NOTE: Due to the anticipated winter storm, the Bold and Fresh Tour, featuring Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck, has been postponed until 8 p.m. Friday, May 21. Tickets sold for the Jan. 30 show will be honored during the rescheduled date. Refunds will be given at point-of-purchase until Feb. 6. Call (757) 683-4444 for more information.
By Joy Vann
Correspondent
Millions of people watch, listen to or read Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck every day. That, apparently, is not enough.
The pair of political commentators kicked off their Bold and Fresh Tour to a sold-out crowd last week in Westbury, N.Y., and will perform before another sold-out crowd in Norfolk on Saturday.
The TV talkers are feeling the love from their fans. Tickets for the initial four dates sold out in less than a week, prompting the addition of two shows in Los Angeles. Those who don't have tickets to the Norfolk show can pay to see live
simulcasts Saturday in movie theaters.
There also will be a repeat showing at movie theaters Tuesday.
Fans will get the same kind of no-holds-barred political talk and theater that the men present on the Fox News TV shows. O'Reilly and Beck give individual presentations, then sit down to banter together.
That fans would pay to see the hosts of "The O'Reilly Factor" and "The Glenn Beck Program" live onstage - when they can watch them for free Monday through Friday - isn't a mystery to Larry J. Sabato, director at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
"It's tough to get people to part with their hard-earned money to see any presentation about politics. Most of us in the field, myself included, could draw a big crowd only if professors made attendance mandatory for their students," Sabato joked. "So how do O'Reilly and Beck do it? Like (Rush) Limbaugh or, on the left, Keith Olbermann, they are a rare combination of TV celebrity with a point of view that sells to an enthusiastic, ideological slice of the American public. People with strong beliefs will come out and pay to see someone they agree with who is also famous and entertaining."
Robert J. Thompson, professor and founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, has a similar take on the popularity of the men who have so successfully joined politics and entertainment.
"These guys are enormous celebrities. It's just like late-night comedians you can see on TV five nights a week," Thompson said. "When they make a local appearance, people will still pay to see them."
Thompson said O'Reilly and Beck also draw a lot of fans by positioning themselves as the underdogs against the "elite, mainstream media."
"If Fox isn't mainstream media, I don't know what is," Thompson said. "It's owned by Rupert Murdoch, and they won't let us forget that it's the No. 1 cable news channel in the country. They want to be the David of David and Goliath, but they are the Goliath. O'Reilly and Beck are the media elite."
Joy Vann, joyvann@cox.net
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Beck and the FEMA camps
I'd like to ask Beck what happened to the FEMA camps. I'd also like to ask him when is the gold bubble going to crash. I lot of people are going to be angry at him for pushing gold when the bubble bursts.
Bold and Fresh, a great new deoderant!
It doesn't stop the odor, but you disappear and everybody wonders where the stink is coming from.
PT Barnum weighed in on the O'Beck-type ticket buyers ...
... a long time ago.
Bold Fresh Tour
DARN...I was planning to go see these guys...as soon as pgs flew out of my...
OH MY GOD NO YOU DIDN'T
YOU REALLY SAID IT ALL TV PERSONALITIES LIKE BUGS BUNNY THAT THAT'S ALL FOLKS
actually....
that was Elmer Fudd, not Bugs bunny. But for real entertainment and fantasy, continue following Obama.
Actually...
that was Porky Pig. But don't let the facts get in the way of your reality.
Not to be over-corrective...
Not to be over-corrective... it's incite, not insight. They don't spread fear, they spread a point of view.... to boldly question the motives of the elected officials, to point out their differences and where our elected officials have strayed from our constitution, which is the basis of our republic. These gentlemen are not our elected officials, so they can't give us anything but entertainment and knowledge. Be skeptical of all elected officials and don't drink the kool-aid from any of them, do your own research and stay informed of current events, history, civics and the proper role of the government.
They dont charge you anything
...its called TV. doesnt cost you any extra to watch thier show. By the way...Its not fear mongering when its the truth. God Bless.
By the way...
these guys cant give you a tax break, they are "TV personalities". The only "TV personality" that can give you a tax break is Obama.
Cancelled
Sadly the show is moved to May 21st due to weather
Promoting Hate, Bigotry, Personal Attacks, Name Calling etc
By writing a one sided PR article for the Beck/O'Reilly "…idiots tour," the Pilot violates its own comments' guidelines by promoting the premiere purveyors of hate and bigotry with their explicit or implicit "personal attacks, name calling, harassment, abusive statements, advocating violence, disparaging comments about a victim or victim's family in a tragedy, and attacks on individuals or groups based on race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity or other classification." The editor should have assigned the reporter to document a few examples in each category, but that might be expecting too much from the right leaning mainstream media.
OK libs...
Here is an idea for all the liberals out there... if you dont like these gentlemen, (now hold on to your hats, this gets a litlle wacky) then DONT GO!
Liberal: Wow, what a concept, you mean if I dont aggree with them, I dont HAVE to pay money to listen to them?
Conservative: No you do not. Its just that simple.
Have a nice day.
Ok Cons
Liberals may not have to pay money, but then they've got to listen to all the crazies who buy into O'Reilley's and Beck's psuedo news personae (is that too big a word for you people?) and swear that they are the Second Coming of Ronald Reagan conservatism.
All they are doing is pandering to the Republican right wing, further polarizing the political process and completely ignoring their responsibility to report the news impatially and truthfully. BTW, Fox news is NOT fair and balanced. O'Reilly and Beck are both "opinion" shows masquerading and accepted as "news" by the right.
sad
I don't know what depresses me more. That the shows were sold out, or that they were described as "the media elite"
oh brother.
Actually ...
... when you look at their cable ratings, they really are the media elite.
Unlike the Pilot, which doesn't seem curious about much of anything, I was curious about what it costs to get into such an event. According to TicketMaster, the remaining nosebleed seats at the Charleston Coliseum are going for $54.95 a pop. In Los Angeles, a ticket one row from the very back of the hall is $145.
The price of populism seems to be rising ... jeez, maybe the recession really *is* over ... ;-)
"Fox Fans"
How clever, VP.
Here's a real news flash for you: (Though I won't be among them, as I don't really care for O'Reilly) it won't be just "Fox Fans" in attendance.
They'll be the folks who watch Beck's TV show AND listen to him on radio (not a Fox production & probably in larger #'s due to the time slot) & appreciated his bringing us info that Leftist rags like yours so often chose to hide from us, even back when he was on the Clinton News Network (to whom I will give kudos for providing airtime despite their obvious opposing political philosophies {guess they found a way to forgive when they started counting all the sponsor greenbacks he brought in. Libs have THEIR price too, eh?)
I doubt seriously if most who purchased tickets for this event are actually great "fans" of the Fox network, given some of the sick programs they air, as well as having some flaming Libs like Geraldo among their reporting staff. No, I think it's mostly just about seeing & supporting Glenn, the "uneducated entertainer/clown" who has been doing the work of thousands of degreed, credentialed journalists & reporters who long ago checked their collective integrity at the doors of the media out
uneducated entertainer/clown
"No, I think it's mostly just about seeing & supporting Glenn, the "uneducated entertainer/clown" who has been doing the work of thousands of degreed, credentialed journalists & reporters who long ago checked their collective integrity at the doors of the media out"
Beck has a habit of ignoring the truth, facts and reality with his opinions. He checked his integrity at the door when he started this conservative BS and he is either willfully ignoring facts or just as stupid as he usually appears. Either way, he's a farce.
Mother Nature Comments on Pundits
It feels appropriate to me that snow is forecast for the day O'Reilly and Beck are scheduled to talk in Norfolk. Snow jobs will be the MO of these two wherever they perform.
Open minded?
Spoken like someone that never watched either show .... or someone so bias that they would never recognize a fact no matter where or when it was presented to them. Fair and balanced baby .... not just facts but video of the leftist spewing forth their venom.