Jesse Watters is ready for Fox News 'Primetime' slot: 'I'm not nasty; I'm brutally honest'

"Jesse Watters Primetime" will finally live up to its name.

The Fox News host won the conservative commentator golden ticket last month: He was announced as the successor to Tucker Carlson's coveted 8 p.m. EDT time slot after Fox abruptly fired the firebrand superstar in April.

"Jesse Watters Primetime" will move an hour later from his previous slot at 7. But it's all the difference in the world for the rising Fox News star, 45, who has spent his entire career at the cable channel. He started as a production assistant in 2004 and got his big break conducting ambush interviews for "Watters' World" segments on the then-top-rated "O'Reilly Factor."

As Watters prepares to anchor a revamped evening lineup Monday, just don't call his career rise "remarkable."

"I would have to correct you," Watters says, smiling, displaying his trademark cheeky TV persona during a Zoom call from his New Jersey home. "It's much more than a remarkable rise. It might be the greatest rise in the history of cable television, going from the building basement to 8:00."

"I'm not going to put words in your mouth," Watters adds to underline that he was joking. "But some people have said that."

People might not have said exactly that about Watters, who will continue to moderate the panel gabfest "The Five" at 5. But love him or loathe him ‒ depending on which side of the political divide you stand ‒ it's impossible to deny Watters' ascent after just a year and a half hosting "Primetime." Watters edged out household names like Laura Ingraham, whose show will replace his at 7 (moving from 10); Sean Hannity, who remains at 9; and Greg Gutfeld, whose late-night "comedy" show moves an hour earlier to 10.

"Putting Watters in the key 8 p.m. slot was a good move by Fox News, and I don't agree with a lot of his politics," says Howard Polskin, who chronicles conservative media on his website, The Righting. "He's a new face, but he's road-tested. He captivates with entertainment value and subject knowledge, all delivered with a wink to the audience."

The next test is seeing whether the new force can bring back Carlson's boffo ratings, which typically averaged more than 3 million viewers a night, and lifted the still-top-rated cable news network's entire primetime viewership. Overall evening ratings have plummeted more than 32% since Carlson's departure, and are down 47% among the 25-to-54-year-old audience favored by advertisers.

Watters says he was "shocked" by Carlson's sudden firing ("I didn't see that coming") and insists he doesn't know details about "how it all went down." He declines to discuss any contact he's had with Carlson, who's started a new opinion show on Twitter: "That's personal," he says. "I was an admirer of Tucker; he's been a trailblazer. It was tough to see him go. But this is a business. And things happen in this business. They've happened before. And I'm used to it."

As the permanent replacement, Watters says he plans to bring the same mix of news, opinion, political commentary and segments that are "a little tabloid" to his earlier slot. Among his latest obsessions is pontificating on the investigation into the cocaine found in the White House on July 2. He'll still offer lighthearted "fun" segments in the show's back half.

"I'm not competing against Tucker; I'm not competing against anyone. I'm not going to go out and chase ratings," says Watters. "I'm not going to try to reinvent the wheel. We've been very successful at 7:00. The show is not going to change. I'm not going to change."

That news will be welcomed by his fans, and spurned by a growing audience of detractors (mostly "Democrat liberals") who take daily offense to Watters' bombastic conservative stances. Even his mother, child psychologist Anne Watters, sends critiques. Watters has humorous segments reading his Mom's text messages decrying her son's televised opinions.

"If my mother doesn't disagree with what I'm doing, then I'm doing something wrong," says Watters, who adds that she was "very stressed" when he broke the news about the promotion.

"She's worried for me and happy for my career," he says. "And there's sadness, occasionally, about how my career has gone. And concern about the trajectory of my career."

Watters has stepped over lines. In 2021, Anthony Fauci called for Fox News to fire him following comments to young conservatives to "ambush" the nation's top infectious disease expert and "go in for the kill shot." (Fox backed Watters, saying he was "using a metaphor for asking hard-hitting questions to Dr. Fauci.")

But Watters defends his combative TV style, which has added to his controversial reputation.

"I'm not nasty; I'm brutally honest. In cable TV you have to be blunt, concise, direct, and go right to the bone," he says. "I might be controversial in the mainstream media, but a lot of Americans don't see me as controversial. A lot of Americans think of me as right."

Watters says he doesn't see, or seek out, the blowback directed at him. "I don't read about myself. I don't read social media. I don't read comments. I don't even Google myself anymore," he says. "I don't care what people say; it doesn't affect me."

When asked about the potential that his new higher-profile position might earn him a "Saturday Night Live" sendup, a rite of passage for Fox hosts, Watters expresses surprise at the possibility.

"You think I could be lampooned on 'SNL'? Well, I hope whoever plays me is handsome and somewhat articulate," he says. "People say David Schwimmer is my doppelganger, that I remind them of Ross from 'Friends.' Personally, I think I'm better looking."

It's a good discussion for laughs, but Watters is focused on grinding out successful TV in the weeks ahead and getting to the weekend with wife Emma DiGiovine and newborn baby girl Georgina Post Watters, whose birth (his fourth child and third daughter) was feted on "The Five" in April.

"I'm not taking anything for granted," Watters says.

Others before him have been felled from the throne, including his former boss O'Reilly, who was forced out in 2017 following charges of sexual harassment, and Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, who was forced out in 2016 amid sexual harassment lawsuits.

"The thing about television is your career could end like that. Say the wrong thing; do the wrong thing. New management can come in, they could say, 'This guy stinks. Goodbye,'" says Watters. "I'm trying to go show by show. Then it's my weekend. And then I do it all over again."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jesse Watters talks Fox News career, new 'Primetime' slot