Names and faces
Megyn Kelly said she left Fox News Channel to bring more joy to her life. NBC hopes that starting Monday, she can spread some to the network and its viewers. The former Fox News Channel star and Donald Trump foil will debut her talk show, nestled into the four-hour
Today show block and competing in most of the country with Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest’s Live! This summer, Kelly hosted a Sunday-night newsmagazine to middling ratings. The daily talk show, in the lucrative morning market, will ultimately determine the wisdom of NBC News’ decision to hire her. Kelly promises that Megyn Kelly
Today, shown live with a studio audience, will be an information-packed hour with a sense of fun. Ellen DeGeneres initiated Kelly into daytime TV this week by having her awkwardly toss pizza dough, stuff herself into a fat suit and dance with the audience. It was a long way from Kelly’s Fox life of pressing the future president at debates, enduring his Twitter taunts and being the ringleader for an hour of politics each weeknight. The Trump trauma wasn’t why she left Fox, Kelly said. The truth, Kelly said, is that she’s not a political junkie and cable television news is all about politics, adding that viewers are looking for a break from coverage of Trump and Washington politics in general. “I don’t want to talk about Trump all day,” she said. “In fact, the bar is very high for Trump coverage” on Megyn Kelly Today. Actor Morgan Freeman is being portrayed as a tool of the U.S. establishment trying to bring down President Donald Trump, as well as a man suffering from a “messianic complex” from movie roles playing God and the president of the United States. The 80-year-old star recorded a two-minute online video for a group hoping to keep alive concerns over Kremlin meddling in the 2016 presidential election. A #StopMorganLie hashtag is circulating aimed at discrediting the actor. In the video’s opening, Freeman declares: “We have been attacked. We are at war.” The video was put out this week by the Committee to Investigate Russia. Founded by Rob Reiner, the director of comedy classics such as This is Spinal Tap and When Harry Met Sally, the group is pushing for a more aggressive acknowledgment of Russian meddling. Morgan’s video sets that tone, referring to President Vladimir Putin as “a former KGB spy” who has “set his sights on his sworn enemy, the United States.” Russian government officials hit back immediately at the video this week, fixing their cross hairs specifically on Morgan. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Freeman’s comments “can hardly be taken seriously” and arguing the actor was “a victim of emotionally charged, self-exalted status.”