First off, we want to wish Glenn Beck the best in whatever it is he and his media company decide to do next. The way he and Fox News handled the decision to part ways is a model for all in the art of professional dignity — or in the art of doing the complete opposite of what MSNBC does. But as the saying goes, when one door closes another opens and we, the editors of the Bigs, would like to take this opportunity to politely suggest to the powers at Fox News that Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld is ready for primetime. Actually, strike that. We don’t want to suggest it, we want to declare it. Because it’s a fact.

For over three years now, Greg Gutfeld, TV’s own Andy Levy, Bill Schulz, Pinch, a myriad of fascinating guests from all walks of life, and the Leg Chair, have been producing the best news/satire/interview/comedy show on television. It’s an hour of cool, funny, irreverent, intelligent and informative entertainment, but … it airs at three in the morning. And yet, “Red Eye not only has as dedicated a following as anything on television right now, it’s also been known to pull in more viewers than CNN’s primetime … at three in the morning.

Furthermore, we live in a world where popular entertainment culture rules as much as the news, where Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, and SNL can help to set the national debate and steer the political narrative as much if not more than political newsmakers. Fox News grabbing a piece of this only makes sense from a business, influence and ratings point of view, but for those of us tired of the Hollywood left owning almost every square inch of this valuable turf, having “Red Eye’s” conservative-to-libertarian ideas penetrating this world would be a real breath of fresh air.

There is an untapped market here, somewhere in the, oh, 50% range.

(more…)

So, just about every single day I get a slew of emails from a dude named Doug Stauffer, from Media Matters. The emails are press  releases – 99% of them devoted to Fox News. I’m sure some of you get them too. Now, the obsession would be hilarious, if it wasn’t so all-consuming for the poor goof. And it made me wonder, what it must be like to have a job where all you do all day is  alternate between watching a news network, and fulminating over watching a news network? That can’t be a life, can it? I mean, if I  had that job, I would probably cry myself to sleep every night,  with or without a shorty robe.  Anyway, I’ve tried to imagine a  typical day at Media Matters – which you’ll find  below in our latest installment of Red Eye Robot Theatre: