Jesse Watters Primetime launches on Fox News Channel January 24 in the 7 p.m. slot. Watters remains a co-host on The Five, while relinquishing his Saturday-night show, Watters‘ World.
The new program will be “unpredictable,” Watters told B+C, “with a lot of my personality in it.” The weekday show goes for an hour.
Watters will start with an opening monologue and cover the news of the day at the top. He will at times inject his opinion on stories, he said, and so will his guests.
Tucker Carlson, who follows Jesse Watters Primetime at 8 p.m., will be a guest on opening day. The series premiere will “introduce the show’s mission,” Watters said, “have fun with the haters.”
Jesse Watters Primetime will check in with people on the street. “Every time I do something on Jesse Watters Primetime, I’m going to be thinking about the American people,” said Watters. “I have a very strong connection to the American people, and it’s something I want to accentuate.”
Watters has spent 20 years at Fox News Channel, coming on board in 2002 as a production assistant and working as a correspondent on The O’Reilly Factor. He said he started working in TV “because I liked watching TV,” and learned from his mistakes along the way. “My parents just wanted me to have health insurance,” he shared about landing that first job.
Watters’ World began in early 2017 and he joined The Five in April 2017. The Five averaged 3.3 million total viewers in the fourth quarter of 2021, with 481,000 in the 25-54 demo.
“Jesse’s versatility and hosting acumen has grown exponentially over the last five years, and he has developed a deep connection to the audience through two hit shows The Five and Watters’ World,” said Suzanne Scott, CEO of Fox News Media, in a statement.
Every episode of the new show will reflect Watters asking, “why do the American people need to see this, what are they going to learn, and why is this important?” he said. ■
