Now that he has a new contract at a reported $10 million a year, Fox’s Bill O’Reilly is really on top of the cable world.
Here’s why:
1. He had the number one show in cable TV for 137 months consecutively. That goes back to before Google was a public company and iPhones folks.
2. He’s making a fortune for Fox. Look what Roger Ailes said: "Bill's immense talent, intellect and raw convictions are an extremely rare combination in television and exemplify why 'The O'Reilly Factor' has been the number one program in cable news for more than a decade."
3. He’s done it his way. Sure he’s right wing but he never went off his rocker like Glenn Beck who looked like he might challenge him at one point.
4. He’s Irish which means he knows how to tell a story and earn a laugh -- he doesn’t take himself too seriously like the other pompous gits.
5. He makes an effort to have opposing points of view. Ever watch Hannity? It’s one-way criticism all the way.
6. He interviewed Obama, showed class and conviction to hear the other side, and the President responded.
7. He has real journalism training, as a former tabloid reporter and news breaker. It actually matters.
8. Still seems like a regular guy, friends tell me he still has his family out to local restaurants on Long Island.
9. Not totally predictable like the rest of the Fox crew on right wing topics, often throws over the traces.
10. Listen again to what Ailes said. "He is a tremendous force in the business and has helped to make Fox News the success story it is today." In other words he’s a cash cow for Fox.
Bill O'Reilly at his best:
20 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.| Apr 28, 2012, 07:01 PM EDT
It's so unfair for the progressive statists to have to put up with dissenting views, if you disagree then you are demented pathological liars. Talk about lockstep, do what you are told just gives them a little more of your freedom, O'Reilly's real problem is he thinks the current president is a nice guy who is in over his head.
borefield | Apr 27, 2012, 06:37 PM EDT
Mcnamara31, Fox News is The ONLY Honest news. All the rest are so far left, liberal slanted that nothing they try to report is credible.
AncientSeeker | Apr 27, 2012, 02:12 PM EDT
O'Reilly is why so many here in the colonies disrespect the Irish-Americans, he is a blowhard,bought dog of industry and does not own or can purchase a soul. The lowlife supporters of right wing prods and baptists use to treat all [cross-backs-a derogatory of Catholics] as slave white trash, that is until they got the church to join them in attacking democracy's moral and ethical high ground! History will validate the reasons for the collapse of the church, it will be because of the likes of O'Reilly absolute treasonable attacks on secular representative democracy and the catholic church anarchy, especially this German pope who has for years been protecting pedophiles even when he was sent to the west coast of our country to specifically deal with it as a cardinal. As long as Catholics lock-step with these factions of the church it will continue it's slide into oblivion! To us who use to use it as a moral and ethical teacher the time is way over due!
zarat | Apr 27, 2012, 01:53 PM EDT
Bill O'Reilly is a demented, pathological liar who makes his living(as almost everyone else at FOX News) duping the dumb in America into voting against their own interests and for the interests of the super rich, the Republican Party. Only America's dumbest white trash believes FOX News is a legitimate news source.
McNamara31 | Apr 27, 2012, 12:25 PM EDT
Borefield… If you believe O'Reilly has all the talents that you have mentioned, why would he choose to work for such a dishonest news organization? And when it comes to Irish turning on their own; Fox's brand of smear and slander is the furthest thing to being "truly Irish" as it gets.
borefield | Apr 27, 2012, 06:29 AM EDT
My late Dad always used to say " the Irish always turn on their own kind, especially if they are successful ", judging from some of the nasty, mean spirited remarks I see, he had something there. O'Reilly is self assured and confident, a little pompous maybe! . He researches his news stories very well and yes, looks at both sides. For these attributes he is maligned by the left liberals. Liberals see only one side, the wrong side! when people have a different voice they go ape, just observe Nancy Pelosi. You GO Bill, keep bringing the truth to the viewers, it always trumps evil in the end. Congratulations, I look forward to many more years of watching you.
galway2001 | Apr 26, 2012, 09:33 PM EDT
first of all he's not a right wing,he's an american that belevive in the american way,the way it was years ago a beautiful country,not the way it is today loaded with liberal ideas,the liberal's has to go otherwise our country wont be around when your grand children grows up,and also you acuse sean hannity and everyone on fox to be thinking one way how about everyone on chanell 2,4,7 they have a one track liberal mind ,i dont see them having fair and balance
NYCsheridan | Apr 26, 2012, 06:22 PM EDT
He's a loudmouth and a bully, so of course he can reliably snag wannabe tough guys as an audience. No surprise here.
BrianO | Apr 26, 2012, 05:55 PM EDT
carrollover, Al Franken is your source for fair and balanced, has the decade of franken ended yet( a saturday night bit the comedian Al franken did) I mean c'mon he couldn't even tell the guy in the gorilla suit was a guy not a gorilla (trading places). seriously though, to be fair and balanced, look into voter fraud and the Franken elecion, that shouldn't matter though cause the ends justify the means right.
jamthecat | Apr 26, 2012, 05:52 PM EDT
A good whore's always worth the money.
MarkMary73 | Apr 26, 2012, 05:06 PM EDT
Regardless of whether one is a liberal, conservative, or somewhere in between, getting your "politics" from Fox or MSNBC is an exercise in buffoonery. It one wants to watch the O'Reilly types for whatever "entertainment" value it gives (and I can't imagine), fine. Otherwise, a person needs to access several real news sources, filter the news, and arrive at an informed opinion. Why would anyone want to parrot a "talking head"?
peterson | Apr 26, 2012, 03:40 PM EDT
I would not make a comparison between O"Reilly and idiots such sports heroes (some of them) and the new breed of movie stars !!
HalfMayo | Apr 26, 2012, 02:47 PM EDT
Nobody should be paid $10,000,000.00 - not sports figures, not movie "Stars", and not TV personalities.
FastEddy | Apr 26, 2012, 01:17 PM EDT
US$100 Million? That's a lot of income taxes, too!
BARBBF1 | Apr 26, 2012, 12:08 PM EDT
I stopped watching Bill O'Reilly years ago. He was just too rude to those he was supposed to be interviewing, constantly interrupting them and denigrating the opinions of those who did not agree w/him. Actually, since Judge Napolitano's show was cancelled (probably due to his support of Ron Paul), I only watch Neil Cavuto on FoxNews.
donal1951 | Apr 26, 2012, 11:13 AM EDT
Personally, I prefer Hannity and Greta Van Susteren to O'Reilly, but I have to agree with James O'Shea concerning O'Reilly's value to Fox News. I also do not dislike him and more often than not watch his show, then Hannity and Greta if I can stay awake that late.
carollover | Apr 26, 2012, 10:37 AM EDT
Gray Ghost, O'Reilly is lying if he says he's a registered independent, Franken in his book shows his voter registration card clearly marked as registering GOP. O'Reilly hates Franken and cheapshots him all the time because Franken was one of the few who has stood up to O'Reilly and exposed him for what he is. I used to watch MSNBC but they've gone so far to the left trying to be the Fox alternative that I quit watching them. CNN is as close as you'll get to getting both sides of the argument.
Gray Ghost | Apr 26, 2012, 10:08 AM EDT
Carollover - O'Reilly insists on his show he is a registered independent. But is he any worse than the morons on MSNBC.
Gray Ghost | Apr 26, 2012, 10:07 AM EDT
If Ryan Seacrest is worth $15MM/year with no discernible talent, surely O'Reilly is worth $10MM??
carollover | Apr 26, 2012, 09:32 AM EDT
O'Reilly is living proof that PT Barnum was right--there's a sucker born every minute. He should have been canned over the infamous "loofa" incident involving one of his producers, but I guess ratings were more important to Ailes than morals. And threatening to send "Fox security" to a guy who liked Olbermann? He says he's independent but he's a registered Republican. Go read Al Franken's book Lies to get the true story on this pompous blowhard. I think of that great line from The American President when I see O'Reilly and Fox News--they will only tell you 2 things: who to be afraid of, and who's to blame. You can also Youtube the infamous "We'll do it live!" tantrum from his Inside Edition days to see his true self.