There has come this tradition in our house that is severely different than the days of my childhood. When I was a kid we would spend our evenings as a family around the dinner table, then we kids would usually get our baths taken, teeth brushed and head off to bed, and Mom and Dad would watch the ten o'clock local news.

Yes I grew up in the "weird" time zone that did things at odd hours. Prime time started at 7pm instead of 8. And the nightly news casts were 10pm instead of 11pm.

I haven't watched late local news in - gosh I have no idea how long. But several years ago probably close to six or seven - I started watching one newscast almost every night.

In recent years the Friday edition of 'Special Report w/ Brit Hume' would be hosted by someone else, and I would sometimes have to change the channel. If it didn't have Brit - it just wasn't Special Report.

Hume's legacy as a broadcaster is legendary. Formerly with ABC he hassled the Clintons prior to impeachment, then left to become the main on-air heavy with a then start-up operation called FoxNews.That was 12 years ago.

For the last seven - he has so dominated his time-slot - the ratings race for his hour has been a joke.

But at the end of 2008. Brit...

Will be...

Gone...

There is something settling about Brit. Perhaps the most fair of all the legit news anchors on television. His ability to ask the most pointed of pointed questions, and to regularly expose poor thinking has been his signature. He also knew how to smile, he could laugh at himself, as easily as the final feature each night on his show...

Then there were the award winning panel discussions that literally are the smartest two five minutes segments in television - every single night. Not a night goes by you don't learn something. And that's probably because you don't typically see truly devout liberals and conservatives all sitting together on a panel - making points, instead of just starting a shouting match. (One of the many reasons I had to turn off Hannity and Colmes years ago.)

There is no doubt that the death of his good friend Tony Snow has to be unsettling to him and at 65 he may be asking himself - why keep pushing so hard?

Unlike the Brokaw's and Rather's of the world you didn't have to wonder if Brit was shading the facts, not reporting the truth, his integrity - as testified to by nearly everyone in the business is legendary.

I am truly saddened to hear of Brit's pending departure, none of the pinch hitters that currently fill in for him on Fridays are one-tenth as compelling to watch. In fact the only one on Fox that I would give a snowball's recognition to after Brit's departure would be someone like John Gibson - but he appears to have been kicked to the curb as well.

Fox is entering some deep trouble. For all the large-bosomed, silky legged, blondes they've put up on the screen, they have or are in the process of losing interesting, talented, cagey professionals. Gibson didn't need to be paired with Heather Nauert  and Nauert all by herself has struggled a bit this week. As did Ingraham before her.

Brit and Gibby both have smarts, life, and at times and when necessary a little subtle cocky something extra that would keep the viewer wondering what was next.

So likely - whatever the change FoxNews puts in place at 6pm starting in January, I'm pretty sure my daily dose of don't miss news... is done.

Too bad!