Outnumbered Hosts Talk to Mediaite About the Show’s Successes and Controversies in Its First 100 Episodes

Sandra, you come from the Fox Business Network. How’s the transition from business to general news been for you?

SMITH: It’s been awesome. My belief is that there’s money behind every story. I think hosting a show on Fox News has been able to bring my expertise on the economy and money and business, at very crucial times. We’re looking at the lead story like ISIS, what is the best tactic for getting rid of ISIS? It’s tactically going after them financially. Find out where they get their funding.

But even when we do a relationship story, it usually comes down to money. I think that my business perspective brings a solid element to the show. Viewers count on me to bring that into the conversation. And in addition to that, I have a general background in news.

You’ve been quite outspoken in pushing back against criticism of the “Fox News blonde.” You’ve addressed criticisms of all the legs and lipgloss on Fox. What do you make of those criticisms?

SMITH: I don’t care about the hair color or the gender — it’s the best person for the job. It’s the person who earns the trust, entertains the audience, the person who brings riveting television. I think the concept of Outnumbered is brilliant and it’s working.

FAULKNER: For the record, I do wear a lot of lipgloss. I think that TV is a visual medium. I would say that my personal look is best-served when there’s makeup on it. People are always going to criticize because they are trying to do that mind-bending exercise of “well if it looks good, does it talk smart too?” The answer to that is yes. I don’t care why people make that criticism of our looks, as long as they watch us.

If you could have a dream panelist for an hour of Outnumbered, male or female, who would it be>

SMITH: We would love to have President Obama. That would be an interesting hour, wouldn’t it? I have such a long list of hopefuls, it’s hard to pick just one. It’s fun to see people like Terry Bradshaw and Gene Simmons opening up about these issues. I’d say we need to get Bill O’Reilly.

FAULKNER: I would like to put two people together for a show. Someone like Robert Gibbs, former White House press secretary under Obama, opposite Condoleezza Rice. That would be a delicious show. Both have that foreign policy perspective. I’d love to talk with him about what he knew to be the president’s foreign policy — the “Obama doctrine.” I met him at one of the White House christmas parties, he would be really interesting.

Today marks your 100th show. It’s been a ratings success thus far. You recently delivered your all-time high with total viewers (1.2 million) and you outpace both MSNBC and CNN in the noon hour. You at all surprised by the numbers?

SMITH: No. I think we’re attracting an audience at that hour who don’t necessarily watch Fox News. Ed Henry told this awesome story recently: He was at an Usher concert, and Usher knew who he was, and said it wasn’t because of his Fox News appearances, but that he knew him from Outnumbered. I think it’ll be interesting to see how our audience continues to build. They want different perspectives and to see the news delivered in a different way.

FAULKNER: At first people wanted to compare us to other things on TV, and I don’t even hear that anymore. The rapid success of the show has been something that I’m proud of, feel blessed about, but I have to say it’s widened my eyes. I had no idea. I’d love to send a thank-you note to viewers if I could, because I’m grateful for that. I try to go out every day and leave everything I have out there on the couch. Covering as much news as I do, I’m always looking for that extra new angle to bring.

What’s your ultimate aim with Outnumbered?

SMITH: Ratings success. I can’t ignore the obvious. But I hope that we attract and educate audiences. I think with an ensemble show like ours, you hope that you attract people from all over the news and cable dial that are curious to hear more perspectives on news that matters to them. There’s so much thrown at us every day. It’s hard to keep track of all this stuff to get a grasp on what is important. I think having open conversations helps make sense of it. I hope that we continue to attract eyeballs, I hope that we continue to entertain, and perhaps educate people. And have a little fun.

FAULKNER: I want us to continue to find our own way. It’s a little overwhelming with its early success, so I hope we don’t get distracted. I want us to go out and do our thing. We’re different than we were 99 episodes ago, so 100 episodes from now, the one thing I want us to be is better. If you’re not striving to be better, then you’re going backwards. You have to keep throwing paint on the wall, keep going forward, and sooner or later, hopefully, it’ll be a masterpiece, but always a work in progress.

You don’t want to arrive at a point where you get too comfortable. Bill O’Reilly actually told me that he does one show at a time. I want to approach it that way. I hope we all get better, continue to bring our A-games, and that it’s always going to be different. And that we keep it unpredictable.