The ratings for Glenn Beck’s nightly Fox News conspiracy theory rants are still taking a Nielsen nosedive. I’m not going to
go out on a limb again and say Beck’s “over” because
he rallied the very next day after I did it the last time and I just had to take it all back. So I’ll simply point out what James Downie wrote in
The New Republic:
Beck, says [biographer Alexander] Zaitchik, was caught “in a vicious circle”: To keep viewers coming back, he had to keep creating new, more intricate theories. Last November, in a two-part special that indirectly invoked anti-Semitism, he accused liberal Jewish financier George Soros of orchestrating the fall of foreign governments for financial gain. During the Egyptian Revolution, Beck sided with Hosni Mubarak, alleging that his fall was “controlled by the socialist communists and the Muslim Brotherhood.” Beck is now warning viewers not to use Google, accusing the search-engine giant of “being deep in bed with the government.” In recent months, it seems, Beck’s theories became so outlandish that even conservatives—both viewers and media personalities—were having a hard time stomaching them. Now, each new idea appears to be costing Beck both eyeballs and credibility. “At some point,” says Boehlert, “it doesn’t add up any more.”
Yep, at this point even the very
dumbest people watching Beck’s show have probably realized that Van Jones and obscure magazine articles written in 1965
don’t have shit to do with anything.
“It’s hard to gain a million viewers,” says Eric Boehlert, of Media Matters, in the article, “but it’s really hard to lose a million viewers.”
Worse still, for Beck’s, uh,
fortunes, as Adam Weinsten points out on the
Mother Jones blog today (quoting “
The Wrap” an entertainment trade blog):
In January, [Beck’s] FNC show averaged 1.76 million total viewers during the 5 p.m. hour, according to Nielsen estimates—down 39 percent compared to January 2010.
And he scored just 397,000 viewers in the coveted 25-to-54-year-old demographic, a 48 percent slide.
February did not show much improvement. Through Feb. 27 his Fox show is down 26 percent in total viewers for the year (2.06 million compared to 2.89 million last year) and off 30 percent in the demo, averaging 501,000 25-to-54-year-olds vs. 760,000 last year.
But dig what this implies about the, er,
vintage of his viewers:
Here’s the salient fact: Less than one-quarter of Beck’s viewers are ages 25 to 54. Assuming the number of youngs who watch him is negligible—a pretty safe assumption, I think—that means that dang near to 80 percent of his viewership is in or around senior-citizen territory. Perhaps it’s no surprise that the olds like Beck. But it gets me wondering: Who exactly makes up that 25 to 54 demographic
“We have some ideas that we’re not in a position to discuss yet,” Andrew Kosove, Alcon’s co-CEO, teases to EW. “But from our point of view, the thematic core of the original movie — what does it mean to be a human being? — is even more relevant today than it was when the film came out. After all, we’re living in the industrial age of technology.” Kosove and his fellow CEO, Broderick Johnson, are partnering on the project with Bud Yorkin, one of the producers of the original film. “That picture turned out so well — it’s just been selected for preservation by the Library of Congress — that for a long time I was afraid to try to make another one,” Yorkin says. “But now seems like the perfect time. We just need to find the right writer and director
"Some people will hear about it and go yuck - but actually it's pure organic, free-range and totally natural." Mrs Hiley, who gets £15 for every 10 ounces of milk she donates to the company, said it was a great "recession beater".
French police say they have arrested a 63-year-old woman who was leading her 40-year-old companion along a busy shopping street by a leash attached to his exposed penis... The couple admitted to being sex addicts and said they were in the middle of a game when arrested, police said on Thursday
This case-mod masterpiece from modder pinchillo was inspired by the Dreadnoughts from Warhammer 40,000. As you will see in the video after the break, the damn thing actually talks, has a spinning chain gun and working LED lights. Oh, and there’s a PC in there somewhere…whatever
Greeted with derision in some corners and perplexity in others, the movement’s new magazine launches at CPAC today. Editor Steven Allen tells David A. Graham how he’ll stand out in a crowded field of right-wing media properties
