Shepard Smith Shows Why His Show Has Been Number One For So Damn Long

Shepard Smith hosts The Fox Report every night at 7pm on the Fox News Channel, and has been number one in that time slot for more than eight years, which Smith himself admitted is "disgusting." Actually, it's unbelievable, given Smith's taste in music.

Smith loves hosting The Fox Report, he said, because they don't do opinion. "I got nothing against opinions; everyone should have one," he said. "But I like that there’s one hour where we just do the news."

Tonight, for instance, he might talk about what Imus lovingly referred to as "the dueling Vice Presidents" on the Sunday morning talk shows this past weekend, where Cheney and Biden argued their opposing points on American policy in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"My take is they would have been more fun on the same channel," said Smith, who thinks all sports are better with blood. He also thinks Cheney could be deflecting "news from the future," like a potential investigation into any misdeeds on his part during the eight unfortunate years he was Vice President. 

Smith also hosts a show at 3pm on Fox News, where he says he likes to "have some fun" and focus more on breaking news items. But if it were up to Shep, they’d cover one story, and one story only.

"My goal is for there to be a car chase, and for us to have a helicopter above," he said. "It's my favorite thing. That and the Rebels."

Referring to his beloved Ole Miss, Smith all but begged Imus to fly down to Oxford, Mississippi later this year to catch a college football game there.

"It's my favorite place on the planet to be," said Smith, whose 82-year old father lives in Oxford and is a huge I-Fan. "He saw a promo on Friday that said I was going to be on with you, and he text messaged me that I’ve finally arrived."

That’s very kind, but Smith more than made a name for himself with his Edward R. Murrow-like coverage (in Imus's estimation) of Hurricane Katrina five years ago. Asked what he thought when he first arrived in New Orleans to cover that story, Smith sighed.

"I though it was like the six other times I’d been to New Orleans to cover a hurricane—in New Orleans, the hurricane never comes, it veers off," he said, and chalked the city's numerous near-misses up to the continental shelf, which directs most storms over to south Mississippi. Which is exactly what happened with Katrina.

"That storm didn't hit New Orleans, it hit south Mississippi," said Smith, audibly emotional just thinking about Katrina. "But the backwash from it was so bad that it flooded that thing, just exactly like Hurricane Pam told us it would, just exactly like the White House knew it would, just exactly like Baton Rouge knew it would, and just exactly like Mayor Nagin, who didn't send the buses, knew it would."

Imus congratulated his guest on doing journalism proud, like his pal Geraldo has many times over his decades-long, illustrious career, where he reported stories that often resulted in crucial social change

"Then, next thing you know, he's in the closet with an intern," Imus lamented.

-Julie Kanfer