It’s Stossel Thursday

Yes, folks, it's the moment we've all been waiting for: John Stossel launches his new weekly show on the Fox Business Network Thursday evening at 8 p.m. (Even though the vaunted Fox News machine can't seem to put a notice about it on their website, I have it on good authority that the show will go on!) Rumor is he'll be talking about Ayn Rand on the first show. It's a good time for a show about freedom and limited government -- as the Baltimore Sun says, "Stossel's new show should have no trouble finding an audience of viewers eager for a discussion about the pedal-to-the-metal pace of expansion [of government] since Barack Obama took office."

Some people ask, Why give up ABC for the smaller Fox networks? (Presumably, these are not the same people who asked Stossel for years, "Why don't you go to Fox?  They'd love you there.") The good news is that now Stossel has an hour a week to talk about freedom -- as well as appearances on other Fox shows such as Beck and O'Reilly. His hour-long specials at ABC were excellent, and drew solid ratings, but ABC hasn't put one on in more than a year. And even his "Give Me a Break" segments on 20/20 had become rare. So what's the point in being part of a big but declining network that isn't actually interested in serious political commentary? Now he's on a smaller but growing network that wants him to do 44 hours of pointed commentary and analysis, plus contribute to other shows.

If you haven't seen Stossel's ABC specials, you need to. I can never decide which one I think is best. Of course, I'm partial to "John Stossel's Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics," in which I get a bit of screen time. But "Greed," with Walter Williams, David Kelley, and Ted Turner, is great, too. And so is "Is America #1?," featuring Tom Palmer. But there were plenty of others -- "Stupid in America," "Are We Scaring Ourselves to Death?," "John Stossel Goes to Washington," "Sex, Lies, and Consenting Adults."

You can view some of them, including "Is America #1?," at a website called Freedom Channel. And for the time being, at least, you can still watch lots of shorter Stossel videos at ABC News.

But meanwhile -- tell your mama, tell your pa, to watch "Stossel" this Thursday at 8 p.m. on Fox Business Channel. And note: it will repeat at 10 p.m. Friday, giving you a chance to show ABC what they lost by watching "Stossel" instead of "20/20."