that will appear on the program.

O'Reilly divides his show into titled segments, appearing in the following general order. Not all segments appear in all programs, and occasionally segments will repeat.

  • Talking Points Memo: O'Reilly's commentary on a current event or the state of the country.
  • Top Story: O'Reilly covers one of the most important stories of the day, with interviews with newsmakers, noted analysts, or Fox News Channel reporters. If there is nothing breaking, the Top Story will often expand on the subject covered in the Talking Points Memo with a guest that either rebuts or concurs with the memo.
  • Impact: O'Reilly focuses on issues of crime and the law in this segment. Updates on criminal investigations, trials, and lawsuits are highlighted. Other times, issues relating to government relations and agencies are featured, as are stories about the Iraq War.
  • Unresolved Problem: O'Reilly focuses on an issue which he feels is not sufficiently covered by other media.
  • Personal Story: O'Reilly invites an author of a best selling book, a newsmaker thrust into the spotlight, someone who has experienced an event currently in the news, or someone who has interviewed a newsmaker. The goal of this segment is to have the guest relate his personal experiences about the topic.
  • Factor Follow-Up: O'Reilly revisits an issue discussed in a previous edition of the Factor.
  • Back of the Book: Various topics will be placed in this segment, which is one of the last segments (hence the name). The tone can range the gamut from extremely serious to light hearted.
  • Pinheads and Patriots: a segment where he praises someone whom he feels has done good for the United States while chastising someone else whom he feels harms the country or simply commits some sort of embarrassing blunder.
  • Factor Mail: O'Reilly reads brief snippets of electronic mail sent to him. He frequently puts together letters that have opposite viewpoints on a particular segment. For instance, one letter will say O'Reilly was way too lenient toward a guest while the next will say he was way too hard on him.

Occasionally, the following segments appear:

  • Children at Risk: O'Reilly covers issues relating to the health and well-being of children and adolescents.
  • Factor Investigation: O'Reilly invites guests who have investigated a person or organization that O'Reilly dislikes[citation needed].
  • Fridays with Geraldo: Geraldo Rivera, of the Fox News-produced and syndicated Geraldo At Large, discusses a topic of interest to O'Reilly. Often, Geraldo comes on Thursdays, because O'Reilly frequently takes Fridays off[citation needed]. Sometimes its own segment; other times rolled into one of the above segments.
  • Bloviating with Bill: A regular viewer gets a chance to debate O'Reilly.
  • Policing the ...: A segment where O'Reilly reviews several sources for normally outlandish content. The "the" in the name is usually followed up by "net" (Internet), or Media.
  • The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day: a brief segment highlighting something O'Reilly finds absurd, or in some cases, the direct opposite. The segment has been replaced by "Pinheads & Patriots"[citation needed].

Audience

File:111807s.jpg
the set for The O'Reilly Factor
File:111807t.jpg
the set for The O'Reilly Factor

58% of O'Reilly's audience is over 50 years of age according to a Pew research poll.[5]

68% of "The Factor's" regular viewers identify as conservative while 10% consider themselves liberal.[6] In June 2007, Adweek Magazine sponsored a survey that asked participants who they trusted more as a source of political information between ABC News and Bill O'Reilly. According to the poll, 36% believe that O'Reilly is a better source than ABC News while 26% believe the opposite. According to the survey, 23% of Democrats believed that O'Reilly was a better source while 55% of Republicans believed the same.[7]

According to Nielsen Media Research, The O'Reilly Factor averaged 2.3 million viewers each night for November 2007, with 474,000 viewers in the 25-54 demographic. According to Mediaweek, "The most contested hour of each weeknight continued to be a three-way race for second place," with The O'Reilly Factor finishing first in the timeslot.[8]

Regular guests

Parodies

In 2005, The Colbert Report premiered on Comedy Central. The show, hosted by Stephen Colbert, is a satirical spoof of The O'Reilly Factor, spoofing its format and the mannerisms and ideology of O'Reilly, whom Colbert calls "Papa Bear." Colbert makes no secret of his spoofing O'Reilly: upon hearing the news that O'Reilly approved of The Colbert Report, Stephen declared on-air that "I like you too. In fact, if it wasn't for you, this show wouldn't exist." [10] On 18 January 2007, Stephen Colbert appeared on the O'Reilly Factor and Bill O'Reilly appeared on the Colbert Report.[11][12]

The O'Reilly Factor has also been spoofed on Saturday Night Live, first by Jeff Richards and later on by Darrell Hammond. On Mad TV it was Michael McDonald doing the honors. O'Reilly himself has appeared on Mad TV as a judge on an American Idol parody [citation needed].

The show was also parodied by the TV series The Boondocks; first in the episode The Trial of R. Kelly where O'Reilly is shown talking about R. Kelly's latest legal trouble revolving around a tape that he made of himself urinating on a 14 year old girl. He tells Kelly "Keep your golden showers to yourself", a reference to O'Reilly's alleged phone conversation with Andrea Mackris where he apparently said he would massage her with a loofah in the shower[citation needed]. The Factor is spoofed again in the episode Return of the King. In it, Martin Luther King appears on Politically Incorrect, stating that his Christian faith teaches him to "turn the other cheek", even with respect to enemies such as Al-Qaeda. In response, O'Reilly, on his program, calls King an Al-Qaeda lover and America hater and that he should "take another 30 year nap, Commie bastard."

In addition, The O'Reilly Factor has been parodied on South Park in the episode Goobacks.

In The Political Machine, a show that you can appear on while running for president is called "The O'Malley Factor".

Radio disc-jockey Mike O'Meara of the Don and Mike Show does an impersonation of his voice and mannerisms on occasion during the show.

CNNNN, an Australian comedy show which satirized cable news, featured a recurring segment entitled The Firth Factor. These segments typically showed Charles Firth, a member of the Chaser comedy team, presenting his opinion on topical issues, often through use of over-the-top comparisons (such as dipping a paper heart in a can of black paint and claiming: "This is how black Saddam Hussein's heart is") and outrageous statements in a parody of O'Reilly and Australian current affairs personalities.

People who decline to appear on The Factor

O'Reilly has invited onto the show people who have been critical of him (or vice versa) and/or dealing with a controversial situation that have declined or ignored the invitation. Some that have been invited but have not gone on include George Clooney Hillary Clinton[citation needed], Dick Cheney,[13] Bill Moyers,[14] Nicholas Kristof[15] and Tony Blair.[16] O'Reilly has also offered to donate $25,000 to Habitat for Humanity if Bruce Springsteen would come on the show.[17]

References

Template:Reflist-2

  1. ^ "Greenroom Confessions - boise weekly". 2005.
  2. ^ "Bill O'Reilly.com behind the scenes Q/A".
  3. ^ "Bostonia - BU alumni quarterly". 2001.
  4. ^ "Accuracy in media report". 2003.
  5. ^ "Pew Research Center Report - Maturing Internet News Audience Broader Than Deep". 2006.
  6. ^ "Pew Research Center Report - Maturing Internet News Audience Broader Than Deep". 2006.
  7. ^ "Where Voters Go for News". Adweek Magazine. 2007-06-11. Retrieved 2007-06-11.
  8. ^ Anthony Crupi (November 28, 2007). "MSNBC Closing Gap on CNN". Mediaweek.com.
  9. ^ Michelle Malkin » Stiiiiill going
  10. ^ Solomon, Deborah. "Funny About the News". New York Times Magazine.
  11. ^ Stephen Colbert Enters the No Spin Zone. Foxnews.com Published . Last Retrieved .
  12. ^ Bill O'Reilly Pt. 1. ComedyCentral.com January 18, 2007. Last Retrieved .
  13. ^ ABC News: Bill O'Reilly Calls Himself 'T-Warrior'
  14. ^ "ABC news - Bill O'Reilly calls himself T-warrior -".
  15. ^ "Sympathy for Bill O'Reilly". 2006.
  16. ^ FOXNews.com - The Trouble with Mexico - Bill O’Reilly | The O’Reilly Factor
  17. ^ FOXNews.com - The Trouble with Mexico - Bill O’Reilly | The O’Reilly Factor
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=The_O%27Reilly_Factor&oldid=203302806"