Bring back the Megyn Kelly of 2016
Megyn Kelly, trying to revive ratings for her new NBC daytime show, danced and tugged audience members onstage with her last week. On Monday, in a powerful and pointed segment, she lambasted her former employer, Fox News, and said the shaming and silencing of sexual harassment victims must stop.
The contrast is a great lesson for Kelly and NBC. She built a brand at Fox News as a toughminded woman and gained worldwide notoriety when she took on then-candidate Donald Trump in a presidential debate.
Trying to dance and laugh her way to ratings is only going to send her to oblivion.
Remember the beginning of Kelly’s question to Trump? She said: “You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals,” and it got tougher from there. She parlayed that fame into a contract with NBC, where since Sept. 25 she has hosted a daily morning show. The ratings have tanked and the critics are brutal.
Kelly was always a bit of a contradiction. At times, she could follow the predictable GOP message of the day. At times, she could be a flirty and vacuous blonde. When Trump agreed to an interview with her in Trump Tower after the debate blowup, she soft-balled the questions, and the whole interview seemed an attempt to placate an angry source.
Kelly was at her best when she was fearless Courtroom Kelly. Before turning to journalism, she had spent 10 years as a lawyer. When former congressman Newt Gingrich accused her of being “fascinated with sex” in response to her questions about Trump’s relationship with women, Courtroom Kelly responded: “Mr. Speaker, I’m not fascinated by sex, but I am fascinated by the protection of women and understanding what we’re getting in the Oval Office, and I think the American voters would like to know.”
NBC had an opportunity to hone Courtroom Kelly into a ratings superstar. Instead, executives have turned her show into an almost comical attempt to imitate daytime talk show host Kelly Ripa. Ripa became a powerhouse because of her great ability to have fun with herself, her co-host and her audience. Sorry, Megyn Kelly, that’s not your brand.
Kelly and NBC are trying to connect her more to Today, the popular morning show. She’s not only dancing, she went camping with her family and showed a video of it. It mostly was disturbing, leaving this viewer to wonder why she was exploiting her kids.
It’s nothing new for networks not to know how to use female talent. The classic case was when NBC decided that Today co-host Jane Pauley was too old and kicked her off the show. Pauley, turning 67 next week, is now the successful host of CBS Sunday Morning.
For Kelly to turn it around, she and NBC need to reboot. Courtroom Kelly needs to be resuscitated. This is a chance for NBC to create a new model for daytime TV. Kelly can be successful only if she creates a show that highlights the brave and powerful warrior of 2016. Otherwise, she’s just like that famous failure of a product of 1985: New Coke.