Previous “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace’s CNN show opened with low ratings, behind his former network’s Sunday evening show hosted by former Congressman Trey Gowdy by a wide margin.
Wallace’s much-touted interview show, “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” drew only 43,800 views in the important 25-54 demographic. Wallace received just 401,000 views on his show, which aired at 7 p.m. ET.
The former South Carolina Congressman presented “Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy,” which drew almost 1.3 million more viewers than Wallace. In addition, he nearly doubled Wallace’s audience in the important demographic, attracting 78,000 people aged 25-54.
“Total Bomb!” The news was posted by @johnnydollar01. “Chris Wallace’s CNN Show Premiere Tanks, Pulls Only 44k Viewers In Key Demo.” The program was down by double digits in every area compared to the 2022 average. On Fox, @TGowdySC drew 1.3 million viewers, with 78k in the important 25-54 demographic…”
Critics pounced on Wallace, who unexpectedly quit “Fox News Sunday” in December 2021, speculating that he was beginning to wish he had stayed.
Wallace first stated that he quit the network because he needed a change.
“After 18 years, I have decided to leave FOX. I want to try something new, to go beyond politics, to all of the things I’m interested in,” he explained during his final “Fox News Sunday” broadcast. “I’m ready for a new adventure, and I hope you’ll check it out. And so, for the last time dear friends, that’s it for today.”
Wallace later asserted that the atmosphere at FOX, particularly in the aftermath of January 6th, was “unsustainable.”
“I’m fine with opinion: conservative opinion, liberal opinion,” Wallace said. “But when people start to question the truth — Who won the 2020 election? Was Jan. 6 an insurrection? — I found that unsustainable. I spent a lot of 2021 looking to see if there was a different place for me to do my job,” he said.
Wallace declared his intention to join CNN+ only days after leaving FOX, but the streaming service launched, floundered, and failed in less than a month.