Subscribe
Hellobeautiful Featured Video
CLOSE
Today - Season 66

Source: NBC / Getty

Things got off to a rocky start for NBC’s new talk show host Megyn Kelly.

According to Shadow And Act, the debut of “Megyn Kelly Today” on Monday drew 2.93 million viewers—down compared to the network’s same timeslot last year that Tamron Hall and Al Roker hosted.

The news outlet said ratings were down 4 percent for Kelly’s show in the overall audience category, and down 11 percent in the news demo. In the all-important female news-demo category, Kelly had a 15 percent drop compared to Hall and Roker.

That’s a problem that has kept network executives awake at night.

READ MORE:  Regret Grows At NBC For Pushing Tamron Hall Out The Door

In August, the executives were reportedly in “total panic” over fear that people of color, women and younger audiences will have no interest in watching Kelly’s morning show. They displaced Hall to bring the former Fox News star to its morning show audience. The problem is that Kelly was adept at debating political issues at Fox, which tended to draw a large conservative older White male audience. However, she lacks the right stuff for daytime viewers.

“The problem is that Kelly, for all her forced bonhomie, is more chilly than chill,” Time said in its analysis of Kelly’s debut performance.

READ MORE: Wayment! Are Tamron Hall And Al Roker Out At The ‘Today Show’ To Make Room For Megyn Kelly?

She’s great at verbal takedowns of her guests—a skill that enabled her to succeed as the host of a current affairs program. But Kelly came across as “awkward” when she tried to use slang in her language to tone down her edge, Time observed.

Other outlets have had similar takes on Kelly’s debut.

The Washington Post wrote: “The debut was like watching a network try to assemble its own Bride of Frankenstein, using parts of Ellen DeGeneres, Kelly Ripa and whatever else it can find.’

Welp!

The New Yorker said: “Quipping about her new schedule, Kelly told us what, after the first few minutes of this début, we had already discerned: that she isn’t, naturally, a morning person.”

Ouch!

And then there was her run-in with iconic actress Jane Fonda on Wednesday when Kelly asked her about her plastic surgery:

(If looks could kill! LOL)

We suspect that Tamron is chilling somewhere like this:

 

As we previously reported, Tamron is bouncing back with her very own talk show for daytime TV.

Six months after leaving NBC and MSNC, Tamron is leveling up. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the news anchor is teaming up with The Weinstein Company for her very own talk show.

Tamron will cover everything from current events and hard news to human-interest stories on the currently untitled show. She’ll also be sitting down with celebrities and newsmakers for interviews on the daily program.

RELATED NEWS:

NBC Reportedly In A ‘Panic’ Over Pushing Tamron Hall Out For Megyn Kelly

She’s Back! Tamron Hall Is Getting A Talk Show

Why Tamron Hall Left NBC: ‘She Wasn’t Going To Settle For Sitting On The Sidelines’

RED CARPET RUNDOWN: Stars Stepped Out In Style For The NBC Upfronts
2017 NBCUniversal Upfront
10 photos

Megyn Kelly’s ‘TODAY’ Debut Bombs, Fewer Viewers Compared To When Tamron Hall And Al Roker Hosted  was originally published on newsone.com

For 2024’s iteration of MadameNoire and HelloBeautiful’s annual series Women to Know, we knew we wanted to celebrate the people who help make the joys of film and television possible. To create art is to create magic. This year, we spotlight Hollywood Executive’s changing the face of cinema.