NBC’s Megyn Kelly Gets BAD NEWS for her Show
Megyn Kelly should be soul-searching right about now.
Her Sunday night newsmagazine show on NBC is ending its summer run after eight episodes, two short of the ten they planned. On Sunday Night, Kelly said,
“That’s all for tonight, and for the summer run of this program. “But soon, I’ll be seeing you in the mornings! I’ll be on at 9 a.m., right after Matt and Savannah — on our new show, ‘Megyn Kelly Today,’ starting on September 25th.”
Not a good omen, given expectations for the Sunday show.
Kelly was supposed to knock them dead on Sunday night, and have a new, fresh, “better” audience primed and ready for her new show. However, her Sunday show went over like Rosie O’Donnell in a two-piece swimsuit.
Kelly added to her comments on Sunday,
And I’ll be back right here Sunday nights in the spring. We are so grateful to you for watching. I’m Megyn Kelly. For all of us here at NBC News … goodnight.”
Are you sure about that, Megyn?
The website markets the show as follows:
Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly is a primetime news magazine featuring the full power of NBC News. Sunday Night is sharp, strong journalism, focused on in-depth investigations, newsmaker interviews and stories of adversity, accomplishment, inspiration and adventure. Anchor Megyn Kelly is joined by a wealth of award-winning journalists from NBC News, including Josh Mankiewicz, Cynthia McFadden, Craig Melvin, Keith Morrison, Harry Smith, Kate Snow and Jacob Soboroff to report the stories of our time.
Exactly who are those other people? Unless you are a news wonk, none of those other names have cache. Kelly would have done better to say The Rock will appear in cameos from time to time. Shirtless, of course.
The show had an auspicious beginning, as “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly” delivered 6.2 million viewers with its debut on June 4 featuring an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, it didn’t take long for the real trend to happen. Viewership dropped to 3.51 million viewers on the last night, it’s best total audience since a June 18 episode featuring Alex Jones.
Kelly could turn things around, once she defines who she is.
Her stint at FOX News cloaked what viewers discovered to be the real Megyn Kelly–Leftist feminist. If Kelly embraces this, she may find the Left-leaning audience of NBC ingratiating. However, if she sets that strategy, she will certainly not get her FOX News audience back.
According to The Hill,
The network had announced before Kelly’s Sunday program debuted in early June that it would be go off the air until the spring to make way for the top-rated “Sunday Night Football” after Labor Day.
Kelly’s newsmagazine is slated to return after the NFL season and NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics.
The former Fox News star will now turn her attention to “Megyn Kelly Today,” which is set to debut on Sept. 25 at 9 a.m. ET.
The program replaces “Today’s Take,” hosted by Al Roker and Tamron Hall, which regularly won its time slot against ABC and CBS.
Typically NBC could depend on the NFL to help with ratings, and that will hold true this year again. However, the NFL suffers from a ratings slump as well, and Kelly likely can’t expect the boost she may have received in the past.
I wrote of the NFL’s problems a while back.
Most sports have succumbed to political correctness.
Almost all American businesses do this now, as PC is the norm. Sport and high-tech were immune in the past, but only high-tech remains impervious to a degree.
The article continues,
“…some fans now take a jaundiced view of the owners, and particularly the commissioner, Roger Goodell, who speaks for them.
Mike Carr, a Cleveland Browns fan who drove 15 hours from Michigan to watch the draft, seemed to sum up that outlook. Carr wore a T-shirt that said “Johnny Rehab,” a nod to Johnny Manziel, the troubled quarterback drafted by the Browns in 2014. Before the draft began, Carr said he had made the trip in the hope that he could watch the Browns acquire Myles Garrett, the defensive end from Texas A&M, as the No. 1 overall pick, which they ultimately did.
“But I’m mostly really looking forward to booing Goodell,” he said.
Carr was not alone, based on the deafening boos from fans that greeted Goodell every time he took the stage.
As for Kelly, weekdays will prove difficult.
For thing, the audience is very different from Kelly’s evening primetime slot.
While at FOX News, Kelly road the wave of a contentious presidential primary that supposedly brought an 8 percent jump to primetime viewership. As I mentioned earlier, Kelly will not bring those viewers to NBC. In fact, not even close.
Kelly is said to have turned down $25 million a year at FOX News. Sources put her salary at NBC at $17 million. It must be nice to be able to afford a $8 million pay cut. Only time will tell on which decision was best. One thing is for sure; neither decision hurt financially.
