In the same way the comedy world was watching the first night Conan O'Brien took over from Jay Leno as host of the Tonight Show, the news world was watching as, for the first time in 18 years, Fox News Sunday went on the air with Chris Wallace no longer the show's main anchor.

It was an important broadcast for the network. Fox News Sunday has had a major impact on the Sunday morning landscape for decades. With a TV journalism giant now gone, Fox News wanted to show its banner program could still make a splash. 

So they entrusted Special Report anchor Bret Baier with the responsibility. And he delivered in a big way. 

Baier's first guest was Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV). And Manchin was there to make some news. 

The West Virginia senator chose the Fox News platform to announce his intention not to vote for the Biden administration's Build Back Better bill. 

“If I can’t go home and explain it to the people of West Virginia, I can’t vote for it,” Manchin said. “I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can’t. I’ve tried everything possible, I can’t get there.”

That reveal drove the news cycle for the entire day. It showed that Fox News Sunday is still a must-watch for political junkies, as well as a must-visit for the day's biggest newsmakers. And it made a strong case for Bret Baier to get the job permanently. 
 

Tucker Carlson Tonight guests are obviously going to make shocking statements. It's why they are on there in the first place. But on Friday, one visitor to the show made comments which were totally embarrassing. 

Right-wing talk radio host Jesse Kelly was brought in by Carlson to rant about a Biden Pentagon nominee floating the possibility of "gender advisers" in the armed forces. 

“Do you think the key to remaining competitive with the Chinese military is more gender advisers?” Carlson asked — prodding his guest to reply with a sexist commentary.

Kelly delivered. 

"We don’t need a military that’s woman-friendly," Kelly said. "We don’t need a military that’s gay-friendly, with all due respect to the Air Force. We need a military that’s flat-out hostile. We need a military full of Type A men who want to sit on a throne of Chinese skulls, but we don’t have that now. We can’t even get women off of naval vessels. That should be step one, but most of them are already pregnant anyway."

Provocateurs are naturally going to provoke. Kelly was obviously going to take the ball and run with it once it was handed to him by Carlson. His comments, obviously, were abhorrent.

But let's give Carlson a dishonorable mention too. He knew exactly what he was doing in setting up Kelly like that. The obscene remarks from his guest are on him, as well.