Will Megyn nab ‘Today’ job?
NBC talent is in a frenzy that Megyn Kelly is being groomed to eventually take over Savan
nah Guthrie’s role at the “Today” show” after NBC News boss Andy Lack stunned everyone this week by signing her.
Multiple sources told Page Six the talk at 30 Rock yesterday was that Kelly could take the top job at “Today.” “There is a rumor on set that Megyn would eventually get the lead anchor role on ‘Today,’ pushing Savannah out,” an insider said.
Kelly had been in talks with rivals ABC and CNN, but opted for NBC after she was promised a daytime slot and a Sunday night show.
But “the 9 a.m. hour of ‘Today’ is likely not her goal. She is angling for something else,” an in- sider told us of the gossip around 30 Rock.
But a high-level NBC source countered that Guthrie, who is on maternity leave, just signed a five-year deal with “Today.” “We just signed Savannah to a massive deal that is longer than Megyn’s. A lead anchor role at ‘Today’ isn’t part of the conversation for Megyn. The goal was simply to get someone of Megyn’s talent and caliber through the door at NBC. We have not made a decision on her daytime slot. It is being discussed.”
Kelly had also been aggressively courted by ABC, with insiders saying there were talks about pushing Robin Roberts out in order to make her lead anchor with Michael Strahan on “Good Morning America.” And despite meeting with her multiple times, an ABC rep told us of the “GMA” offer: “As much as we appreciate and admire Megyn Kelly’s talents, this is simply not true. There was never an offer of any job.”
Several sources insist NBC rushed to hire Kelly because she was in talks with ABC and they wanted to prevent her from signing with “GMA.”
“NBC execs are scrambling to find a spot for Megyn because Lack desperately wanted to beat his rivals,” one insider said. “This is a new morning show war and Megyn was the big prize.”
A “Today” rep said, “No, Megyn is not being ‘groomed’; the senior leadership of NBC News expects to be long-retired and sleeping in while Savannah is still rising early and anchoring Today.”