Former Fox News star Megyn Kelly’s nearly $20 million dollar contract with NBC isn’t paying off. Her Sunday night newsmagazine show, Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly, was abruptly cancelled this summer after proving to be a ratings flop.
Since then, viewership numbers have only gotten worse — and critics have begun tearing apart Kelly’s feeble new show.
NBC executives are reportedly in a panic after Kelly’s second attempt — an hour-long segment in the middle of the station’s flagship “Today” morning show — has begun dragging down the ratings for other network shows.
Mainstream media critics have noticed… and their reviews of Kelly are brutal.
“The show premiered on Sept. 25, and its ratings continue to tank. The fallout is so worrisome to the network that other ‘Today’ hosts have begun visiting Kelly’s show as if on a rescue mission, according to the trade publications,” The Washington Post reported.
Thursday, NBC star Hoda Kotb appeared on Kelly’s show — and the appearance was described by Vulture as “22 nearly unbearable seconds.”’
BuzzFeed’s Kate Aurthur said she’d “never been so embarrassed” watching Kelly struggle to entertain —
Hoda was on #MegynKellyToday this morning for no reason other than to fill time and I've never been so embarrassed. pic.twitter.com/wXUatEcPhY
— Kate Aurthur (@KateAurthur) October 19, 2017
“I feel nothing but second-hand embarrassment for Megyn Kelly,” esteemed television critic Ian Miles Cheong said of the forced dancing.
Even bringing in popular NBC co-hosts for awkward dancing segments hasn’t saved Kelly’s ratings.
“According to Nielsen data, the show was down 12% in total viewers in Week 1, slid 24% in Week 2, and fell 23% in Week 3 compared to the same timeslot last fall, co-hosted by Roker and Tamron Hall,” Variety said.
NBC executives were banking on Kelly bringing her Fox News audience with her — but so far, they’ve refused to tune in.
The results are so embarrassing, they’re hard to watch.
— The Horn editorial team