Conservative commentator Laura Ingraham is in early talks with Fox News to host her own talk show on the network, TheWrap confirmed on Tuesday.
Rumors started to circulate on Monday when Matt Drudge tweeted, “Laura Ingraham’s prime time to shine! After years in the trenches, much deserved.”
A source familiar with Fox News’ plans confirmed a CNN report that Ingraham is in talks with the network for a possible program. However, her potential timeslot and start date haven’t been determined.
Ingraham is no stranger to Fox News viewers, as she regularly fills in for hosts including Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity and is a popular talk radio host. She is an outspoken Trump supporter who has been rumored to join the president’s administration, so landing her own show on Fox News would indicate that the network remains committed to airing conservative opinion shows during primetime.
Drudge is as plugged in to Fox News as anyone in the industry and his tweets hints at Ingraham landing her own show at either 8, 9 or 10 p.m., which is primetime for cable news. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” at 8 p.m. isn’t going anywhere, as he has thrived in his current slot.
Fox News is looking at options in light of “The Fox News Specialists” co-host Eric Bolling being suspended while the network investigates claims that he sent lewd messages to colleagues. If Bolling weren’t welcomed back following the investigation, a likely scenario would be “The Five” moving back to its original 5 p.m. timeslot because “Specialists” replaced it when Fox News scrambled to replace “The O’Reilly Factor” in primetime after Bill O’Reilly’s departure from the network.
Moving “The Five” back to 5 p.m. would open up a primetime spot for Ingraham, who could either be slotted between Carlson and Hannity, or the network could decide to move Hannity up an hour to compete with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow at 9 p.m., leaving the 10 p.m. slot for Ingraham.
While it remains unclear exactly when Ingraham will land her own show, it looks like the question is now “when” not “if” it will happen.