She’s smart, attractive, quick-witted, and silky-smooth with her delivery. So why is she so often overlooked?
There’s an inherent unfairness to this query; after all, by every conceivable metric that matters, Laura Ingraham is enormously successful. She had the fifth largest radio audience in the business, she’s written best-selling books, she’s ventured into new media with Lifezette.com, and she hosts “The Ingraham Angle” during the 7:00 p.m. EST hour on FOX News. That’s primetime, baby! Arguably, she’s been the most relevant female voice in the conservative movement for a decade.
But something’s missing.
In a way, it’s to her credit that our expectations are so high. Not many commentators can hold a candle to her academic bona fides and intellectual credentials: She was a White House speechwriter in the Reagan administration. She later earned a J.D. from the University of Virginia, was editor of the “Virginia Law Review,” and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Then, she followed the Tucker Carlson career model in television: Laura had a cup of coffee with MSNBC and CBS before finding her footing on FOX News Channel.
Unlike Tucker, once Laura had her foot in the door, she wasn’t going away. But it didn’t always run like clockwork. She originally had a 5:00 p.m. FOX News program (“Just In with Laura Ingraham”) before getting a show during the 10:00 p.m. hour in September of 2017. Her primetime show was an instant hit.
But it was never the biggest hit.
And that’s really been the biggest thing holding her back: She was great on radio, but never a top-three talent. She’s an extraordinarily insightful legal expert, but never been your go-to source for breaking legal news. And her FOX News show(s) always do well, always generate solid ratings, and always perform as expected, but she’s never been the lead draw. There’s always someone else bigger, someone else brighter.
And someone else more marketable.
On June 26, 2023, FOX News announced that they were moving Laura again, this time to the 7:00 p.m. EST hour, where she’s remained ever since. Hopefully, this time the move will be permanent. This timeslot fits her sensibilities, and she deserves an opportunity to build a dedicated audience.
It’s a little surprising that FOX News hasn’t done more to elevate her profile, especially when Megyn Kelly left the network in early 2017. Superficially, both Kelly and Ingraham overlapped each other as attractive, photogenic blondes; substantively, they were both legal experts (albeit that Ingraham’s credentials blew Kelly’s out of the water). So, with Kelly’s exit, you would’ve expected some fresh, wide-open real estate for Ingraham to occupy — especially when you factor in the dearth of female conservative voices on TV, coupled with the dark cloud of the Bill O’Reilly / Roger Ailes scandals. Why not elevate Laura Ingraham?
Yet when the dust settled, Jesse Watters emerged as the new face of FOX News. Ingraham was his lead-in.
Now in her early 60s, Laura still looks fantastic and is still capable of outshining her FOX News cohorts any day of the week. Without any question, she remains one of her network’s brightest stars and most reliable rating draws. But slowly and steadily, the FNC spotlight is moving away from her. Laura’s segments seldom go viral, and Sean Hannity, Greg Gutfeld, and Jesse Watters all seem to break more news —more often — with bigger marquee interviews.
Perhaps that’s Laura’s curse: She’s such a great utility player, it’s too tempting for network executives to move her around and elevate others. Whether it's 5:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. or 10:00 p.m., it doesn’t matter: Laura will figure it out. But in doing so, she became the B side to the A talent, and at this point, it’s probably too late in her career to break that narrative.
GRADE: A-
Prior Commentators Critiqued:
Join the conversation as a VIP Member