Glenn Beck stepped down from his Fox News show on Thursday after two and a half tumultuous, controversial years at the network. 
 
 He kept the chalkboards to a minimum, and shed no tears. He also shied away from too many specific recollections about his show. Instead, he broadly reminisced about what he said he had learned from the experience, repeatedly praised Fox News for allowing his show to air and professed his excitement for his next step: the Web TV channel known as "GBTV." 
 
 Beck said that the reason for his departure from Fox News was simple: there was more that he wanted to do. The show, he said, was really a movement "that belongs in your home. It belongs in your neighborhoods. Not really television." He repeatedly directed viewers to his website, where the next chapter of his professional life will be centered. 
 
 The show featured many of the things that made Beck famous—long monologues, high emotion, mentions of God and Hitler—but, in some ways, was hardly representative of the show that made him, for a few years at least, a cultural icon and a lightning rod. 
 
 Beck's impassioned, grandiose, often inflammatory style and his embrace of the Tea Party movement sent his notoriety skyrocketing, and made him the most polarizing personality on an already-polarizing network. He drew high ratings (even when his show's popularity fell, it was still the fourth most watched cable news program) and a large following; his rally on the Washington Mall in 2010 was evidence of his ability to move masses. 
 
 However, Beck often drew equally heated criticism for his highly controversial comments and elaborate, chalkboard-laden explanations of the world. Most famously, he called President Obama a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred of white people," accused liberal billionaire George Soros of being at the center of a destructive global order, and warned that the so-called "Arab Spring" would lead to a new Islamic caliphate. 
 
 Scroll down for a recap of Beck's farewell show. 
 
 Beck and Fox News each benefited from their relationship—his popularity, and its ratings, both grew. But, as the criticism of Beck increased—and as an aggressive campaign caused up to 400 advertisers to drop their support of his show—both sides grew weary. Tensions between Beck's camp and Fox News spilled out in public, and the two groups eventually decided to sever their ties. 
 
 Now, Beck is setting out on his own, like so many of his media peers these days. He will be starting his own Web TV channel called GBTV. On his Thursday radio show, Beck said that he would immediately launch the channel following the end of his Fox News show. 
 
 "I'm so sick and tired of being in the system," he said. "I’m not going to play the game anymore.” It remains to be seen how successful Beck's new venture will be. With the vast majority of his income coming from outside Fox News, though, and with a growing media empire, he is more well-positioned than most. ||||| While the first three quarters of Glenn Beck’s last show on Fox News was all about the past (with a brief detour to take shots at Jon Stewart for some reason), he eventually began talking about the future. He talked about a new venture to be revealed later tonight entitled Mercury One (presumably the charity program we first heard about here) and explained why he would choose to leave Fox News, the “best platform” around. 
 
 Here was his thought process for moving on: 
 
 “So I’m standing there overlooking the city and I’m overcome with the feeling, ‘If you don’t leave now, you will never leave with your soul.’ As a guy who’s traded my soul before, I will not trade it again. Never want anything to much. Never. It will destroy you. It all comes down to this; I learned the hard way who I was. We as a country now have a chance to learn who we are, what we’re capable of, and what we truly believe before we’re forced to learn the hard way. Now is the time to be part of the solution.” 
 
 In the very last seconds though, he went back to reflecting on the show ending and, more importantly, the people who made it possible. Beck thanked the crew of his show by showing their names on air in the most fitting way possible; he wrote them on a chalkboard. 
 
 Watch the clip from Fox News below:
– Glenn Beck is no more on Fox News: He signed off from his show for the final time today. "He kept the chalkboards to a minimum, and shed no tears," writes Jack Mirkinson at the Huffington Post. "He also shied away from too many specific recollections about his show." Beck, though, made sure to remind folks he's not leaving the public stage, notes the Washington Post. “For those members of media who are celebrating ... you will pray for the time I was only on the air for one hour a day," he said. His next big venture is a subscription webcast at GBTV.com, and he also recently launched his own book imprint. His thoughts today on leaving, as recounted by Mediaite: "As a guy who has traded my soul before, I will not trade it again. ... I learned the hard way who I was. We as a country now have a chance to learn who we are, what we’re capable of, and what we truly believe before we’re forced to learn the hard way. Now is the time to be part of the solution.”