Bill O'Reilly on the Halloween episode of 'The View'

VIDEO: Bill O'Reilly As Dracula On 'The View' For Halloween

Bill O'Reilly appeared on The Halloween episode of the 'The View'. O'Reilly has been a regular guest on the show, this appearance seems like a calculated move that allowed him to play off his "heel" persona by dressing up the charismatic villain Dracula. The cordial View panelists riffed on how scary O'Reilly was as he maintained his tough guy posture. Bill clumsily teased Whoopi. He reliably asserted his independence by saying he personally liked President Obama.

BARBARA WALTERS Intro: He is the most feared man in cable news, who has those who oppose him quaking in their boots but to us he's a pussy cat. Please Welcome back Bill O'Reilly.

Bill O'Reilly makes entrance as Dracula, Walters makes faux scary gesture to greet him

BILL O'REILLY: I'm afraid to touch anybody. C'mon, what are you kidding? You think you're scaring me. Are you kidding!?
WALTERS: I hear you dress like this [as Dracula] at home all the time.
O'REILLY: I do and I hang from the ceiling. I'm the scariest guy in the world

There was an interesting discussion on the popularity of Fox News and the Obama administration's fear of the network. Bill O'Reilly makes the interesting concession that it is because of CNN's "lack of pizazz".

As Matt Taibbi illustrated in his column 'Keep on Hatin', emotional, personality driven opinion news is a proven ratings winner. It's clear that Fox News hosts the most popular and bombastic pundits in Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly. MSNBC, its closest aesthetic competitor has assembled its own colorful roster of pundits with Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, Joe Scarborough and Ed Schultz. This is the first time I can recall any pundit conceding that it is the theatrical wrestling-style presentation of their news which has led to their success in the ratings.