"Megyn Kelly Today" is not off to such a wonderful start

I'd argue there's only one now. He's the sun we're all orbiting around now. Everybody else is boring in comparison.

 

I'd watch a Megan Kelly primetime show if Keith Morrison did all the voice-overs. "Megan will be write back......or will she?" Or maybe have her come in to the set and be surprised by Chris Hansen who tells her to "have a seat right there...."

 

Still not sure why they thought a broad audience would love a FOX News star.

Megyn Kelly was supposed to bring star power to NBC News and a bigger, broader audience of morning viewers to its “Today” show franchise.

Instead, the three-year, $69 million bet to woo Ms. Kelly from her conservative prime-time perch at Fox News is backfiring.

Since taking over the 9 a.m. hour of the lucrative morning show in September and rebranding it “Megyn Kelly Today,” Ms. Kelly has struggled to make the shift to daytime broadcast television, with its delicate balance of soft features and hard news. Her ratings declines and higher production costs have been a drag on a critical franchise for NBC.

“I need to introduce myself to people who don’t know me or know some bastardized version of me that they’ve gotten from a website or a TV show,” Ms. Kelly said in an interview. “There are definitely some who only know me through some caricature they learned about on ‘The Daily Show.’ ”

Some of NBC’s affiliate TV stations are unhappy with the drop in viewers, and staffers on other NBC News shows have been grumbling about Ms. Kelly’s lofty budget. Hollywood publicists started steering their A-list talent away from the program when a feud erupted with Jane Fonda after Ms. Kelly asked the actress on-air about her plastic surgery.

In addition, Ms. Kelly’s Sunday night newsmagazine, which premiered to disappointing ratings last summer, has been reduced to occasional prime-time specials.

NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack’s big bet on Ms. Kelly was a throwback to the golden age of broadcast news when networks routinely awarded so-called star anchors huge contracts, believing the face delivering the news was as important as the news itself.

Today, the landscape of network and cable television is so big that there isn’t one person who necessarily draws the kind of audience to justify that cost, said Marcy McGinnis, a 30-year veteran of CBS News who is now a consultant.

 

Maybe NBC was figuring on an involuntary audience.

 

Ugh.

 

Too bad on NBC for trying to sell Kelly to a broad audience. $69 million is a lot to bet on someone the trumpflakes didn’t like anyway and were not going to watch on NBC. Fox viewers don't change the channel. That’s the beauty of FoxNews. It’s basically a Monopoly on right wing TV. They have great numbers, relative to MSNBC and CNN, because they have no competition. NBC ABC CBS CNN MSNBC are cutting up their section of the pie. And the people who consume non FoxPie don’t want what Kelly is cooking. And without the red meat Kelly was used to serving up at Fox, she’s basically just another line cook.

 

This just shows how different the two stages are, and that Kelly was too quick to, both to change her best stage, and to try to, basically, cash in on her success in her previous position.

She proved herself best during the election season, and both she and audiences struggle with her in another role. It's not that she's bad in her new job. But compared to how she was in her old one, she's not as good, and that's been disappointing. It is what it is, and she stepped out of her best position.

It's too bad that her Sunday news magazine show has been reduced because I think that was probably the closest she can come, and could still probably end up being her best avenue for change, but not too big a change. She'd be good at it, and just needs more time/opportunity to build an audience for it.

 

Bring back Brokaw! [/Francessa]

 

If she could turn her talent for acrimony towards those in power now she’d be good. I dont about $69 million good. But if she treats trump and McConnell like she treated Obama and pelosi it would be worth watching.

Fox went after Clinton and Obama with vitriolic lust. But they are partisan. As opposed to just attacking those in power. If Kelly were able to shed her partisanship and just be ruthless on the right,she would have credibility. And maybe from both sides.

 

She going to make $69M for three years of work (maybe fewer). She never has to work again if she so chooses. I'd say she cashed in at precisely the right time.

 

I agree completely. People would watch, and probably, learn a lot, too. She's a terrific, fearless questioner/reporter, and, as such, infinitely better suited for hard news -- no matter the news, or the side -- than she is for soft morning and news-snippet TV.