His lambasting of the White House press corps, false claims about inauguration attendance
and occasional use of props were viciously parodied by Saturday Night Live last weekend — with the actress Melissa McCarthy portraying Mr. Spicer — causing consternation inside the White House, Politico reported
He is no match for “The Young and the Restless.” But he is beating “The Bold and the Beautiful.”
Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary whose early tenure has prompted political fireworks
and late-night parodies, may be struggling to settle in behind the lectern.
The big ratings offer a quantifiable measure for what has become a truism in Washington: Three weeks into the Trump administration, Mr. Spicer’s daily joust with reporters — peppered with fiery exchanges, memorable malapropisms
and some much discussed dissembling — are now must-see-TV for the political class.
Audiences across Fox News, MSNBC and CNN grow by an average of 10 percent when Mr. Spicer
comes onscreen to discuss the latest news on President Trump, statistics show.
“Depending on your perspective, you either tune in to watch Sean defend the indefensible, or to watch media bias in action.”
The interest in Mr. Spicer’s briefings coincides with a spike in cable news viewership over all.
Mr. Spicer’s briefings, carried live by the major cable news networks, are pulling
in an average of 4.3 million viewers, according to data from Nielsen.
The soap opera at the White House is outscoring actual soaps like “General Hospital”
and “The Bold and the Beautiful,” which typically air around the same time.