UNHAPPY HOUR
Megyn Kelly not getting traction with morning TV’s lighter fare
On Monday, Megyn Kelly opened her morning show by asking her audience if they'd watched the Kentucky Derby, then wondered if they'd heard about the sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Charlie Rose and CBS News.
To discuss that lawsuit, she welcomed her experts, NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk and ... Matt Iseman, host of NBC's “American Ninja Warrior.”
Welcome to “Morning Whiplash with Megyn Kelly,” or as NBC calls it, “Megyn Kelly Today.”
NBC made a three-year, $69 million deal to lure the bombastic host away from Fox News and handed her an hour in its most lucrative franchise.
What can the network show for it?
Nine months since its premiere, Kelly's hour is pulling in about 400,000 fewer viewers than the previous incarnation hosted by Tamron Hall and Al Roker. In the key 25-to-54 demographic, she's down by almost 30 percent, The Wall Street Journal recently noted.
Her ratings slide is bringing down the fourth hour of “Today,” the light-hearted gabfest hosted by Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford.
In the past week, Kelly's hour has skipped from hard-hitting segments on the #MeToo movement to everything from digital dating tips, weight-loss advice and crafty crafts.
It might be typical morning show fare, but Kelly is not a typical host. She's strong on the hard-news segments, not so much with the lighter stuff. She's made the #MeToo movement her pet cause, bringing together accusers and drawing on her experiences at Fox News, which was the first major network to be roiled by the recent wave of sexual harassment scandals.
“I was here for the women at Fox, and I am here for the women at NBC,” she said Monday. Matt Iseman not withstanding, one thing you rarely find on the morning show is a bona fide celebrity.
That just might have to do Kelly's feud with Jane Fonda.
When the “Grace & Frankie” star appeared on her show last fall, Kelly asked her about her plastic surgeries. Fonda was offended and badmouthed Kelly all over the late-night dial. Kelly responded on her hour with the kind of burn-the-forest speech that reportedly had publicists scrambling to book their clients elsewhere. These days Kelly can get a Bear Grylls because he's on the network payroll, but even such house stars as “Will & Grace's” Debra Messing have said they won't go back because of her ham-handed questions.
The woman who memorably challenged then-presidential candidate Donald Trump about his treatment of women and interviewed Vladimir Putin is hosting segments on healthy bagels. Is this really the best use of her skills and experience?
If NBC wants to recoup some of its investment, it needs to push Kelly back into prime time. Her investigative hour “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly” last summer played more to her strengths, but NBC erred by scheduling it against the gold standard, CBS' “60 Minutes.” Who couldn't predict Kelly's show would take a beating?
Last week, talking about those colleagues who chose to defend Tom Brokaw in the wake of charges of inappropriate sexual conduct, Kelly commented, “You don't know what you don't know.”
Here's one thing that's clear: Kelly isn't a morning person.