No, trust me, it's still farce.
2
The crowd looks Lily White ...doesn't it ???
Orange, NJ
9
Sorry, Batya, this is just the latest in a long career bejeweled with sellout moments.
Somehow you forgot that the woman who opened the first republican debate with a startling fusillade at Trump’s flagrant misogyny interviewed the man one-on-one a few months later and lobbed softballs while passing on any of the issues she raised at the debate.
She’s “rather done with politics?” That is sort of like the arsonist walking away from the burning house muttering “I’m rather done with gasoline cans.”
10
Megyn Kelly destroyed her career with one obnoxious over the top attack on Trump with a speech disguised as a question which she thought would be the knock out blow to his career. I am sure she spent hours preparing that attack, anticipating every angle. every retort. The only angle she failed to anticipate was that she alienated most of America with her naked attack. Now her career is over.
4
The issue isn't whether Megan Kelly can "do fluff" - anyone who works at Fox excels in this category. The issue is that she can't do likable. Just because you're blonde & pretty doesn't automatically translate into likability. And just because she stood up to DJT a few times, does not excuse her awful right-wing- pseudo- journo-fearmongering-hate-baiting-mean-girl past.
9
If Megan Kelly is so smart, so courageous, so quick, how did she allow NBC to destroy her brand and turn her into another variation of vanilla? Could it be that she was seduced by the power of being on a mainstream network and collecting a handsome salary to boot? It seems her only concern now is ratings. Frankly, she wasn't that impressive when she was on Fox. She was just better than most of the sorry "journalists" who tow the Murdoch line.
5
The author of this article - and several commentators - appear to be pushing an altered version of the infamous Megyn Kelly comment. I believe the statement was "Jesus was a white man . . . as is Santa, I just wanted the kids to know that."
Even though she eventually did backtrack on the Jesus part, after overwhelming ridicule, I find it difficult to understand after this howler why anyone still considered her a credible person of substance or continued to follow her.
This should be the statement for which she is remembered and the video mandatory viewing in all journalism courses.
13
"Why was Megyn Kelly’s transition into the mainstream accompanied by this kind of neutering? "
Why did she allow it?
6
Never particularly liked or disliked her. She, like many, promotes herself above the content. Tragedy is reserved for heroics.
5
Anyone tired of the lovely, bright, but ridiculously predictable morning ladies, stay up late and catch Rachel Maddow on MSMBC. She's far more insightful and definitely Make Over Proof!
11
Ms. Kelly did a lot to divide America while at FOX News. No second acts until she reflects on her part. I hope she fails.
That goes double for you, Sean Spicer!
8
I was completely unfamiliar with Megyn Kelly prior to her appearance as "moderator" at the first Republican nomination debate (I refuse to watch Fox News because of its intense bias just as I refuse to watch CNBC for the same reason). However, I think Kelly performed horribly at the debate for the same reasons that the author of this article thinks she did so well. Kelly was supposed to be a moderator at the debate, not an interviewer, and certainly not one of the debaters. But she failed n her role and instead made herself one of the debaters. She did so out of her hostility toward Trump. But in an odd way, I think she propelled Trump's candidacy by creating a sympathy for him due to her unfairness of wrongfully debating him. As a result of wrongful behavior, I returned immediately to never watching Megyn Kelly again.
2
This liberal occasionally switched to Fox to see what Kelly was saying during the campaign. She struck me as a person who might, at times, break out of the Fox message mold to speak her own mind. I was pleased to see her risk her career to do the right thing in helping to oust the misogynist bullies at Fox. BUT, for too long she was an enabler of the Fox system of propaganda that has brought us to the era of Trump. For that she deserves not a multi million dollar soft ball make over with NBC. She should be writing a mea culpa memoir and donating the proceeds to Puerto Rico!
5
Ms. Kelly seems to have been a right-wing hit girl (I'm saying 'girl' on purpose because she obviously used looks and sex to promote her brand) when it paid. When it paid to be a Roger Ailes supporter, she was a Roger Ailes supporter "he always had my back". And when at last it paid to play the victim card, she went for that as well. Not illegal, just highly exploitative. She's not alone.
Having said that, I liked when she stood up to Trump the one time she did it.
Shows a little guts, shows marketable characteristics.
But surely there are other people men and women out there who deserve a do-over more than she does.
15
I can't name a TV talking head who I would take advice from or pay more than scant attention to when they are doing their jobs. They all submit to the corporate groupthink that pays them. It's a tautology that you only get the job if you can do the job, and the job is to be a tool. Every one of these made up jokers has sold their soul for an extremely rare and hard to get TV personality gig. They convince the show owners of their skill at deception and appeal generation and bingo they are hired and stars are born. It's sick that Americans bother to watch them. Kelly? Yeah her too.
11
I don't miss any of her.
14
I remember when she pronounced that Santa was white. I remember how that felt. I remember how she was a shill for the right and helped belittle and offend people. I am delighted that she is a flop. I hope she remembers how this feels...
19
It seems to me that there is a pattern here. Successful women broadcasters often move away from their home networks and their new home tries to remake them into someone else. I remember my disappointment with the new Barbara Walters. Jane Pauley met with a similar fate. Now it's Megyn seeing if you can put lipstick on a rattlesnake.
Some women have survived the challenge. Dianne Sawyer kept her personality, for example. Here's hoping Megyn gets back her rattle.
7
I think it would be great if Ms. Kelly was on a major non-Fox network and drew an audience of women from red state households and the like. Given her smarts and her refusal, while at Fox, to kow-tow to Trump and ilk, that can only be a good thing. But she can only do that by being a conservative. Taking her politics away, even if they've migrated more to the center, is taking the life out of her. At the least, allow her to ask tough questions of her guests. And no, I do NOT consider asking Jane Fonda about her plastic surgery to be the right kind of tough question.
8
eh. 9AM comes and I switch over to Stephanie Ruhle on MSNBC. She don't suffer no fools.
19
This "journalist" insisted on television that an imaginary character has to be white. Nothing else about her needs to be said.
17
Megyn Stepford Host
13
“You like me, you really like me!” No, not really.
8
Give me a break. "A cautionary tale to all women."
Megyn Kelly, whom I watched several times on Fox, was a fraud from beginning to end. She had this "I'm going to outtough all the tough men"--O'Reilly, Hannity, etc.--demeanor, adopting a style of speaking that made one think she should go back to the Connecticut Style of Broadcasting for a refresher course. She knew exactly what take on any given issue and what buttons to push would help make herself a star in the Fox firmament and land her a big contract on a rival network.
I don't pretend to know about Megyn Kelly and NBC and what is involved in what is turning out to be Ms. Kelly's disastrous NBC makeover. As the columnist, however, I too see a "cautionary tale." That is, a cautionary tale to see columns such as this one for what it is: The voice of a "liberal" who embraced Megyn Kelly as long as Ms. Kelly echoed anti-Trump, anti-GOP, anti-conservative positions. But now that Ms. Kelly at NBC is no longer acting as the columnist's heroine on that score, one who will trot out the woman card and treat us to a sermon that is designed to have us shed tears for what supposedly has taken place with poor Megan Kelly.
7
Thanks for the article. I will be sure to miss her program.
6
Did anyone from the Times ask Megyn Kelly what she wanted? Maybe she didn't want to do a politics show and is actually making the show she wants to make.
7
David - She wanted to make $23 million per year.
20
I enjoyed watching Megyn Kelly's shows when she was a star at Fox TV. She belongs to Fox TV and she does not fit in with NBC. Her NBC shows probably is the beginning of an end of her TV career. I hope I am wrong but I send my best wishes to her. She made the wrong decision to accept NBC's offer.
6
BATYA UNGAR-SARGON misses the old MK. You too. I don't. What's to miss about a FOX news person whose journalism isn't transparent, nor factual nor impartial and follows a political agenda of an extreme right wing agenda. She benefited from Ailes bleach-blonde-babes formula, using his expertise (which can't be denied though it suborns real journalism) as a launching pad for her career AWAY FROM FOX. Lots have used FOX as a launching pad for their careers in OTHER NEWS MEDIA. She made the right decision since she really isn't into news or journalist but is in to her career as a teleprompter reader.
I don't fault her for what she is, I do fault her drooling supplicants, corporate leaders and otherwise, for trying to make her appear to be the the savvy journalist that she isn't. She's savvy. She just isn't a journalist!!!!!!!!
9
"...the woman who was once willing to give up the support of her conservative audience to speak truth to power."
Well, what a bunch of tripe that is. Megyn Kelly has been as shallow as the spelling of her name. She is a self-important pseudo-celebrity, who has always made herself the center of any story she has ever reported. The idea that she'd go from the fakery of Fox to the inanity of morning talk isn't any kind of a surprise. In fact, the two things really aren't all that different.
Kelly was always lionize far beyond her actual achievements or accomplishments. She played the debates and the obvious gotcha questioning of Trump to increase her own brand. It was all marketing.
The fact that she can't seem to pull off fluff is pretty funny, because fluff is all she's been doing all along.
17
Ok-Although I am not a Megan Kelly fan, I need to inform you that you are woefully misinformed about the definition of a "gotcha" question. Unlike what Palin often implied, a gotcha question is not merely a tough question. A gotcha question is one where it is designed to make the interviewee unfairly look bad, no matter what. The classic example of this is "When did you stop beating your wife?"- Neither Kelly, nor anyone in the media tried to pass this trickery off on Trump. She merely quoted his own words and actions and asked him to respond to them. If that is a gotcha question in your world, you are not qualified to be reading the NYT bc you lack critical thinking skills.
1
It seems a number of posters are upset that Kelly has violated some sort of journalistic credo, but she never was a journalist. She was a lawyer and brought courtroom skills to argue on behalf of whoever was paying her fee. That is the antithesis of journalism and to expect anything else from her is unfair. She really belongs on one of those "Judge Judy"-type shows.
12
lol, that's a great idea. Judge Kelly.
5
The last thing we need on TV is another bubbly, gleeful, happy-talking blond. Kelly went for the money, and lost her audience.
10
And worst of all, Kelly's move to NBC precipitated Tamron Hall to leave. I'm still bummed about that.
12
Me, too. Tamron was sincere.
6
Yes. The secret to success is sincerity, once you learn to fake that you have it made.
3
Why is this in the NY Times? Who cares? NBC made a business decision. Maybe it will work out, maybe it won't. This focus on celebrity is what enables the age of Trump.
17
She spent years as one of the most smug personas on tv, a little schadenfreude is not entirely unwarranted.
15
Schadenfreude is not journalism.
3
Kelly should, in fact, be only a memory.
5
I’d rather watch someone with something interesting to say or one who has better interview skills. Why do male TV execs think women care about the trite nonsense they try to serve up to viewers? As a different TV personality would say “how’s that working out for you” in the ratings department?
9
I'm a conservative and have always loved Megyn Kelly. A straight shooter. I am sure she just got tired of all that comes with being a confrontational personality. She did her part and moved the ball forward, it's perfectly fine for her to make this shift without it taking away from the work she did at Fox.
1
Megyn Kelly is an excellent journalist--eloquent and articulate just like all FOX anchors. CNN, MSNBC, CNBC--none are comparable to Kelly.
I will not be a party to normalizing her. We know who she is already. She spent more than a decade establishing that.
8
MS. BORING!! I no longer can watch Megyn. I never watched Fox news but a few times. However, when I did, I enjoyed her go get em attitude. She just doesn't come across as a social butterfly, sympathetic, or what I had expected on the Today show. I have tried to watch her and I yawn. She comes across as one person on TV but after the camera is gone, I believe her personality is much different person that just wants the spotlight. She lost her touch and I am so bored and can't watch her over a minute. Yawn....sleepy...
2
She has fallen into the pit between left and right. Neither side wants to watch. Those of us in the middle don't really care about another Kelly Ripa. Perhaps
NBC will make some money as will Ms Kelly. But it won't be because my eyeballs watched it.
3
Why do you assume NBC is at fault? Could be she wanted to get away from politics and social issues. Which is a shame, I agree.
1
Look again....Those stretched palms with ugly fingers, every two minutes, say what? NBC is mesmerized by them digits!
1
I honestly don't care about the old or new M. Kelly.
Looks like she's trying to be the next Great White Oprah.
Now all that's needed is gifts for the audience members. A good start would be envelopes with $100 bills under their seats. She'll be a hit in no time flat.
4
I miss the old Megyn Kelly too. I thought I saw in the bigotry she showed on Fox the hand of scripting, whereas the interrogations were more spontaneous and reasonable. She could be personable as well, as in interviewing Michael Moore.
I have hopes that she will make a transition to a true journalist, albeit opinionated in any way she saw fit.
I hope that the stint on Today will be brief, but perhaps a ncessary itransition to swinging back around to public affairs as herself (in a sort of parallel way with Stephen Colbert). For starters, she could be a great host on Meet the Press and could spend the rest of her time in an MSNBC slot--would make me watch.
Megyn Kelly is now officially....boring.
2
How much more obvious can it be that they're stealing from the Oprah Playbook. Michelle qua Malania.
1
Not only is Santa white, according to Kelly, but also white is Jesus. Yes, she said that of the Middle Eastern Jew who became "the Christ."
6
What made NBC think she could do this?
4
She is just terrible!
6
NBC's "makeover of Megyn" is eerily reminiscent of old Hollywood when the movie studios would dump a lot of money into pretty faces and have them stand in the corner to look glamorous. I thought we were past that..?
Anyway- Megyn is a fish out of water at NBC. When this gig fails, I expect to see her selling junk on the Home Shopping Network. There she can spout her Republican dogma and sell rhinestone oven mitts at the same time. It's a win win!
6
Hee—a shoping network would be perfect for her. I wouldn’t trust a darn thing she was trying to shill, though.
2
Oh look, an article where one woman criticizes another woman's professional and fashion choices! Exactly what we need, am I right? While the piece is couched in some message about likability vs. professional mobility, it's really just a diss track about how much the author doesn't like Megyn, for reasons both petty and significant. (I fully concede that many moments in her Fox career are kind of bizarre, especially the white santa thing)
"She's unlikable" is just you passively broadcasting that YOU don't like her. I find this article unlikable!
5
“Have a laugh with us, a smile, sometimes a tear, and maybe a little hope to start your day,” she said.
This reminds me of Chuckles the Clown: "A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down the pants."
Probably not the image she was going for.
16
I laughed.....I cried... I fell into my soup.
The next Oprah she is most definitely not. Another vapid daytime talk show. Yawn.
7
Never a Fox viewer but I was interested in watching smart Megan Kelly on her new gig. Watched all her Sunday summer shows but wasn't much impressed. Watched her first 9 AM Today show and found it forced and fake-y. I've seen bits & pieces since, but have no interest in watching more. Seems like an ill fit. I know she says this version is closer to her real self, but she doesn't seem genuine at all.
5
At this point, I'm not really sure who Megyn Kelly is, but she sure is pretty. It appears that NBC thinks that's all that matters.
7
I liked Tamron Hall and thought it was sad that her contract was not renewed. This looks like racism to me. The network wanted a beautiful, blond anchor because they didn't trust their content to drive viewers. They decided that their viewership would increase with Megyn Kelly. It looks like a bad assumption.
7
Megyn Kelly has painted herself into a corner: conservatives hate her because she had the temerity to go after Trump and she left beloved Fox News; progressives won’t watch her because she emits, and will always emit, the stench of Fox News. She has no real audience. She (or NBC) can reinvent what Megyn Kelly represents all they like: it won’t work. She’s toast.
31
Where is the real Megan Kelly ? And would we really know her if she showed up ?
6
Ms. Kelly retains her unlikability. Now she adds an element of duplicitousness.
26
Boring. Trite. Sellout. Looks like she's had a frontal lobotomy compared to her old bold, quickwitted self.
Yes - all that - but it is her free choice to be on that show, just like it's our free choice to never, ever, ever watch it.
15
I hope to make a statement that transcends, or is apart from, politics.
"The world is full of obnoxious people. Why do we need to celebrate them, male or female? Megan Kelly is yet another media 'poisonality' who ought to be dropped into the dustbin of history."
8
I fully agree. Kelly is a wasted talent. She was excellent at Fox, she is an embarrassing lightweight in network TV. She gave up primetime for the myth of
network TV. The silver lining is that she will be among the TV personalities who will interview presidential candidates at the next debate. I think this is her long game. But I would like her back at Fox.
6
i completely agree with this. I miss the old Megyn Kelly.
5
The woman has always been more of a performer than a journalist. Her house has ever been built on sand. She displays all of the integrity of a feral dog.
9
I rarely watch Cable News anchors b/c you can learn much more in a few minutes on the internet. The discussion is almost always superficial and unsophisticated and focus on politics or personalities rather than policy, as most media does. I knew who she was, saw a moment or so here or there, particularly during the election year, thought the whining about Trump's comment on her "bleeding," if that is what he meant (probably) was the usual false outrage over a stupid comment. I did think she was beautiful, of course, which you are not supposed to say in our hyper-sensitive phony bologna world, but, the idea that it had nothing to do with why she was hired or succeeded is ludicrous. Fox (and to some extent most Cable News) hired/s women for their looks. It doesn't mean they aren't also talented, but women's appearance matters on tv, with few exceptions.
I'm definitely not going to watch her new show. I just can't stomach shows like that and hate when I'm a captured audience. Just comparing her to Kelly Ripa is enough to turn me off forever (KR is my nemesis ever since I saw do a runway strut and talk baby talk to one of her shoes).
Would that I could ban all of those shows.
5
Catty.
2
She spent quite a long time as a paid FoxNews liar helping create the divided country we live in today. Shame on her. I will never watch her.
42
If you never watched her and never will, how is your opinion relevant? If you want to have a discussion that’s fine, but don’t let your partisanship make you so closed minded that you can’t even hear what other people say . . . It’s truly disheartening.
3
She's expressing her opinion. Just like you did. Chill.
1
@John R - What word or words in Amelie's post supports your statement that she "never watched her?"
1
Megyn - just keep dressing as you do...Only a matter of time before you're back...
Recall - it got you in with Vlad and Donald...
Last I recall - Brokaw hadn't copped a chitchat with either one of these Dear Supreme Leaders, in the past fifteen years...
..........................
Three sorts of ways three types of working women dress, working in the (not their) mid-fifties...
1. Women Lawyers
2. (women) Executive Admins
3. Working Women
...all pretty - in multiple senses of the word - much the same
In the meantime, take a cue from Oprah - give away some Priuses to everyone in the audience, one day next week...
You're a force of nature...
BTW, Batya...
1. It's mincemeat - one word...
2. If a man suggested that the glass desk - and hope for something upskirt - were obligatory...That man would've been Weinsteined...
If you can't find "Weinsteined" in your on-line dictionary...Just wait 2-3 weeks...
Or just tune in to a live Elizabeth Warren presser...
1
Looks like Godzilla morphing into a swan. Maybe in a cartoon, but real life ...eh...got any other ideas?
2
Looks like once the training wheels came she was as shallow and unlike able as we thought she was, because when you have to force yourself to be nice that’s a yuuuge red flag. Kelly showed her true colors, it was all about the $23 million.
10
We all know too much about what Megyn Kelly really thinks to be fooled by this thing she is now.
17
She was never a journalist. Anyone who states unabashedly that Jesus and Santa are both white, is not a journalist.
31
Santa is a legend. The legend states he lives at one of the Poles. At the Poles even bears are white because of the climate. Jesus was a white-Jew/Arab according to legend. He was neither African, nor German, nor Chinese. To make a fuss of these things is silly.
1
You are being sarcastic right? White Jew Arab? #FFS
Neither is Kelly RIpa, Jane Pauley, and Oprah (I really don't know what SHE is), nor Phil Donahue, Kathie Lee GIfford. . .nothing that happens after 9am on TV is news.
The problem is, she was really good at covering and interviewing political operators, so when she declared that she was done with politics, she turned away from her greatest strength. No one wants to see the same person that used to tear apart politicians talk about high wasted pants, it's pathetic. There's already enough vapid day time talk show competition out there without her baggage.
16
At least she's not lawyering.
7
You could read that hour instead of watching her show, you know...
16
"Megyn Kelly was still an uncompromising, unapologetic, take-no-prisoners Fox News rebel" who WOULDN'T let facts lead her away from FOX Fake News and was about as interesting as a heavily made over Barbie Doll with bleach-bad blonde hair yet was able to make her bosses and those bosses in the wings salivating over her that she was "an uncompromising, unapologetic, take-no-prisoners."
8
Thank heavens there's always Rachel Maddow.
24
Wrongly put, Stu. Thank heavens there is Rachel Maddow. Period.
5
Why does she have to change? What is wrong with sharp, witty and intelligent? If I watched television, I would prefer to see authenticity in a host while listening to stimulating conversation on various timely topics. Something Megan exuded the few times I watched her over the past few years.
Evidently the NBC executives want a pretty face spouting banality rather than a female challenge to their supposed superiority (male).
3
I'm not a morning show connoisseur, having barely watched the Today Show in the last decade. But I instantly stopped watching forever when they treated Ann Curry terribly. I "vote" with my time and money, and actively boycott programs, people, or companies that behave horribly. I won't watch Megyn Kelly for the same reason that I don't shop at Walmart or Lululemon. Megyn sullied herself forever by working and shilling for Fox news. Whether she's suited or not to her role, or whether she's demeaning herself or women everywhere by her change of tactic is immaterial - she actively participated in spouting lies and untruths, and willfully participated in the dumbing-down of America.
9
Regardless of money, you've gotta do what you're good at. This will be the opposite of Katie Couric, who was a great "Today" show person with a bit of news and a bit of entertainment, who flopped miserably as the next Dan Rather "most serious news journalist." Megan is a bad imitation of Savannah, so who needs it? Bright side is that the author's hopes may yet be realized. When she flames out as Kelly Ripa, maybe they NBC will seek to get their money back by making her a news hound.
1
If you call yourself a feminist, and you want Megyn Kelly to remain your definition of unlikable, then you're not really a feminist.
Feminism means that all women have the power to be whatever they want. That means that they do not all have to become liberal-approved stereotypes of female empowerment.
Leave Megyn alone.
2
That's the problem. She is being left alone and doesn't like it
2
Do Megyn Kelly and Glen Beck get to use their media power to confuse the more impressionable of the electorate, effectively softening up their minds enough to make them hate Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and vote against their own interests; and then be somewhat reborn as media figures with consciences? Stay tuned.
5
I don't think people feel "gleeful" at her "stumble." She is simply tiresome. Her moment has passed, and surely she is worth millions and can just go away quietly now. Please.
14
Meghan Kelly went from being a thoughtful, idealistic commentator on Fox to a hard edged, very aggressive woman. Now, she's trying soft and fluffy. Will the REAL Meghan Kelly stand up, please? I'm not sure there IS a "real" Meghan Kelly. She will be whatever the money wants her to be. When people constantly "reinvent" themselves, it usually means there is not much there.
8
I believe this was the direction Megyn Kelly wanted to go in, not a format NBC decided for her.
3
I miss her, too. What happened? She's been totally de-fanged. The column is right on.
2
"All the world's a stage and all the men & women merely players"...
Was the Fox version of Kelly the real Kelly or is the NBC version the true Kelly?
Maybe, down deep, she's just another actor and the Fox part she was playing got her nominated for best actress because Ailes & company were better writers and directors, while the NBC part she is now playing needs a re-write and a new director?
3
I just wonder why she let this happen, why she let herself be neutered. For someone who drips confidence to let herself be turned into just another character on NBC's morning soap opera is pretty strange.
The show is terrible. So going back to her sneering, sleeveless self wouldn't be any kind of risk at all.
7
Can a female news commentator be "neutered?" If so, what is the picture I should make of that!? I agree with Meg from Irvine, CA--watch Ms. Kelly or not, but please don't try to tell us about what she should or should not be as a woman journalist and how disappointed you are (personally) about her current program.
I never watched Megyn Kelly when she was on Fox breathing fire nor have I ever watched her since she went over to NBC where she is all sunshine and puppy dogs (or so I am told). The bottom line is that she has been doing what she wants to do. No one forced her to do anything, if she has gone from fierce to banal, well that was her choice. It is not a downfall for her to earn 23 million dollars. Was she ever about anything else?
7
Seriously? Let's not pretend Megyn Kelly was ever a hard hitting journalist. She might deserve a small amount of credit for fighting back against misogyny - but that neither makes her a good journalist or a good person. The moment she spouted out racist nonsense is the moment she lost all credibility. She's mostly now in her position because of a feud with Donald Trump - not because she did any serious investigative journalism. Like most personalities from Fox News - she does not belong on the air at all. NBC has not defanged her - they have simply tried to make her into something resembling human. If this were the handmaid's tale - Kelly would be Serena Joy.
11
"Magnetic unlikability" - perfect! Completely agree. The combination of her beauty, her brains, her savvy about issues, and her fearlessness did make her magnetic. Even though I disagreed strongly with a lot of her positions, I respected her for her professionalism and obvious talent. This article is exactly right, it is painful to see her tamed into a cute kitteny thing. I hope she'll have a chance to go back to real news, and given that she's so smart, I'm wondering if she might not become more of a Jennifer Rubin conservative at some point and start calling out the emperor's lack of clothes loud and clear.
2
the bar for morning tv is so low, a thinking person couldn't help but trip. i never liked megyn kelly during her 9pm fox slot, but at least you could respect her lawyerly talents on display. this 9am debasement is accidental cringe-comedy. it hurts! i must look away!
2
Ms. Kelly has alienated almost everybody. She is a woman without a network or as "the signpost up ahead" says is entering the Twilight Zone.
There is nothing tragic about a person, who gets paid $23 million annually to talk on television, to willingly agree to have her persona modified by TV producers.
9
i was looking forward to megyn kelly having political current events on her show more in liking to the view my favorite daytime program what are they doing with her meredith viera tried a similiar format and it was pulled off the air not her fault either hope nbc programming rethinks this and can come up with a format similiar to the view women are not the same anymore we work from home we want to know what is going on in the world
Good to remember it was an act in 2015, as much as it is now. But the show she was acting in was just a lot more dangerous and interesting.
I do disagree a bit about the importance of her good looks. It always seemed to me that there was a strong correlation between the right's tendency to marginalize woman on the one hand, and their inability to process feminine beauty or sexuality and finally accept these as irrelevant to a woman's opinion, on the other. It's as though Megyn were a siren whose voice was to be obeyed, but not fully trusted. I noticed the same phenomenon with Sarah Palin.
But perhaps I need to examine myself a bit too? For I find that now that she has left politics, and offered up her skills to hawk toilet tissue, pharma for the aged, and cleaning products, I no longer find her particularly attractive. Not fair? Maybe not, but there is something a bit ludicrous about the Trapeze Artist getting off the high wire to sell popcorn, no matter how much she's being paid.
Best of luck to her.
1
But ... but ... $23 million. In what ways would you compromise for $23 million?
5
Several commenters have postulated - positively and negatively - that Kelly went for the money at NBC, $23 million.
But didn't Fox offer her some multi-year deal worth more than that annually if she'd stay? I for one have no idea what her reasons or motivation was to leave Fox, but my suspicion from the start was that it had more to do with Aisles and the sexist culture at Fox.
Maybe she just needed a change of pace. I am sure that the real Megan will emerge again.
2
Megyn Kelly is no liberal (or even Feminist) icon. Instead, she is a living exhibit of what complete moral cravenness and sociopathic self-interest ultimately results in: total disgrace and irrelevance. Kelly was neither smart nor "unlikeable"; her race baiting and reprehensible outbursts against victims prove that. She simply knew that by provoking fights with the right people she could get credit for things she never was nor deserved. Her naivety in thinking she could somehow escape the stink of Fox News in Daytime Television is yet another example of her limited mental capacity. She is a huckster, a con-artist, and a racist. Mrs. "Santa Claus is a white man, period" deserves neither pity nor adoration. Just scorn and pariah-hood.
22
Well Ms. Kelly moved from Fox News to NBC happy talk. The problem is once you have been tainted by the stench of Fox News no deodorant can cover the smell.
17
No tears for old "terrorist fist-jab" Kelly, nor views for this "cleaned-up" one.
She stood up to covfefe, but helped make him and the GOP in the first place and still takes her interviewees out to dinner with showy (well, by Republican standards) dresses.
That's not a journalist. That's a lackey and a seductress, who's bad at both. NBC should quit trying to be Fox News and stick to doing actual news.
13
I totally forgot about the "terrorist fist-jab" comment. Kelly did an enormous amount of the far-right's dirty work and got away with it because she's beautiful.
2
Offtheclock99, your eye doctor wants to see you soon!
1
Megyn Kelly was never a journalist or a political commentator. She never cared about facts, history, context, or relevance. Her job on Fox had absolutely nothing to do with journalism. I am frankly astonished that anyone, much less a writer, could believe for a second that Kelly conducts herself in good faith. Her job, her only job, at Fox was to humiliate, confuse, and shut down anyone who disagreed with the Fox propaganda machine. Believing Megan Kelly could function outside that machine is, frankly, idiocy.
18
Another Katie Couric? Do your homework. Couric has a storied career. Among other things, she caught Sarah Palin (the female Trump) not being able to name a single newspaper in the whole world that she read. 'Nuf said. Megyn Kelly is no Katie Couric.
10
I'd say Kelly (in her days at Fox) was 1000 times better than Couric ever was.
Couric is the queen of mediocrities. Kelly was much more above that.
2
Pretty and blond simply doesn't "equal" valuable, insightful, or savvy.
Frankly, she, and her ilk, are an embarrassment to all of the women out there who have studied and worked and built careers and reputations based on knowledge, skill, ability, and hard work...all the women who are brunette, auburn, and maybe even blonde...who are too fat, too thin, too tall, too short...but are incredibly valuable. The ones who were never given anything special, who earned their chance and made it with no help from Roger Ailes or Harvey Weinstein, or any other creep.
So...frankly...hate her, love her...I care more about those other women...
12
This has less to do with her woman-hood and everything to do with her politics. The entire premise of this article is a joke - you cannot say you admire her and then treat her outright racism as some footnote to be ignored. She is not an admirable woman or an admirable journalist - unless somehow you ignore her entire history of spreading mis-information. Worse yet - is why people are choosing to respect her - a few pretty obvious questions for Donald Trump? What kind of journalist would not ask them? Next time save the paper space for a journalist that actually deserves respect - there are many.
8
Likeable, then followed with her distasteful comments on Matt Lauer's comments? Curiouser and curiouser.
Reminds me of other corporate product placements - remember the Edsel and the "New Coke"? And Tikki Barber's (who?) attempt to position himself as a hard-nosed commentator?
Please google John Oliver Megyn Kelly.
She made her bones as a right-wing shrill, and without the Fox audience, she's nothing.
10
totally, except that MK has always been evil in addition to amazing.
but seriously -- minced meat????? NYT for chrissake rehire that entire tier of editors you decided was unnecessary.
2
How incredibly spot-on, and sad. Wouldn't it have been great to have Megan Kelly and Rachel Maddow back to back, or or even more amazing, the two of them doing a collaborative show that brings out the best in both.
9
I love this article and so agree. I never liked Megyn Kelly, but I admired her precisely because she was unlikeable and didn't seem to care because she was supremely confident and competent. I was intrigued by what she might do next. Watching Megyn Kelly giggle and talk about roast chicken? Nails scraping down a blackboard.
13
As a conservative, I won't hesitate to say that I'm mostly in agreement with Ms. Ungar-Sargon's prevailing theme, though I can't easily suppress my amusement at the author's wide-eyed naivete respecting the need to cultivate a shallow inoffensive facade in order to ensure one's own job security, especially in light of the fact that she and her "progressive" ilk have enforced a cultural black-listing of conservatives and conservative ideas from major sectors of the economy. and perhaps that's because I'm a conservative, and through every phase of my life, from college to working life, I've been tested through fire, walking on eggshells to protect myself from progressive witch-hunters who like nothing better than to oust social conservatives from every sphere of public and even private life, in furtherance of intellectual and cultural homogeneity.
In America today, you can face certain ruin for avowing positions which are still held by a majority of the human race (outside of decadent, demographically depopulated Western countries in North America and Europe which shall see a gradual decline if such population trends continue), most notably concerning sexual ethics. So-called "human rights commissions appointed by state governments across the country have ruled that a gay customer's feelings are more important than the right of Christian propietors (bakers, photographers etc) to earn a living and support themselves consistent with their own morals.
7
The thing that always amuses me about people who take the "woe is me as a conservative in a liberal world" view, is how ironically self-centered the whole thing comes off. Is it honestly possible to believe making cakes for gay couples is worse than, were you in the couple's shoes, being discriminated against by public stores? If going to college and having a liberal roommate is too much to bear, how difficult do you imagine it was for Black protesters at the lunch counters and marches of the civil rights era, through to BLM today? If you truly feel so marginalized, self-reflection would call for more empathy for others, not less. You're entitled to your views. I just think that if you really mean them... again, more empathy, not less.
3
So christian proprietors should be able to earn a living and support themselves consistent with their moral values in the public sphere but everyone else has to be apprehensive about places of business they patronize and subsume their true selves so as to ensure service and possibly not being demonized by fine upstanding moral christians?
The butcher, baker and candlestick maker hold themselves out to the public as business people, their private personal views are just that private, as a consumer I dont care and don't want to pestered with them.
2
Actually I had more pressing issues in college, such as expressing my opinions without fear of reprisal in the form of unfair grading practices by professors, or being threatened with arrest by the campus police department, it's own glorified gestapo, when I speak to other undergraduate students during a protest I staged at a liberal event.
The Left believes in using force and the State to silence cultural dissent. The fact of the matter is that no one is materially harmed when a gay couple is turned away by a Christian business, since in almost every reported case that I know of, other competing businesses have offered to serve them in lieu of the dissenting one. As a conservative, I don't believe in invoking the police powers of the state enforce cultural homogeneity. If a liberal proprietor doesn't want to serve me at his restaurant on account of my opposition to same sex marriage, I own that this a free country and he's entitled to serve whom he likes. The free market will mete out justice in the form of bad publicity and diminished profits.
The Left doesn't really believe in a free country, since they have no compunction against using strong arm tactics to persecute those with whom they disagree. It's the same tactics as the Third Reich, albeit with a slightly more tame objective in mind.
1
I did not always agree with Megyn Kelly and rarely watched her on Fox, but seeing her refuse to be cowed during her interactions with Trump was the kind of bravery missing from plenty of other places in media and politics. Trump was putting out his usual "no one respects women more than me" nonsense and Kelly confronted him with nothing other than his own words. When Trump tried to rewrite the pass she embarrassed him (repeatedly) in the public square by pointing out the obvious: Trump does not, in fact, respect women and his past words and deeds bear that out.
Please note that unlike Corker, she was not contemplating the end of her career. And with all due respect to McCain, Kelly was not contemplating her own mortality either. One could rattle off dozens of excellent reasons a woman who managed to carve out a space for herself at Fox News could get the impression that speaking ill of Donald Trump might have negative career consequences. She disregarded that and did her job at a critical moment.
Does that make her some liberal hero in my mind? Did it spare us from the absurdities of the Trump presidency? Obviously not. But she can at least claim to have done her job in a time where MUCH more powerful people (mostly men), with much less at stake are too scared of a presidential bully to do theirs.
6
Very few TV people can be compared to Edward Murrow, Walter Cronkite or Dan Rather, and many other real journalists. I don’t see how anyone with a shred of intellectual integrity could work at Fox. Clearly Meghan’s career goals do not include being a real journalist. However, I applaud her leaving Fox and wish her all the best in her TV career.
6
I assume that you would include as those who have no intellectual integrity those who work at MSNBC and CNN. Neither of those organizations has any more claim to being journalistic operations than Fox. The only difference is that you agree with their opinions.
1
When I'd catch Megyn Kelly's act I thought she was tiresome when reinforcing narratives on the right but bright and exciting when she was calling it like she saw it and using her quick intelligence to challenge narratives on the left or right.
Why is her story a cautionary tale for women instead of an American story or a human story?
Yes, she's gorgeous and that's relevant, but men have to take care with their appearance if they want to work in sales, the executive suite, the boardroom, or on camera.
Gender sure seems to matter if we're discussing sexual harassment or who gets to be at the top of the heap in the media and financial centers of LA and NYC. But even here, watch films from the 50s and 60s featuring Geraldine Page or Patricia Neal and ask yourself if this is a human story of appetites, needs, and power.
It's fine that we read a lot about the anthropology of wealthy people in NYC and LA in the NYT, but let's also look critically at the measures of success. Perhaps money and clout followed by "giving back" is problematic.
What man or woman could get paid lots of money to challenge the prevailing narratives on both the left and right while looking a little rumpled and not generally telling people what they want to hear?
10
she got de fanged and remade into a morning mommy show hostess...
she got her fee and that is what capitalism is all about....getting yours....
she coulda been a contender ....a new incarnation of Mike Wallace....a thinking person with sharp questions, insights and a killer instinct to get to the truth beyond the glitz and tap dancing of political types
oh well, money talks......good luck to her...she got what she wanted....
we all needed more
27
Fox News viewers want one thing: their existing opinions confirmed, either by a middle aged white guy they can relate to or a good looking blonde. The recipe for success on Fox does not translate to NBC or ABC or CBS or any other network that isn't far-right. So color me shocked-shocked!-that Megyn Kelly's shtick didn't pan out well on a soft hitting morning show.
11
A question we need to ask to flesh this out: who is NBC's audience at 9am EST?
If the answer is 'The Oprah set', then Kelly's FNC persona isn't going to fly anyway, and she'll have to craft a new one, which is what NBC (and her) may be trying to do. If the answer is "we want to grow/change that audience to pull in typical FNC viewers," then they shouldn't have muddled with her persona in any way.
Personally I think it would be a mistake to ask her to go back to "FNC-Kelly", for several reasons, one of which is that wedge-issue propaganda shouldn't be on an American broadcast channel.
Maybe a "hybrid-Kelly" can emerge that is hard hitting and direct as before, but focused on crock-pot recipes and celebrity worship. (Was this the hope of the author? I'll re-read.)
2
Two words:
Ann Curry.
9
The same NBC VP who thought it was a good idea to put a microphone in the hand of Sarah Palin to do Today show segments must be responsible for putting Megyn Kelly on the air.
Should have been fired long ago.
17
And Jenna Bush. Don't forget Jenna.
I have to wonder...where do they find these people to populate their audience?
10
skanda--
I thought the same thing. The expressions of joy and adoration on some of the faces is amazing. They are ready to burst. Where do these folks come from?
2
I've actually been accosted coming out of movie theaters in Burbank Ca.by these entertainment industry guys trying to get you to see a pre released feature or this type of studio "show." But who has the time for this garbage? I guess some people do.
Somebody's version of the Infernal Region.
Her anti-Trump posturing at Fox during her final contract year was a wildly transparent (and successful) attempt to win a big payday from a mainstream news org. Just as her "Santa is white" comments, her leg-flashing and Ailes-enabling ways were transparent posturings aimed at bigger and bigger paydays at Fox. Now, she's pivoting again to reap the rewards. Who is the "Old Megyn Kelly?" Who is the "Real Megyn Kelly?"
6
Did she really say Santa is white? She's not as bright as I thought.
1
We know he has Tyoe 2 diabetes.
This story seems to dismiss out of hand the possibility that the change is driven by Kelly herself. Maybe she got tired of her old persona and actually *wants* to be an anodyne liked-by-everyone person?
If not, and she's really letting herself be pushed around by a network in the name of $$$...again, that's still on her.
She's not some poor victim. She's a sophisticated, intelligent woman making tons of money. She's made her bed and she can lie in it, she doesn't need a "Free Kelly!" intervention campaign on her behalf.
14
Kelly could've stayed smart and "unlikeable" if she hadn't wanted the $23 million. How "likeable," after all, are the (tough, unsmiling) TV personas of, say, Andrea Mitchell and Brianna Keilar (CNN)? But good journalism doesn't earn you $23 million. For that, you have to be warm and nice and "over politics"--which is the choice Kelly made. That she couldn't be that person on camera...well, why did NBC (or Kelly) ever think she could?
5
She sold out to fluff and has ruined a career that was sharply on the upswing. Nobody could have predicted this turnabout. She should have moved to 60 minutes.
6
60 MINUTES?!? Like they would endanger their decades-long reputation hiring her?!? Bwhahahahahah...
1
"You will have to be likable if you want to go mainstream."
Of course you have to be likable if you want people to watch your television show. Megyn Kelly was successful at Fox because viewers liked her. She was feisty but pulled her punches. She was not particularly insightful -- I can't remember a single thing she said on any issue that impressed me.
Whether someone succeeds at a job like she now has is up to the whims and whimsy of the viewing crowd. No one knows who is going to click until they do. Certainly Megyn Kelly is attractive, speaks well, has a pleasant voice, and thinks fast. But so do many other women in that very competitive space. She tried, she failed, so what?
2
It is a sad day when a reasonably charismatic and talented newscaster overestimates their appeal or fails to understand the limits of their ability. Miss Kelly had a good thing going for herself at Fox when she read the news and had brief banter with guest commentators, covering conservative issues and talking points, peppered occasionally with her zinging "Megyn" moments. Clearly the attention was heady and her ambition to "settle for more" led her to "betray" her core audience and mentors. She lost the trust of her conservative audience as she pursued the bigger pond of network television and hobnobbing in that glamorous world of Met openings for the Costume Institute and such.
However, as much as liberals may have loved her confrontation with Mr. Trump, they would never accept her after Fox as one of their own. Connie Chung made similar mistakes in transitioning from top local anchor in Los Angeles to network morning newscaster to CBS evening anchor. She may have thought she was brought in to glamorize Dan Rather's hour, stepping on toes she underestimated would react, exposing her glaring journalistic deficits, destroying her career in the process. Hopefully Miss Kelly will have more insight and quickly course correct.
4
How much correction can a rabid dog sell?
1
As part of the big gang of Megyn dislikers,I gained new respect for her when she took on Trump in a debate. She was definitely up to the task, and so it was disappointing to see here sidle up to him a few weeks later.
I would rather she had evolved into a strong conservative voice questioning Trumpism, rather than doing her current nonsense. An opportunity was missed.
5
She was not a conservative voice - there are no conservatives in the GOP.
At very best they're simply right wing reactionaries, at worst? Well you know
1
ALL of the morning show hosts are embarrassing to watch. Good heavens, sometimes they even have a glass of wine on their desk. Maybe this is to dull the pain of the insipid things they are expected to say. Megan Kelly at least added suspense with her ability to bore in on topics. Now she is just like the rest of them. I tuned in once for fifteen minutes and saw her self-conscious attempt at popularity. Luckily, there is NPR--it is cheerful without being manic.
10
NBC has a problematic HR Dept. Katie left. Ann Curry got the boot. Brian Williams had his problems. Billy Bush has disappeared into Texas brush country. Matt is an ogre.
No one at NBC knows how to run a dying network and put it out of misery.
Now we have the Megyn Kelly debacle. It is all part of a piece and a complete Hieronymus Bosch tableau. Some amount of talent is going to Hell in a handbasket on NBC and in the television news industry. Not all of it is good talent and some of it may as well go to Hell, but one hates to see good talent and ability already demonstrated by the likes of Ms. Kelly brought down to carnival level.
Usually it takes a war to straighten the United States out, and in our present times it is going to take a Civil War to rid the country of entertainment, smirks, grins, infotainment news and happy news. Americans, and others, like to see serious power-bobbed women dealing seriously with the serious nuclear-tipped issues of the day. Fun has no place in our current environment.
10
"If there's a certain parity to the final Nielsen numbers, with last-place ABC trailing top banana NBC by just one-half a ratings point (or around 641,600 advertiser-coveted viewers), the state of the broadcast union gets cozier still when sports and news are taken out of the mix."
Like them or not NVBC is bumping along at the top of the network derby
I agree. As a former (long ago) Conservative-Republican, Megyn Kelly was a breath of pre-O'Reilly-Hannity-Bannon-Trump good old William Buckley-George Will-Reagan fresh air. On-air feminism (enticingly coifed, tightly-dressed traffic, weather and anchorwomen) with clever lame insight, Left or Right, is a sad state of American journalism. Get back, Megyn Kelly, to where you once belonged.
3
she was a paid liar. she was the queen of division. No wonder you liked her
3
I put a lot of the blame for Megyn Kelly's transformation from serious news anchor into becoming just another perky blond morning TV talking head on the empty suits at NBC. I'm sure she was given lots of helpful advice on how to become more appealing to a morning audience such as wearing more feminine clothes such as that pink blouse with that ubiquitous pussy bow. That's really working out great now isn't it?
However another reason Megyn Kelly isn't resonating with Today show viewers is all the negative publicity her ill-fated news program received right from the start. Radio Talk show host Mark Simone on WOR Radio (710 AM in New York) just can't resist taking misogynist cheap shots at Megyn Kelly every day between 10am to 12 noon. Simone gleefully repeats a stale story that Megyn Kelly is so awful that her "news" program lost the ratings war to an old 60 Minutes rerun. From Monday to Friday Mark Simone regales his listeners as to just how awful Megyn Kelly is in nauseating detail. Simone's program has become nothing but non-stop Megyn Kelly bashing and it's become tiresome. There is no way Mark Simone will ever declare a cease fire in his war against Megyn Kelly because then he would have nothing to talk about.
1
if you ever saw her as a serious news anchor, rather than a rabid attack dog, you don't understand the concept of news vs. opinion
2
I agree it's hard to go from aggressive hard news reporter to "happy-talk" and light subjects, but I think it's kind of sexist to call her the most unlikable woman on television, since such a label would not be attached to a man such as Mike Wallace (known for tough interviewing).
I wanted to add to my previous comment, to emphasize that, whatever happens from here in her life, Megyn Kelly should always be remembered for being one of the first major news personalities to make it clear that the "emperor" has no clothes, and no decency either.
From White Santa and White Jesus to a pretty White Opening Day Audience. Nothing's changed, except the size of the paycheck....and boy, is someone gonna pay for THAT one!
7
You delusion yourself that at Fox she spoke "truth to power". No one really does that on TV. Pretending is another story, though...
11
Tom Petty's "Free Fallin" comes to mind. "She's a good girl, Loves her Mama, Loves Jesus and America too." But in America, we all are allowed to re-invent ourselves. So, have at it. Maybe our tweeter in chief could re-invent himself and become the next Gandhi. Not likely.
3
the Santa Claus who visits my house is not white, and Jesus was a guy who looked more like me than Megan Kelly. Well over 80% of white people who are murdered, are murdered by other white people. Thank for the article but I suspect that you watched way too much fox/fake news. I also suspect that you are not as Liberal as you claim.
5
Megyn made the same classic mistake many RINOs make by appeasing to the left (media-dems-celebrities) only to find out that the left still hates her.
She should have at Fox.
3
I grew up in the world of the big 3 networks and many less journalists. I can't imagine how difficult it is, especially for women, to stand out from the crowd in today's news environment.
I see Megyn along the lines of a Lesley Stahl on 60 minutes, not as a touchy feely host of a morning show. She's at her best going toe to toe with the newsmakers of the day.
5
You are incorrect. We had vastly ore journalists in the past. Now, tho the news field is crowded, it is not crowded with journalists.]
Leslie Stahl is a respected news caster, Kelly was a rabid attack dog that could be aimed and loosed upon a gullible public
1
Not to trivialize matters, but what I thought when I saw the picture with this story was:
"Wow... Meghan Kelly without any skin showing and without power makeup?".
We sure never saw Meghan looking like this on Fox.
2
they tarted her up to appeal to the lowbrow.
The Kelly downfall clearly shows that what works in "FOX World" does not work for the rest of the World.
7
FBI needs to look into why Kelly is sending signals with her hands, every two minutes, to President UN of North Korea!!!! Is she a traitor?
1
Based on her comments circulating when wanted to moved from Fox, she wanted to have a show such as this. This move-over is what she wanted to do so I wouldn't blame NBC. Clearly, this type of work is not a good fit for her.
5
Its not what she WANTED TO DO, it is what she wanted to GET. $$$. Perhaps for a short time. Saad.
1
Well I would be done with politics for the contract they gave her, $25mm?? One thing has not changed, she will do anything for money, a high class prostitute.
8
I really wish we could all stop going along with the charade of Fox as not mainstream. It's bad enough that we let them perpetuate the degeneration of grammar, with normalization of terms like "cops" and "fake news".
4
Fox is as mainstream as the ignorance of the viewer. well, I guess, that makes them pretty mainstream
1
Same thing happened to Stephen Colbert. On his Colbert Report, especially his interviews, nobody but nobody was quicker or smarter. His 2006 skewering of George Bush at the Correspondents' Dinner was as brave as Brutus knifing Caesar. But his Late Night show is strictly luke. Even when he rants, he's a shadow of his shadow. Have me on, Stephen. I'd like to compliment you personally for that Bush act. It was genius. Bring that guy back.
3
Maybe Ms Kelly wants to be the woman you see on NBC. Isn't feminism about allowing women to be who they want to be. I never liked her, I always thought she was snarky. Didn't watch her on Fox and won't watch her now. But I believes she knows how to stand up for and take care of herself - certainly no one else But I don't see how anyone has the 'right' to tell her how to be.
7
she can try to be whomever she pleases. That won't make her good at what she would like to be.
1
"Whatever the reason, however, her descent into banal harmlessness operates as a cautionary tale to all women: You will have to be likable if you want to go mainstream." Another way of putting it: if you want to be liked, it helps to be likeable.
5
The show is awful. Hard to watch more than five minutes.
The Redford/ Fonda interview to plug their Netflix movie
Our Souls At Noght had the two international film stars who have been in the spotlight for over half a century shaking their heads and looking at each other totally bemused at Kelly and her inane questions.
7
And here we are, once again, labeling a woman as "unlikeable" when we wouldn't dream of using that word for a man. I'm no fan of Megyn Kelly, or for that matter anyone on the right, but I'm fed up with the sexist labeling of women.
4
If you don't like unlikeable, what do you like? What word is politically correct enough to use when viewers do not like a person well enough to watch their show?
2
It's not about her not being likeable, its about her trying to hide the viciousness she displayed behind a fake smile
3
"they" took what made her smart and tough and different and homogenized her into nothingness...
my question is why spend all that money for her and then snuff out what made her special?
the network panicked when their investment was tanking and should have believed more in themselves and her.
2
they believed in her - the audience didn't. you can't turn jack the ripper into howdy doodie and expect it to fly
2
I'm kind of confused, is the author saying that Roger Ailes was giving Megyn Kelly savvy choices about her bras, or that he was giving her savvy career choices about what bras could do for her future with Fox
Either way, it doesn't matter. The whole episode was disgusting. The basic premise that she's dumbed down her career from a 'fighter', who took the fight to the political insiders, to a 'girly girl' who concerns herself with high waisted pants is nonsense.
This piece is not 'fair and balanced' and neither is its distorted history about what her show used to be when it was a Fox 'blockbuster'.
It's entertainment, folks, not journalism. We're smart enough to tell the difference.
5
Remember Jessica Savitch....? She had credibility.
4
Dear NBC and by extension, MK,
Please, please stop the sappy, sweetie-pie routine on this show. It's nauseating and unwatchable. MK is an intelligent woman who is best at calling out people who need calling out for their actions. I want to watch a strong woman host who talks about the hard, difficult stuff on the left or the right with her guests. Too few network TV people do that and it's needed. I'm not advocating screaming matches, just some erudite discussions about the stuff that matters.
MK is a round peg being forced into a square hole and it's painful and wasteful to watch.
3
Something to keep in mind here is that Ms. Kelly has a choice in whether to be the round peg. No one is forcing her to be or do anything that money can buy.
She's playing against type in her new role and that never works out well. She should go back to politics with her laser questions not playing to either dem or gop and just focus on shedding light on the dark
3
Most unlikeable? Did Ann Coulter and Kellyanne Conway both pass on or something?
11
Is she somebody? or will she fade like Sarah Palin in a little minute?
I wouldn't recognize her if she knocked at the door.
4
Me thinks there is “money coming out of her wherever.”
7
I must have been watching a different Megyn Kelly on Fox. I never got the impression that she was anything other than a cookie cutter conservative blond mouthing the Fox talking points. The only time I saw any real spark in her was at the presidential debate.
5
I miss the old Megyn Kelly too, but because I liked her that way. Do we really need any more good morning fluff?
1
you liked someone who would lie straight to your face because you liked the lies? ok
2
Who wants to report the news about other people and events when you can BE THE NEWS. How to go from reporter to millionaire celebrity.
I miss the days of real news reporters.
3
when was she a reporter rather than an apparatchik in the GOP propaganda pool.
She allowed fox to use her good looks to lie to horny old goobers about crucial issues.
2
For me, the old Megyn was the Mohammed Ali of news desks, she would "float like a butterfly, and sting like a bee". Now I don't see Ms. Kelly, I think she has flown from the room.
8
"jesus was white"
If you don't mind lying manipulative bees, she's all yours
2
Right, she had a lot to offer. Santa is white. We really need that.
20
The "Santa is white kids. He just is!" is not only vile and racist but was said in response to the lovely idea that Santa becomes the same race or ethnicity as the denizens of the house he is visiting. Santa is all of us. Ms. Kelly didn't like that one bit. It's hilarious and horrible to watch all at the same time. Youtuube it if you haven't seen it. That's the real money grubbing Kelly.
She race-baited like every other one of the Fox hosts including harping for years on the fake news New Black Panther Party thing. So they can gussy her up and she can say she doesn't want to discuss politics but she's just another deplorable trying to wash the Trump/Ailes stench off her before this country gets woke.
37
You Tube. Type "Megan Kelly santa claus and Jesus were white people" if you want a good laugh.
1
Kelly's hot button question to Donald during the first debate changed the trajectory of her career. Liberal media types decided to offer her mega fame on a mega network and she has flopped in a mega fashion. She accepted the offer and didn't read the fine print; no controversy, no clipped speech asking tough questions; soften the look and become a celebrity journalist. However, she unintentionally warmed my heart when she asked traitor Jane Fonda about her plastic surgery. It's too bad because the "old Meygn" would have
asked her about sitting on a tank in Hanoi. Ahh for the good old days.
3
Maya - as a person who likely voted for trump - you shouldn't call others traitors
1
Yay...another Kelly Ripa.....who knew?
3
Oh give it a rest. Kelly was a faux journalist going after all the Fox/republican talking points. Tone of voice does not make the journalist.
Yes smart but knew where the bread was buttered. Kelly has managed to cash in. But a journalist? Don’t think so.
16
The complete transformation of Ms. Kelly is an insult to her audience. To think that she and NBC would be so ignorantly ham-handed in their attempt to pull the wool or is it cashmere over the audience's eyes so soon is astounding. Gone are the leather skirts, the sky-high stilettos, the Viking hair style. Welcome the soft, cuddly, warm new created persona of Morning Megyn. Please, give us all a break. Yes, we know the Today show audience are not the brightest of bulbs, but good grief, just how dumb do they think we are? Well, I guess a country that elects a complete idiot as president leaves much to be desired, but really, peddling this latest edition of faked sincerity really does take the cake. And you can take that cake NBC and stuff it where the sun does not shine.
DD
Manhattan
12
I didn't watch her on FakeNews Fox because I just can't turn to that channel for more than 3 minutes without wanting to throw something at the TV. It's obvious she's smart and tough, but these are just some of the things going against her becoming "mainstream" any time soon:
1) She put up with a serial sex offender, one who not only harassed her, but she knew he and others were harassing other women and making a hostile workplace. This is unforgivable.
2) Conservative is one thing but FoxNews-Breitbart-Infowars garbage is not conservative it's just crazy. She worked at a network that spews outright lies and twists the truth. She's an educated woman who knows better but stayed on for the fame and the money or because she actually believes all the lies which is probably worse.
3) Her comments on certain things are cringe worthy. Santa Clause and Jesus were white? Pepper spray is just a food product? A woman can have a good working relationship with her harasser? All feminists demonize men? Defending Roger Ailes?
4) Her on air lies are well documented and there are too many to note.
17
Megyn Kelly played a journalist on" Fox News."
Donald Trump played a businessman on "The Celebrity Apprentice" reality TV show.
Kelly is playing a journalist pundit entertainer on "NBC." Trump is playing President of the United States on "The Siberian Apprentice" reality White House show.
And the 'Emmy Award" goes to.....???
15
Megyn Kelly's career is not at the top of my concern list right now. Oh, it was fun when she tortured Karl Rove, but she mostly went along to get along at Fox, and it's hard for her to don a twinkly personality for NBC and be convincing. I do think she lacks basic sense--Santa Claus is white? "Will and Grace" can make someone gay? And asking Jane Fonda about plastic surgery? My word.
7
The valid points you have noted, Ms. Eyrehead, and besides being so very boring, makes me wonder why she was not fired? Will NBC ever respond?
3
People that report news shouldn't become the news.
6
Have people forgotten all the incredibly racist comments she made throughout her career on Fox? Don't give her a pass on that. She needs to own it. She's not some fluff piece. She said horrible, unkind, untrue remarks for her redmeat Fox audience. NBC must think the viewers are a bunch of idiots, that we would forget that. No way.
27
Have you ever met any TV execs? they DO think the audience are idiots, and prefer it that way- easier to please.
"that most unusual of unicorns: an unlikable woman on television"
Unlikable women on television aren't unusual. Theres a full stable of those unicorns at Fox news. She was just one of them who spewed the daily Fox/Republican talking points. Her conversion only shows that she never had any real convictions and she was just a paid mouthpiece in a skirt, heals, make up and the obligatory Fox blonde hair. I.E. an intellectual fraud.
7
Megan Kelly didn't only promise all the little children watching Fox News that Santa Claus was white. She also promised all the little children that Jesus was white.
She's no brave female hero and never has been.
6
Hoo, boy. I dunno which Kelly _you_ were watching, but during her Fox days, she was as dismissive about women’s issues as she was about racial equality. She made a point to show she and her conservatrix ilk were stronger than all those feminist snowflakes whining about being treated less-than in the workplace. Until she experienced trivial difficulties like the child-care controversy and sexual harassment, that is—then she was all about claiming these were major problems. In short, she got rich parroting the conservative party line and putting down those not like her—hardly the actions of a truly strong, admirable woman. She’s insincere above all, and no matter how she’s repackaged, she will always come off as the opportunist she truly is. And let’s not even mention her inability to find good news stories; her awful, utterly incurious interview skills—and the fact she can’t come across as anything but untrustworthy and uncaring.
11
Dear "new and improved" Megyn. We all knew Oprah, we liked Oprah, Oprah was our favorite. Megyn you are no Oprah.
4
Women can pull off high-waisted pants? Many of us women with waists have been waiting for the day when pants would go all the way up to where they belong again. They're finally back in style? Wow, news flash!
She was a Fox Fake News mouthpiece before, now she's simply vapid. You think NBC bullied her into transforming herself? Oh, brother. That you once admired this woman says nothing good about your judgment. Once she chose to give Alex Jones a platform, she was done.
9
Of course she cares about her reputation. NBC, bring back the old Megyn Kelly! Kelly, return to your true self! Bring a little conservative bite to the mainstream media!
2
I removed NBC from our remote after I saw her race baiting face one morning a few weeks ago. NBC wants to be fox? so be it.
3
I liked the old Megyn on Fox. This new Megyn show has been done by others. The world does not need talk show hosts cooking with guests. Doesn’t Megyn want to “make a difference?”
Her current Schlick is so boring and doesn’t utilize her interviewer skills. Money isn’t everything!! Do the thing that is rarely done as well as the old Megyn did on Fox. Go back to Fox and tape the show so you have good work hours.
Ditch the “Regis and Kathy” gig!! Waste of your talent. Plus, get your old stylist back!! Mrs. Brady isn’t you!!!!
I don't know how anyone can ever look at her again without remembering how she would spit out the name "Hillary Clinton" with hateful venom for years on her Fox show.
10
Insipid NBC always gets it wrong...especially women.
2
Sorry Megyn, you won't make it as a "nice girl". Your appeal on Fox was your combative quickness, one step ahead of your "adversary". That and the fact you followed TV's most popular cable news show (O'Reilly Factor). Too bad, many of us enjoyed your work.
you enjoyed the non-stop lying? and trump is doing a great job?
2
" horrific bizarro version of her former self."
Or maybe she had to act like a blond female conservative to keep the old men interested in her show in the first place?
3
Megan Kelly is very popular with a sizable section of US viewers if not beyond. It is a shame in our polarized culture that NBC could not use her to reach out and find common ground.
Judging from the comments of NYT readers who see her first and only as a right wing idealouge, I can see the reason for reservations.
It's a shame because there are abundant signs she is willing to branch out from her former station as a conservative reporter on a conservative network. For example she holds some progressive views, realizes there is more to life than politics, and is looking for a new home on a liberal network.
Liberals really need to learn how to be more tolerant of other opinions, and to listen to what people have to say and put themselves into other peoples shoes, instead of just stereotyping and overacting to certain statements. People act like she is alt-right or something nefarious. She just has conservative opinions and sticks to them.
2
shall we tolerate lies? lies are not "opinion" they are a concerted effort to hide or kill the facts. It's dictionary time for you
1
Yeah, ok Ethan. Insisting on nationalTV that "Santa and Jesus are white!" isn't deplorable at all, sure.
1
Megyn Kelly as serious news person? A "journalist" who instead Santa and Jesus were white, who hammered time and again over the imagined menace of the "New Black Panthers" on the American political landscape (to name just two of her more stand-out moments in her Fox tenure) belongs only in that Fox bubble, where anything goes just as long as it goes in certain directions and gets hammered over time and again. That she fails to connect as the "nice Megyn Kelly" is no surprise. That television personality simple does not exist.
5
I would doubt that many of NYT readers watch the morning TV shows. They are mostly silly to me but are watched by a certain demographic and a lot of that demographic probably also watched Fox News and probably liked Megan Kelly. Megan will lose her new show on NBC if she doesn't get the ratings. She won't lose the show based on NYT reviews. It's all show biz folks.
1
After the time Megan Kelly spent whipping up racial animosity at FOX, I cannot imagine embracing this woman. The producers are completely tone deaf to think otherwise.
6
To me it looks like she was willing to negate her strengths as a smart, tough interviewer for a bigger payday. Don't know if her persona on NBC is closer to the real Megan Kelley or not, but as a viewer, it looks like she is trying too hard to be something she is not.
1
Great piece. I don't blame her for wanting to tone down at MSNBC. While her aggressive stand at FOX ushered her into limelight, there comes a time when you being to wonder if it's worth all that stress. As a media person, I am aware of the physical and mental challenges an on-air host has to endure. Keeping up with politics(more so in the current administration) can be quite draining. MSNBC probably feels like a paid sabbatical for Megyn Kelly:)
Spare the tears, she'll be back. Controversy pays. NBC is just enabling her to build her base for the day when Murdoch finally dumps Fox freeing up a lot of loyal followers looking for a new home. By then, she'll probably have Lauer's job, as well.
"From farce to tragedy"? I'd say from farce to punch line. I'd reserve "tragedy" for something that doesn't involve a person's voluntary neutering, in return for the traditional big bucks.
2
You write as if the person you see on TV is real. Hint: Megan Kelly is not real. She is "Megan Kelly." She is a persona, a product, a construct designed to make money for a commercial enterprise - in this case NBC, and before that, Fox. Anything she said, the way she did her hair, her legs under the glass table - all of it was just part of her role and costume, and still is. As far as NBC is concerned, she could be a car - substitute low-profile tires, a spoiler and gleaming paint and you have a Chevy. To take her seriously is to fall right into the marketing trap set for you by The Industry. She is entertainment, provided to mass audiences solely for the purpose of soliciting advertisers and their money. That you can write about her as if she were an actual person is more revealing about you than about the product you're writing about.
10
You nailed it.
2
the role she last ch what she chose was as a liar willing to hurt the entire nation for a buck. Acting or not, that was what she did
1
The "old Megan Kelly" trafficked in racist demagoguery; from the 45 segments she devoted to the the new black panther party, the death of Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin, calling out the so-called "anti cop thug mentality" in black communities, dismissing the racist emails found in Ferguson city goverment as normal. No matter the issue black folks were always on her bad side. Maybe this is what she needed to do to make it in the racist Fox News swamp or these are her true beliefs. Either way it apparently isn't a detriment in NBCs assessment of her star power.
I for one will not give her a pass and hope her 15 minutes of famed ends quickly.
5
No African Americans in that audience that I can see......hmmm
8
I don't want another women's show about feelings and emotions. Isn't that Oprah territory? And if that's what you want, no one does it better than Oprah.
How about a women's show that intelligently examines issues social, political, and personal issues specific to women? No fluffy fashion commentary. No pot roast. No pussy bow.
Readers, as I approach my sixth decade, time is growing short. When will these people show me something I can care about?
192
My time is shorter than yours. I've stopped holding my breath. It's pots and pans and now, apparently, pants. That's about it.
1
Walter Chronkite, Chet Brinkley, Roger Mudd, the list of real and honest journalists stops where Reagan allowed the concentration of media ownership into a few RW hands.
The pink blouse with the big floppy bow was like a billboard, "I am not serious anymore." I never liked her. I liked her because I didn't like her.
4
"Instead of unleashing her, NBC has attempted to transform Megyn Kelly ... "
Or perhaps, this IS "Megyn Kelly unleashed". Maybe the problem is that there is no "there" there. Maybe being a Fox News harpie really was the limit of her so-called talent. Ever consider that? When you write, "her sharp-wittedness, her familiarity with the issues, and her willingness to ask tough questions and demand answers", I really have to wonder what in the world you are talking about. She followed the Fox News script she was handed, nothing more. Take that away, and this sort of banality is all that's left.
16
She wasn't at all unlikable. She just wasn't warm and fuzzy. She was prosecutorial in style and took no prisoners -- exactly what we have been so sorely lacking in the mainstream news media.
3
Megyn Kelly insisted Santa and Jesus are white. She said that a 15-year-old girl who an officer threw on the ground and kneeled on, “was no angel.” She continually said racially inflammatory things as Fox hosts are wont to do. Now, NBC is trying to remake her into the girl next door. She was not a good journalist. She was an instigator and a sometimes propagandist. She cannot wash off the lingering stench of her Fox News performance. The public is not buying her manufactured all-American girl performance. She is no Katie Couric. Fin.
31
The suits at NBC were just dumb to bring her aboard. She allowed herself to be groomed to perfection as a Fox blonde, and reaped the financial rewards from it. Selling her appeal now to any non-Fox audience was always going to be akin to a bookseller recommending Danielle Steele to a Joan Didion fan.
14
Megyn Kelly, even before she left FOX, had told numerous moderators that she did not want to continue doing political commentary and wanted to focus more on 'human' stories. She has gotten her wish, but someone should have told her that politics and human story telling utilize different 'interviewer muscles' and being good at one does not necessarily translate to the other.
7
It's naive to think Kelly herself wasn't the architect of her new role. She chose this. So why make it a broader discourse on NBC and the media?
9
I totally agree with your take here. As if someone "forced" her to take the new multimillion dollar contract and she had no idea what she was getting herself into? She chose this path given the money involved. I too think it's pointless to somehow blame NBC and the media. This is HER doing.
3
One side of me thinks that she is now giving us "bread and circuses" to distract us from the horrors of the daily news, as do most programs on TV, as we all know (what global warming? what hurricane(s)? what mass shootings? what crazy president?). And it might be a relief for her to focus on the mundane and not the insane. She is as likable as any brainy and/or beautiful woman in the media (and presumably lickable for Roger Ailes and his ilk). She is now a tamed version of herself. But I liked her better when she had "blood coming out of her...wherever."
Right, who doesn't like a lying, divisive, hostile, propagandist serving fascism wherever she finds it?
ME
1
I do not miss the old Kelly, who was very comfortable with Fox News racial dog whistles and let loose with more than a few of them herself. Sure, she is super smart and can do a killer interview when she is not being suffocated by handlers. But what she is doing now, trying to be America's sweetheart, is akin to her describing that Santa comment as a joke after it provoked backlash. The comment in full is either her actual opinion or a joke by someone who has never heard of humor: "Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean it has to change. Jesus was a white man, too. He was a historical figure. That’s a verifiable fact—as is Santa.”
As proof that this no one-off, here is Kelly on an Obama admin trial balloon:
"The man who changed your health care system forever" is now "pushing to change your neighborhood....critics say this is the most radical, politically explosive change President Obama has attempted in his six plus years in office, calling it social engineering of the worst kind. ... They want to look around the area you live and decide if your town is diverse enough. If not, the feds will order low-income housing or else, much of your federal funding for your town will dry up."
5
The best woman in news (outside of Judy Woodruff, who is the best person in news, barring none, as was Gwen) is CNN's Erin Burnett who is living proof that insane beauty is not incompatible with journalistic integrity and chops....
9
This Op-Ed piece and the NYT's commentariat waste their time opining on the supposed virtues or lack thereof of Ms. Kelly, this Edward R. Murrow of our times. She, like the media that pay her ludicrous salaries (be it Fox News or NBC) are non-entities that no serious, thoughtful person would look to nor expect to get worthwhile, non-biased information from. The MSM (TV, cable, former great papers like the NYTs, the Washington Post, the WSJ, etc.) are dinosaurs in today's information rich, internet connected world, and frankly have been for decades. In short, serious people attend to serious things. However, if you are still fascinated and/or preoccupied as regards the proper amount of icing to put on your artisanal cupcakes, where to see or be seen in The Hamptons or Davos, or Russell Brand's belt size, then by all means do keep watching.
6
Sad but NBC will not see a return on this investment.
7
I am completely unfamiliar with Megyn Kelly. It does however seem to me that in Stephanie Ruhle NBC has the prototype of the brightest and the best of TV anchors. Whether by herself or teamed with Ali Velshi Ms Ruhle is head and shoulders above any other US TV anchors.
It seems to me that the new anchors on MSNBC have the potential to become very good at their jobs. In Stephanie Ruhle and Ali Vilshi they have the opportunity to learn from consummate professionals that there is no substitute for doing your homework and preparation. The insightful wit and wisdom of Ruhle and Velshi is a refreshing change and offers hope that the future may offer a better informed and better prepared American electorate.
10
When she aired her interview with Trump after that now notorious debate, it was lackluster. I tried watching her special interviews that aired on NBC and again, lackluster. Her interview with Putin was so bad. So I wasn't going to watch her TV show.
A show I did watch and grew to like was Greta on MSNBC. I never really watched her on FOX and when I did, I wanted to throw something at the TV. But she actually did let loose, and when Trump did something incredibly stupid, she wasn't afraid to go in for the kill. MSNBC did in a way try to pigeonhole her with their boring ads. She was not boring. Her show was well paced an informative. And she was able to bring in some Republicans that otherwise wouldn't be caught dead on that network, and still ask the tough questions. Megyn has to find her own voice. We have enough shows with cooking and fashion. If she is pro Trump, let it come out. If she is not, let it come out. Broadcast network execs haven't yet learned to keep hands off and let the creators create. Everything is so overly produced.
2
For someone as wealthy as she now is, it seems pretty silly to call her "poor" Megan Kelly. But I actually do pity her now. I didn't agree with her politics, but she was brilliantly herself when she was at Fox News - not just quick-witted, but ready and able to eviscerate anyone whose thinking didn't hold water. Now, sad to say, she has morphed from speaking truth to power to just another pretty blonde. Sorry, Megan, but you're no longer worth my time.
5
When did she ever "speak truth to power?' Please give us one example.
2
she attacked those who's thinking did make sense but didn't agree with her propaganda as well. She was nothing more than a pretty face to deliver what the goobers wanted to hear
1
The author makes a false assumption that Megyn Kelly was forced by NBC into "neutering" herself when that is not the case at all. Kelly genuinely appears to want to try something new, and we support her for starting this new chapter.
1
It's important to remember that Kelly and her network peers are performers. They are simply there to draw eyeballs. Sincerity is part of the act and they are especially vulnerable to type casting. Do you like smart and sassy, or quiet and cerebral? Do you want tell-it-like-it-is earthiness, or thought-provoking pseudo-intellectualism? You're disappointed with Megan Kelly's new role? Don't worry. If there's a big enough audience for what you want, the networks will present it.
9
Always knew she was all about the money, willing to be whatever to whomever signed the check.
16
At least Megyn Kelly had the guts, and took the consequences, to call out Trump's treatment of women. Her biggest mistake was months later... going to Trump Tower and groveling before the Donald, asking for his forgiveness.
9
A $23 million annual salary is a "tragedy?"
8
Here's the kicker: she's stated many times that she's "not a feminist." Like big salaries grew on trees before feminism.
3
Listen, I'm not mad at Ms. Kelly, I never watched her on Fox, but have seen clips of her during her time there. She's not my cup of tea, but it she seems to be just what the doctor ordered for NBC. Honestly, to invest so much money into someone as a result of her "15 minutes of fame" with #45 seems to be a bit much. If the show fails, NBC will get exactly what it deserves.
4
There is actually no difference between the supposed "two" Megan Kelly's. The Fox version, while masquerading as an "independent", "emancipated" woman is in reality only the flip side of the NBC "fun" version: the contradiction inherent to her politics is that it is founded on the stereotyped, cloying image of woman that she now enacts.
4
What was the likelihood that Ms. Kelly could succeed in any part of the mainstream media as she has used up all potential for any credibility to normal thinking people. After her contract with NBC ends and they make no offer to renew she could go back to far right media where she can explain away her departure as somehow being forced upon her, by the deep state or far left or by whatever is the favorite flavor of the day. Ms. Kelly is a chameleon who will mold herself to whoever is the highest bidder.
5
There's a major fault in the primary argument of this article that the mainstream media is neutering a once powerful and independent female TV journalist and, along with the public reaction, is anti-feminist. Actually, what is happening to Megyn Kelly right now is her comeuppance. Just as Sean Spicer didn't deserve his recent moment at the Emmys of being in on the joke and letting bygones be bygones, so too does anyone who sold their soul and integrity signing up with the crazy right-wing propaganda machine to do damage to truthfulness in political journalism not deserve a second chance and change of heart from the American public. The most important point made in this op-ed is that Roger Ailes allowed Kelly to be herself and for that she became successful. Also, for that, the public at large knows who she really is and what she really stands for and we're not going to let her be forgiven and get a second chance at a TV career by putting her crimes against truth in politics and journalism, as well as justice and civil rights, behind her. We've already seen her true nature slip out multiple times in her soft handling of the Info Wars interview and barbed/veiled questions for the "Will and Grace" cast and Jane Fonda. It doesn't matter whether you're a woman or a man, you throw your hat in with the devils of our culture war and the public will and SHOULD never forget. I personally am relishing hearing about Kelly's current TV journalism failings. Never forget, never forgive.
10
After watching her show on Fox (which I otherwise do not watch) during the Presidential campaign, reading an e-version of her book, and watching one episode of her show the other day on NBC, I was very disappointed like so many others. NBC also committed a very jerky move by, in Miami at least, cutting her interview of Morgan Freeman to follow a cop chase of a local car hijacker. So by making Ms. Kelly a morning PollyAnna, NBC is wasting its $17 million per year investment and depriving the public of a different kind of TV persona, the sharp, cross-examining talk show host that we need more than ever in this era of "alternative facts" and fake news. I would add, however, that she has blown it a few times - like her unforgettable Fox show when she went on the air announcing "a trove found by FBI Director James Comey", referring to the non-evidence he came out with the week before Election Day.
3
Perhaps she's trying for an Oprah reprise? Good luck with that. First you have to be interested and interesting. This woman is neither.
8
At this point in time is Megyn Kelly what America really needs? More entertainment and less news? If Phil Griffin and MSNBC are after bigger profits turning away politically astute watchers by bringing Ms. Kelly into the fold ain't gonna cut it. Christopher Hayes and Lawrence O'donnell are the only serious newsmen left standing..... as the long day wears on.
1
Everything about Megan Kelly is fake news.
Remember her condescending arrogance when she stared at the camera and scolded at us that of course, Santa Claus is white. That was extremely important to her. Ugh. Americans love to see people fail. I just love to see creepy sycophants get there comeuppance. Better for America if Megan strives for the perfect pasta recipe than to have her spouting her hateful self on Fox.
Be grateful for the small things.
8
The writer got it right. Hated most of Fox news, but loved Megyn Kelly, because she seemed like the lone rebel on a ship of right-winged fools. She could even go on Howard Stern's radio show and stand toe-to-toe with him, whatever the crude questions might be. And when she finally rebelled against the Fox ship's Captain Bligh (Roger Ailes), we loved her even more as a hero, the attractive Clark Cable and/or Marlon Brando leading the mutiny against injustice.
But like the tale of MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, after the revolution things get bittersweet, and she probably wondered if moving to the "kinder, gentler" ship of NBC was the right thing to do. Really, she had no choice, and now seems boxed in since NBC must still cater to "middle of the road" mediocrity that is valued by the old-school network executives. Oh, what it could have been with her in something like HBO's VICE NEWS or maybe doing the OLD version of 60 MINUTES, when they really attacked the unrighteous.
I don't think I could bear to watch her for even one minute on old-lame-network daytime TV, like a tiger who has been de-toothed and de-clawed in a circus. Maybe Netflix has enough money to buy her away and let her do something wild and crazy? Jeff Bezos at Amazon, perhaps? He has done work bankrolling the POST?
Pray for a miracle.
1
Oh woe are women... unlike men, for women to go mainstream, they have to be likable.
If only women were male football players... Those men can just be themselves, expressing whatever they feel, and nobody gives them grief!
Har har har.
I too miss Megan's intellect and willingness to be tough.
But she sold out.
She didn't get oppressed by some misogynist machinery, she went from one multi-million dollar contract to another, bigger multi-million dollar contract.
And part of the deal was that she be perky.
Her choice.
A foolish one in my opinion, but nobody made her do it.
It's funny, whenever I see Matt Lauer do one of those inane interviews, I look in his eyes and see them screaming: "Is THIS what my life has become?"
It wasn't sexism that put Kelly -and Lauer- in this awkward position.
It was greed.
5
"Megyn Kelly was not there to make friends."
Please. She was always a republican shill, appeasing the very people who later cast her out when they felt they had enough of her. Serves her right. I will not put extra value into her simply because she's a woman. She's mediocre now, and was a bully before, and I don't have time for either.
7
She has taken a page from Natalie Morales' book. They both chose to now cover soft topics. I can only assume they made the choice after careful evaluation of work/family balance.
Try as she might that Fox grime will not wash off quickly – if at all. If this gig fizzles and she does nothing else, she still has it made. There will be another smart and sleek presenter to step in and seamlessly fill the slot.
18
Just plain stupid. Her attempted transformation has to do with the time slot and the show. She's trying to host a coffee klatch. One can't both do that and be unlikable. She's chosen a different role, just like an actress, and so far she's pretty bad at it. It says nothing about women in general. Before long she'll realize this isn't her milieu (or her new employer will) and she'll be shifted into a different program, allowing her to be adversarial, which she's best at. This pseudo-analysis isn't worthy of the Times
14
i disagree completely. Her "Coffee Kaltsch" is the safe role they like to force women into. The article makes a valid point, in that Fox's confrontational and belligerent "style" allowed her to be who is she is.
Yes, Fox is repellent and ignorant and mostly wrong. Let's give credit where it's due. For Megyn Kelly it was a good fit.
2
Ms. Kelly gets no sympathy from me. That she worked at Fox "News" is all I need to know. Shame on NBC for giving her a platform. How about hiring a real journalist? Wouldn't that be novel!
17
Megyn is as real a journalist as Anderson Cooper or Don Lemon. She’s first string varsity. Liberal and conservative journalists are worthy of my time. But then I think for myself and don’t follow the lemmings over the cliff. I like to hear both sides of an issue. Then decide.
Novel idea. Learned that in college where faculty were not all liberals. Some of each. Lively debates. Independent thinking was valued. Not like today where higher education suppresses all but far left ideas.
Socrates is rolling over in his grave!!!
Didn't NBC hire Chelsea Clinton to do "reporting work" for $600,000 per year? How'd that work out?
1
Megyn Kelly who? I did not know who Megyn Kelly was until the presidential debate and don't miss her since.
8
Not surprising! Kentucky is not exactly on the edge of intellectual debate. There is more to life than TV and football!!
Julia H from NYC. you do do not know what you are talking about. Kentucky, the birth place of Abraham Lincoln is where the intellectuals and independent thinkers come from. Yes there is more to life anywhere than watching TV (self promoting TV stars like Megyn Kelly) and football and I watch neither.
1
Well said, one feels embarrassed and a bit sorry for this talented woman trying to mimick the vapidity of all the other interchangeable cackling morning positivity peddlers. It will be difficult for her to regain her rightful former place in the political arena after pronouncing that she was "finished with politics". She had earned bipartisan respect as a female hitman, even envy, and she tossed it, What was NBC thinking?
8
She was part of the Fox Fake News Fluff Infotainment Network. Nothing more. It surprises none of us that she's moved to a different, less newsy sort of fluff.
2
Her "rightful" place is right. But that place deserves no respect.
2
The writer of this piece wrote this:
" I — a liberal — admired her".
There is, in fact, little to admire about Megyn Kelly.
7
At Fox, she used her intelligence and appearance to harm the foundations of our democracy. She was a propagandist for the wedge issue crowd. But I believe in forgiveness. Please give her another shot at being a real journalist. That rare person who reports and educates. Then we can decide whether she is a person of character or not.
59
No one who propagandized the GOP into controlling the country deserves another shot.
3
ProPublica is filled with women who ought to get a FIRST shot at a national audience and—bonus—they're true, impartial journalists with integrity who know that leg work doesn't just mean showing off your legs.
1
Megan Kelly was completely blind or ignorant to the role of racism in the blue on black killings of African-American women, men, and at least one child. Her insistence that Santa and Jesus are white is equally racist. This was her thinking, or she was pandering to the Fox audience. Either way, I do not find her interesting enough to give her a moment of my time.
14
With so many strong, intelligent, truly courageous women in the world, why waste your time admiring Megyn Kelly? A woman who insists Santa Claus is white? Really? Sorry, she's permanently off the list of people to admire.
28
I remember that she insisted that Middle-Eastern Jesus was white too, didn't she?
1
I have to say...I do to. this casual, laid back, smaltzy format is not her style. She may think it is...she may prefer it, she may want to take this different route....but I'm not feeling it from her. I like her better in the more professional journalistic, direct, heavy topics of today role. Sorry Megyn. Also loved your hair shorter. It and you just looked so classy...not that there is anything wrong with this style, but now you look like everyone else....and who needs that.
4
A case of what you are vs what you do, she is done in Fox and NBC what she has to do but she is neither of them. Classic.
2
The description of what Trump and his band of thug supporters did to intimidate Megyn Kelly after the first debate--death threats, insults, and a steady stream of hate--leads me to believe that she is suffering from a slight case of PTSD. Politics is no longer civilized, and she was a marked woman. I think she decided that she could no longer live in fear, hence the syrupy pablum she is now dispensing.
3
NBC made a terrible mistake choosing Megan Kelly over Tamron Hall.
24
Let's face it; NBC is nothing but entertainment, cooking, fashion and "the royals". Their leadership in news ended years ago.
1
John Oliver did a Megyn Kelly supercut of her calling people and behavior thugs/thuggish over the years on her show that sums up everything one needs to know about her. The left is oft-accused of prematurely calling someone a "racist," but she earned her stripes as a bigot long ago.
I'll pass.
15
She's either a phony, or a really huge phony.
NBC really blew it with this one
A zebra can't change its stripes
18
Meygn Kelly sold racism and sexism to old people. She was perfectly likable to her aged, afraid, racist, and sexist audience.
24
What does she care? $90 million contract for three years?
6
Did Megyn Kelly herself choose to take this path to get away from politics? Or was it the only one NBC offered her? That is a question only they can answer.
This opinion piece assumes the worst. It assumes that the only way she could succeed was by becoming a puff-piece morning show host. I hope that isn't true and Megyn Kelly was her own driver of her destiny.
31
Even if it was the only path NBC offered her, it was still ultimately her choice to do it. NBC definitely knows her fan base (look at the photo) so they have a target audience in mind and decided most unfortunately that this was the best use of her talent. What a waste. Because with few exceptions, morning show hosts are generally 'puff' pieces; Ms. Kelly is smart, she clearly must know this. And I think what's especially hard for many to understand is that she's actually ok with it. And that's ok. And while she drives her own destiny, we're free to go along for the ride or watch something else.
Your either/or question -- either Ms. Kelly chose, or NBC chose for her -- is naive. Obviously, they both chose. NBC wants high ratings, and it believes -- no doubt for very well-researched reasons -- that high ratings on morning talk-TV require being "nice" and "likable." Ms. Kelly also wants high ratings, for the same reasons that NBC does, and she knows what NBC knows about the requirements of morning TV. Whatever NBC offered her, it was her choice to accept it, because she wants what NBC wants.
Rachel Maddow is the prototype of the smart, strong woman.
Megyn Kelly is an attack dog that has been muzzled for the moment. Her real self is either not yet apparent or was left behind at FOX.
SAD!
43
I was shocked and mortified when I caught her interviewing Robert Redford and Jane Fonda about a new movie, and she went 360 degree, and said something like, Jane, "you have been so honest about your plastic surgery, are you still glad you have done all that, etc. Jane, looked at her kind of in disbelief, and with great class said, "megyn do your viewers really want to hear and rehash all that?" Megyn's face went pink for sure. It is like she is okay with dumbing herself down, and doing this very out of date, and out of touch, show.
26
......And that lesson takes Megyn Kelly’s downfall from farce to tragedy.....
seems i'm going to have to re-think my definition of tragedy.
15
It's difficult to outrun your Fox past. Most people know that Fox is a propaganda machine. Now we are to expect someone who told lies for many years is a fountain of truth and wisdom is hard to accept, at least for me. She doesn't belong on a serious news network in any capacity. Give me Katy Tur, Hallie Jackson, Kasie Hunt and anyone else with credibility.
28
This is addition by subtraction, as sports fans might say. Removing Ms. Kelly from her perch is probably more important to NBC than overpaying her to waste everyone's time at 9am each day.
The folks on "Fox and Friends" are not up to her skill, but they are the prominent folks left in her wake at Fox News.
That is better for NBC.
1
She's rolling in the dough, she doesn't care anymore either. And who can blame her?
3
I have a lot of issues with Ms. Kelly. but where she always earned my respect was in thoughtfully pressing her interview subjects about inescapable facts. When she stepped away from the Ailes Agenda and got down to brass tacks, she was as good as journalism gets. Her likeability was beside the point.
It's a shame she has decided to lean in to her worst qualities. She really should be at a news desk at Fox.
What does it feel like to be paid $20 million to be somebody you are not on national television.
5
Gee, I think money might have a little something to do with it.
4
Maybe she is exactly what she always was, just dancing to a new drummer!
We never really know the TV personalities, only the vision they are presented as.
2
I would say that Megyn Kelly is the morning version of Stephen Colbert. Both were great at what they were doing (the author failed to mention how Kelly saved Fox News' backside during live coverage of the Supreme Court decision on Obamacare and the 2012 election), and their success catapulted them into the anodyne world of mainstream entertainment. Colbert struggled for a long time until he went from being a faux conservative commentator (who everyone knew was secretly liberal) to an actual liberal. Kelly, who I assume is truly conservative, will have to figure out what she can transform herself into, perhaps a faux liberal commentator :)
Brilliant, stupendously wealthy, happily married and able to walk away from anything she doesn't like. She is a hero.
Was it Kelly's "sharp-wittedness" or "her familiarity with the issues" that prompted her to go on and on about the so-called "war on Christmas" as if such a thing were actually happening? I don't think it's any better for women to tell lies on TV than it is for men; a liar of any gender is "unlikable" for good reason.
101
One word: unwatchable. Two words: train wreck.
14
Bravo!!! LOL
3
I don't have cable television, so I don't get FOX. I have an antenna, and for some reason it doesn't get the local NBC station. Hence, I really don't know much abut Megyn Kelly, or any of the nonsense in this article. I seem to be able to get through my days just fine.
16
Megyn Kelly is gorgeous and thinks pretty fast on her feet.
Let's see a quick show of hands: how many think she's not a journalist?
3
It seems like NBC hired Ms. Kelly and then tried to figure out what lane to put her in. Would have been better business practice to have a plan before luring her away from Fox. Now we viewers are stuck with looking for alternatives for the 9am EST time slot. In Washiington DC area her show is opposite Kelly Ripa and Good Morning Washington on the major networks. Cable news, HGTV and DIY seem like the best alternatives. Gag!
47
Morning Joe.
1
Seems like a good time to switch off the t.v. and go out for a walk!
1
Megan Kelly significant responsibility for this latest rise of the right under Fox. Of course her attractiveness drew in millions of men to the network where they got indoctrinated by what Fox puts out there.
Her new post is a huge risk, as she is now needs to grow an entirely new audience of mostly women.
If/when her current job fails, I'd like to have her return to the audiences she already owns (but is abandoning), namely, lots of men whom she can mesmerize with her radiance and sharp mind. She was so unique, and now just wants to be like all the rest.
Maybe she could go far with an evening show, or even become a sportscaster. There is ample room where sports/entertainment and politics intersect, as we've seen lately.
13
Dear Quetzal Santa Barbarara
I wish I could vote for your comment 100 times!
She had an evening current events show opposite 60 minutes. Deep six result.
1
"lots of men whom she can mesmerize with her radiance and sharp mind."
Unfortunately for her, the men she had that effect on (the Fox demographic) are dying off.
3
This is why I don't watch television.
8
Could it be Ms. Kelly had a non-compete clause preventing her from doing real news? Oops, my bad, real news has gone extinct, at least on TV.
7
Look, Kelly is just the reason why we got Trump. A white American woman who build her career by supporting or "hiking" on the right's cause. Go read what Hillary said about white women voters and all of that applies to Kelly. Kelly would be a nobody today without Fox News. And next time she slips behind a voting booth, I would not be surprised if was Trump she voted for.
12
She is still unlikable.
21
It's all about money. I can't blame Megyn for selling out for ratings. Who wouldn't?
Side effect of capitalism!
1
I have zero interest in Ms. Kelly's new show or in seeing her succeed in her new venue. Anyone who made their name in the cesspool of Fox "News" does not deserve the opportunity to rehabilitate their image in the more mainstream media.
11
Agreed. Megyn Kelly is wasting her talent. And, I miss Gwen Iffel. There was an intelligent, poised, professional, news person.
9
Note from another liberal former Megan Kelly fan: right on!
This article bends logic in ways heretofore only known on FAUX "news". Kelly worked for years ginning up hate against minorities, women, democrats and expected viewers to forget that FACT. NBC clearly thought there were women wathing her FAUX show and decided it was worth $15mln (?) to pull those viewers to her piece of TODAY. The thought process behind this is difficult to describe: 'let's take a woman that got millions of racists to watch FAUX news every night - mostly men - and turn her into a likeable "everywoman" that will pull this ill - informed audience to day time' and drag along female trump voters'. The math clearly doesn't add up and NBC deserves to take a millions in losses for this piece of pretzel logic.
Kelly will end up back at FAUX news claiming it's a new day now that she alone rid the network of o'really and ailes.
7
She was salivating at the prospect of criminalizing Hilary's emails. Just watch her furtive eyes under the more objective NBC camera. She misses Fox. I miss Gwen Iffel.
Tom McMahon
3
Megyn should take a cue from "The View". She’d see that she could continue to be both opinionated, and popular even on daytime entertainment TV.
Just do like Whoopi G. does.
29
One has to wonder if Ms. Kelly has any scruples, social conscience or ethics. She apparently will say anything that makes her enough money.
Do not watch her. WE THE PEOPLE must demand that the people who feed us information every day have respect for us and OUR United States of America. Starve the beasts who care only about profit uber alles.
3
Your first paragraph is the best description of success in America I've seen yet. It's Capitalism 101, a required course in every business school in the country.
2
Meh. Women's Libber she ain't.
14
What, exactly is a "pussy-bow" blouse?
This OP-Ed is all over the map with some insightful comments and some purely sexist criticism.
Are there any editors still working at the New York Times?
10
A blouse with a bow tied around the neck. Refers to cats who [inexplicably, but perhaps in cartoons] wear the same, putatively tied around their necks by their owners.
5
Oh come on – you must read Popular Mechanics at the dentist. Go Google it.
4
ChesBay - well said.
Liberals did not find some of her viewpoints "unsavory." We found her to be a racist. Insisting Santa Clause is white is not only racist, it's ignorant. The truth is if you sold your soul to Fox, you can't get it back.
249
Megyn Kelly recaptured part of her soul with her gutsy challenge to the figure who became our blowhard-in-chief. She burnished her creds with her strong response to the bully's vile counter-revolutionary.
Although these responses hardly cancel her more unsavory televised moments, she has proven herself to be a journalist to be taken seriously. This is why her current neutering at NBC seems so sad.
I hope she'll wiggle free of her awkward incarceration in the suffocating studio of "nice." Speaking truth to power is a disappearing trait that the world sorely needs.
1
She also said that the middle eastern jew named Jesus was white, too. She insisted upon it, in fact.
1
Does the author of this column long for the days when Ms. Kelly and her regular - no constant - guest, Tony Perkins, engaged in the use of racist dog whistles?
29
I certainly didn't care when she was on Faux News and willing and able to attack anybody. I couldn't possibly care less now that she's "transformed" herself on NBC into a frolicking puppy. How "hard" can you be when wearing a pink pussy-bow blouse and cheering yourself on? It's not a tragedy, it's simply farce.
58
Oh, boo-hoo. She out-FOXxed herself. No sympathy here, seriously.
53
So.....harmlessness is banal. Her Fox persona was farce. Her mainstream persona is now tragedy.
The editor should have deleted the last 3 lines of the column.
5
NBC CANNOT deal with female anchors. From Jane Pauley/Deborah Norville to Tamron Hall/Megyn Kelly, the suits flop. Often and badly.
I think they don’t know what women want. In an age where analytics are available, they seem to say, “The data is wrong. People will LOVE Kelly.”
Kelly is Goddess Dominatrix on a network that skews to Sweetheart Heartlandia. Think octagonal peg in a round hole. Viewers know what they like and a pussy bow can’t change it.
Me? I don’t think Kelly needs to be publicly bullied. I do think NBC needs to cut Its losses and find someone who gets it about women viewers.
May I suggest that Katie Couric be re-hired ... not as talent, but as a suit. She GETS it.
4
Megyn Kelly was not journalist at Fox News, she was an info-tainer, happily pushing a conservative spin on the news. Where she made a name for herself was when she chose to challenge the nonsense of her Fox guests were booked to spout. Fox News was designed to allow conservatives to spout talking points, but when Kelly would unexpectedly challenged guests on those flimsy arguments, they were set up by Kelly to look like a fool so she appeared smart and even-handed. But that wasn't the work of a smart, hard hitting journalist, that was a smooth t.v. personality who sandbagged her guests without warning.
35
Bingo. Absolutely on target.
4
You raise an interesting point. Ailes proclaimed Fox to be the "fair and balanced" network, so they tried to do stuff like "Hannity and Colmes," remember that? The spots where poor Colmes was eaten for lunch because he couldn't outmatch the utter irrationality of Hannity? Liberals are like that, they rely a little too much on facts and truth so they can never outwit anybody who just makes stuff up. So, the next step, instead of having a real opposing viewpoint, they went for their own shill doing the balancing part, taking down their own guests, but only a little bit, only enough to make it look like they're fair minded. It also served to make it look like they championed women's empowerment, which is, of course, fake along with the rest of their news.
2
The 'descent into banal harmlessness' is not, as you say, a cautionary tale limited to women who want to go into mainstream media.
The same descent is also required of men.
If you want reasonably 'unfiltered news' try the PBS News hour, read this paper, or the Washington Post.
TV 'news' , like all TV is a slave to ratings which dictate ad revenues.
None of the evening news broadcasts can afford to alienate one half of their viewers by 'asking tough questions'.
Scott Kelly was removed once people started writing articles about how he was doing just that.
As to Megan Kelly: smarter that your average bleached blond but her 'hotness' is what drew in the male red meat eaters at Fox 'news'.
10
Saint Nicholas may well have been tanned, but he was certainly Caucasian even if he did live in Asia (well, Asia Minor). Sorry to have to break that one to you. Personally I am not so keen on the way that the Dutch import Sint (Ni)Klaas has become Santa Claus and has displaced the celebration of the birth of Jesus, so if you would like to give a shout out for Jewish Jesus in his place, then I would be all for it.
4
It's all about the money. And why not? She can't change anything that's happening or about to happen.
1
Her and FOX have done much damage to our country.
The fact that she is being financially rewarded, and applauded by the dim bulbs of day time TV (see picture) makes me nauseous.
19
"Tragedy"? Oh, please.
Ms. Kelly's phoniness is matched only by her tone-deafness. And the fact that NBC saw fit to give her a $69 million contract is nothing more than a classic case of Big Media stupidity. Just think of how many hard-news reporters could be hired for that sum.
Gender isn't the point. Her peculiar brand of posturing performance art simply doesn't work beyond the skewed confines of Fox. Much like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, she's most comfortable as a bottom feeder.
107
Has anyone ever forcefully, steadily challenged Trump in an interview?
1
They don't get a chance because after the second challenging question he gets up in a huff and walks out.
3
What were the real motives behind this “happy face” change from the no nonsense lawyer?
Can it be found behind the curtain at the end of the “yellow brick road”?
4
Never have watched FOX news, but i did like the Megyn Kelly with her slick hair do as if to tell Trump come and get me if you dare.
Also I am no fan of Kelly Ripa who is as shallow as one gets, knew her from All My Children days with black hair and some curves .
Although Megyn proved she is good political commentator although she calmed Jesus Christ he middle eastern was white, NBC could use her in a totally different venue.
1
Thinking your expectations were a little off. Have you ever watched the Today show?
1
I hate to focus on a womens appearance, but - yikes! Whats with the dowager wear? I dont even recognize her with what shes been wearing lately...
Done with politics? Or defeated by it..? Is money and fame all shes in the Biz for?
The last thing we need is yet another "emotions" based pop-psychology TV show.
3
Both versions are tepid and short on value.
7
I will never watch this woman's show. Quoting a line from the film "Terms of Endearment" said by Jack Nicholson - "I would rather stick needles in my eyes."
7
Being white, I suppose Santa is mono-lingual, speaking and reading only the English language.
6
Watchng and listening to Megyn confront that hypocritical gasbag Newt Gingrich about his anger and sex was both hilarious and exhilarating. I couldn't wait for her to go mainstream. I loved some of her evening segments, like the one about the coal town guy who started a coding business for all the out of work miners. I work full time and don't watch morning pablum. I am sorry they took her off the evenings. They would have given a male anchor more time. I am not writing her off yet. She is a sharp cookie and I really hope she can figure it out.
2
Those out stretched palms with ugly fingers every two minutes, do NOT make a show! What exactly is the purpose of this gesticulation, also ran show? The sooner it is dropped, better it is.
3
Whatever happened to her Sunday night news show opposite 60 Minutes? I thought she was very good on that but suddenly it disappeared.
It got probably cancelled. Everybody was watching 60 minutes. There's no reason not to.
3
A simple solution:
Don't watch her.
12
Clearly a significant slice of the potential audience is not watching.
5
Batya, it’s simple really. It’s about the money. Megyn Kelly Is more likely to earn Oprah / Ellen scale wealth being photogenic and “nice”. The inconvenient truth is news is a form of entertainment that does not pay as well. Mike Wallace could not syndicate himself. Megyn Kelly certainly can. Proof point: Christiane Amanpour, is arguably the best female journalist out there. Which of the two has more money in the bank?
2
"She certainly had viewpoints that liberals found unsavory."
Yes, the little matter of her repeatedly making racist statements and discounting all incidences of racism as imaginary does have a 'bad taste' about it. Those liberals, so sensitive!
"Why was Megyn Kelly’s transition into the mainstream accompanied by this kind of neutering? Why did Fox News have more room for this charismatic, difficult woman than NBC?"
Um, Megyn Kelly has a lot of money and power, and said she WANTED the shift from pit-bull to soft blather. Your bias is crystal clear from both the first statement and from your need to call blame NBC for Kelley's decision to start her awful new show.
4
Let's pay a smart, articulated, take no prisoners, well educated, quick on her feet attractive news reporter $20 million a year so she can say she really just wants to have fun & talk recipes - not that sill politics stuff .... what's wrong with this picture - where do I begin?!
3
I watched 5 minutes of her new show and thought "this is ridiculous". What a waste of an intelligent woman.
2
On Fox News, "Megyn Kelly was not there to make friends" and that's exactly why I will never watch her on NBC. She did more to harm the ideas I believe in than anyone else on Fox because she looked so good! WHY is NBC forcing these former FOX women on us? I attempted to watch Greta on MSNBC and she seemed bored with the job and made rude and ignorant comments like comparing a probe into Russia's interference into our election as a "food fight." I'm glad she's gone. Women will not watch women based on gender. We won't forget the views they espoused on FOX.
12
How about Judi Woodruff as a role model - oh wait she is not as young or pretty?
She is certainly intelligent, charming, incisive and prepared.
I watch her for my news and commentary
8
NBC paid too much for her on the free agent market and now has to figure out what to do with her. She's not an effective Lifestyles host, if they don't want to give her a show on MSNBC, perhaps she could be traded back to FOX for cash and commentators to be named later.
3
Everyone's chasing ratings, which translate into dollars -- Megan Kelly, NBC, the advertisers. That's the business. Ms. Kelly wants to position herself for the next stage in her career; she wants to be taken as seriously as this writer takes her. Given that she started out this new phase pretending that a grifting sociopath was worthy of wide public attention, it's not a surprise that her project isn't succeeding so far.
4
After watching a collage of short clips showing Ms. Kelly operating as a news host at Fox, I wondered why in the world NBC hired her. More than likely she will forever be typecast as an uncaring, unlikable, and belligerent person.
7
Who is the NBC executive suite will lose his or her job over this mess.
2
I forget his name - but they say he is relatively "bullet-proof". I think in this case, it may be "bullet resistant"....
I can't share this columnist's opinion that Megyn Kelly's "downfall" is a "tragedy." Just about everything concerning that happens to talk show hosts on TV is comedy -- and that's pretty much by definition. Dark comedy, perhaps, but comedy nevertheless.
6
NBC acquired a very expensive business asset in Megyn Kelly that is rapidly depreciating and is being written off as a loss. The write down involves a painful period of acceptance that the talent acquisition was done in error. Many careers and reputations are on the line for this mistake and every attempt will be made to avoid the inevitable. Thus, we are witness to the sad, awkward and feeble attempts to save what will eventually be billed as the worst network news recruitment error of our time.
56
Surely NBC news division had already seen the rating for the estimable Greta Van S.
Greta is just as smart, not as pretty, but she could never shake the Fox stench.
This will indeed be a very expensive asset write down.
3
Give her a chance, folks. Megyn Kelly certainly deserves that. I intend to do so ... before I offer my opinion.
2
But she can't outrun her history as a commentator. She was not a journalist in any way shape or form.
8
We've all seen her act. Tigers do not change their stripes and TV personalities do not change simply because they sign with a different network. I've seen her on NBC and I find her to be the same unlikable person she was on Fox.
4
To watch her on NBC is to forget everything she did on Fox News, as if it never happened. She was in spite of the Trump fiasco often a conservative shill. Will not do it.
61
"She certainly had viewpoints tha
liberals found unsavory". Loudly declaring ththat Santa is white, and minimizing the Black Lives Matter movement are not parlor games to entertain: Kelly knew her audience and fed their fear and prejudice. Thr soo er Megyn Kelly leaves the scene the better.
1
Honestly, she is just a shill. If she had landed on MSNBC, she would have probably been as obnoxious for a different side. FOX probably just paid better. And she was Ailes' type.
Megyn Kelly leads off her autobiography with the story of Trump’s threats and her probable poisoning right before the first debate. An impartial reader could only conclude that Megyn believes that Trump had her poisoned but she’s too afraid that he’ll attack her kids to say so.
2
When this fails, they can give Ms. Kelly Hugh Hewitt's Saturday morning slot on MSNBC. Replace one unwatchable conservative hack with a less unwatchable conservative.
Bad judgment by NBC to give this woman so much money but the end result is predictable. Fox viewers weren't going to change the dial and the non-Fox viewing world has no time for her. (And even less for Hewitt.)
69
She was made a star based on a controversy. So, what's her talent?
Nothing much.
7
Missed the old Megyn Kelly? How is it that Kelly's previous statements on Black Lives Matter and Santa Claus are seen as simply unsavory but she is still applauded for her interest in women's issues? It's her transformation into a supposed champion of women's rights that makes black women wonder if feminism has a place for us. And the silence when Tamron Hall was let go for Megyn's segment didn't help either.
26
Well - I've seen a few articles like this that seem to miss an important point. Ms. Kelly's first foray after Faux News (Sunday evening up against 60 minutes) was a colossal failure. I was not happy that NBC was willing to hand such an opportunity to someone who spent 13 years wasting her talent in a partisan propaganda mill. I had no intention of giving that show a chance in my home, and I think a lot of main-stream Americans felt the same way.
What NBC should have done was put her in an entry level position, where she could be retrained on the basics of solid journalism, presenting the truth to an audience and respecting all sides of the difficult issues we face. Then we could see if she could lift her career legitimately, without having to inject the personal bluster you describe in your article.
10
"What NBC should have done was put her in an entry level position, where she could be retrained on the basics of solid journalism..."
Why, when they already had the miles-better Tamron Hall on board? Why should NBC cut her slack they would never have given a non-white-journalist? Never mind--those questions answer themselves.
5
Feisty and glib when not appropriate. Went for the zinger rather than the truth.
7
Murphy Brown trying to be Corky Sherwood. Sad.
I cannot believe that this woman (with whom I disagreed but whom I respected) has taken this turn.
On the other hand if she wanted a rest from using her mind, she's found it.
14
She’s definitely not using her mind on that show.
1
The real issue with Megyn Kelly is authenticity. Did anyone else get the feeling that on Fox News she was often "performing" as the brilliant, argumentative ex-lawyer, the star pupil in seek of the teacher's praise for her brilliance? Well, here she is again performing, for the early morning viewers, the kinder, gentler host/therapist Megyn Kelly.
Who is she really? When she figures that out, (and maybe it won't be in front of a camera) then she will be successful.
4
Kelly went from news/politics to inane matters. She was good at what she did and is not good at what she's doing. Same with Couric. Vain overestimation of one's capacities often leads to career disaster or, apparently now, to the White House.
6
Is this the same woman I read about a few months ago? So "smart," so "capable," so "hardworking?" What chameleons. Our television egos will do whatever it takes to keep their fat paychecks coming in. They treat the "viewer" like children. The topics they cover are inane and the interviews are pablum. Ultimately, they are the fools. Even the Weather Channel does it. Men all buffed up and women wearing too tight, too short clothing, talking about the latest blow through. I chose the only option available and stopped watching. Television speaks with, about, and to, the lowest common denominator, with PBS being the only possible exception.
17
Being ambitious is tolerable, but it is ugly when laid bare. Ms. Kelly sold her soul to Fox and now seeks redemption. Sorry, but it's hard to forget her lies.
20
Actually, this is the second soul sale. Has zero to do with redemption.
2
Ms Kelly sorta reminds me of my long ago college landlady whose cat just sat on the porch all day. She said he use to carouse and carouse so I had him altered and he’s just content to sit on the porch...
2
Megyn had very high ratings at fox news.The fact is she was liked.The problem with you is that you have an ax to grind with fox news.Megyn wanted a daytime live talk show.She wanted to be home for her children at night.Fox news did not want to give her that.The show is up against live with Kelly and hot bench.These two shows are highly rated.The best thing for nbc to do is move her show to 2pm.She can beat the talk and abc's dumb video show.Television is all about time slots.Are you aware in 1986 oprah started at 10am in September.Her show was a disaster.All the affiliates moved her to 4pm by November.She became a success because there was no competition at that time.Eventually,judge judy came along and oprahs ratings started to slide.60 minutes was going to be cancelled in 1978.Cbs put the show on after football and that is why it became #1.Time slot is the key to every show.
3
What article asserts sounds right. I hardly ever watched Fox much, but she was outstanding there. At NBC, she is purely among a bunch of morning-show entertainers. She can't truly cover up her not-nice persona and genetic make-up. She should make a quick pivot to be a you know what and, with that, seize the high ground of her rating slot. She could even practice some journalism, which is mostly dead at NBC and MSNBC. Go Megan. She would be especially effective in goading Mr. T.
". . . journalism, which is mostly dead at NBC and MSNBC"
Um, no.
2
Megyn Kelly is either crazy or the most cynically venal person on the planet. She'll say or do anything for a buck; she spent years on Fox parroting a hard-right line--only occasionally, the veneer would slip and we'd see the 'real' Ms. Kelly. If her current employer wants her to be an incarnation of Oprah or Dr. Phil or Maury Povitch, all they've got to do is show her the money.
7
No one was ever going to take Megyn Kelly seriously as anything other than an extreme right-wing ideologue. Either NBC should have made her a right-wing figure and let the chips fall where they may, or leave her be. But the idea that NBC doesn't have any hard-hitting women is ridiculous. Now granted, Rachel Maddow, Katy Tur, Stephanie Ruhle, and Joy Reid are off on MSNBC, but they are about as hard-hitting as anything Megyn Kelly ever did and they traffic in facts, rather than hate, as Kelly did.
392
This is a great point! Although I'm a progressive I also love Nicole Wallace (ex Bush aid) on Destination Washington. Smart, intelligent, well prepared, insightful and classy. I'll take her and any of the journalists Jill C. lists above over Kelly any day.
1
True DAT!
Batya Ungar-Sargon can write about liking Megan Kelly in the NY Times but 2 points are missed which are key as to why not very many others like Megan Kelly (outside of Fox News viewers). There is a certain lingering feeling, about anyone who is associated with Fox News, which has to do with lack of integrity, propaganda, lies and deception. Scripted puppets of the rich and powerful. Also, the light, shallow nature of American television in the morning calls for sweetness and or a naturally light sense of humor like a Katie Couric or Kelly Rippa. Megyn Kelly has neither. Why NBC thought this was a right fit? That's the question without an obvious answer.
6
Everything about Megyn is and has always been calculated. She stands for neither journalistic standards (Santa Claus is white), nor progressiveness for women (her new show). Megyn is a packaged commodity, always playing a role. She has had little to offer in terms of objective reporting, and even less to bring forth in this current abomination of her new configuration.
Really, the question is -- why does anyone care what she does?
15
I didn't watch her on Fox. I don't watch her now. In fact, I don't watch much on television outside of PBS. Try it. You'll feel less anxious. :-)
13
Ms. Kelly is like one of those system quarterbacks who do really well in a particular setting, but struggle mightily, and more often fail when out of their comfort zone. Can you imagine Oprah hosting a show on Fox News?
4
"Whatever the reason, however, her descent into banal harmlessness operates as a cautionary tale to all women: You will have to be likable if you want to go mainstream."
Not exactly. This is a bit of the McLean Stevenson effect: just because you were liked in one role, don't assume that you are generally liked.
It also underscore the fact that even if you are a cute chick, you better be able to negotiate a good contract, and it isn't all about the money.
4
Tough act to follow. Megyn seems to be in public limbo for now, trying to be somebody she's not, authenticity vs likability vs transcendence, in a cynical world of our own making.
1
I am baffled and bewildered as to why this woman is so important. Let the entertainment buffs follow her career in the entertainment news. Without FOX holding her up she falls apart. Let it go.
14
What you are saying applies to every newsreader on network TV.
2
Are we still talking about television here? Megyn Kelly isn't an investigative journalist. She's a television persona. Thus, the main prerequisites for her success are (in this order):
-To look good;
-To be marginally likable;
-To be smart, witty and interesting.
Now, some people have gotten away without having those traits in order. Walter Cronkite was not terribly attractive; he was, however, smart and likable.
Stop and ask yourself this: Would Megyn Kelly be where she is today without the good looks? Take that coiffed hair, the legs under the glass table, and the jeweled dress away and replace it with a Smeagal from Lord of the Rings, and I think we'd have a different outcome.
57
She's gotten too much mileage from being blonde and spouting the conservative party line. Pity her journalistic skills aren't nealy good enough to save her outside of Fox.
1
I find it amazing that Ms Ungar- Sargon - could so easily get past Kelly's "white santa claus', statements and 'black lives matter' attacks because Kelly stood up to Trump< Gingrich and others. That was Ailes brilliance and not Kelly's core in my view. No her core, her real self , was always displayed , when she bowed to Brit Hume, and O'Reilly, fawning over their words, because they held the real power over her. Her job!
When she had on weaker opponents than a Gingrich or a Wiener , she became the real 'man girl' as you put it. Attacking people involved causes , never having been on television, and then she attacked ( always a liberal cause) them like the pretty, mean girl at the cool table in the cafeteria in HS. With venom and made to make the weaker foil cry.
She was a "mean girl" alright, but not one that spoke truth power (.eg. Elizabeth Warren) but one who furthered her own career by preying upon the weak - men AND women, and the powerful ( but rarely really powerful ) men.
Silence as she turned a blind eye to the misogyny and racism that permeated Fox, by Ailes et al.
But what makes her particularly loathsome, is not the attacks per se, bad as they were, but that she has all the attributes you list, the sharp mind, quick wit and beauty ( not to mention wealth ) and she used them to prey upon the weak too!
32
"...her descent into banal harmlessness operates as a cautionary tale to all women..."
No, her descent into banal harmlessness should be a warning to every person on television who tries to do serious, probing reporting. They will try to mold and remake you, they (management) will try to use you for their own ends, ignoring brains and natural talents in the process. This is the fundamental problem of the clash on television between seriousness, show business and the bugaboo of ratings.
It is a seductive process. I have some personal knowledge having been a local news anchor in a major city (Dallas) while still in college. "We think you should go this way...or that way..." can sound like music to the ears when modest fame and the lure of payouts await.
The economics of Kelly's compensation probably were seen as dictating giving her a big slot in the Today Show franchise. 23 million a year would only come back to the network if she had her own show. It could never be justified for a mere reporter, not even 1/23rd of that. Reporters, please note, are rather a grubby species despite whatever glamour might attach to the trench coat. Their survival in the job depends entirely on gathering enough of nuggets of information to make a story.
Kelly shed the identity she had at Fox News like a worn out coat. She played along, joined the parade, a co-conspirator in the evaporation of her serious self, not because she is female but because she is riding the beast of television.
8
I watched her sparingly and thought she was tough. I just struggled with her wanting certain rights, like maternity leave, which is fought for on the left, while demonizing the left. I always find women like her and Ann Coulter hypocritical. Without pioneers on the left, Ann Coulter wouldn't have her J.D. and Megyn Kelly wouldn't have her show. I could care less if she fails.
286
C Lee: I think you mean that you could NOT care less if she fails. Otherwise, well said. Enough with these hypocrites getting away with it, all the way to the bank!
Oh, please. I could NOT care less.
I guess this solves the problem with American society, people are more interested in being entertained than being cerebral considering the problems of the country. Lately when I watch Rachel she seems to get more giddy when she "nails" a republican, somewhat akin to high school clicks. Don't get we wrong, her reporting is great, its just it would be more professional without the "got-cha" face. Maybe local news should report on the people running in our district, refrain from sensationalism and cover news without the ratings concern. In other words, return to grass roots.
Thanks NYTimes for this report planting a seed for thought about the ''real" fake news.
5
Yes. I admire Ms. Maddow but feel she would be even more credible if she adopted Judy Woodruff's approach.
Stop performing the news. Just deliver it. It's more believable.
4
How about a practical observation. It is common place for the media figure to stumble with a new show or new venue. We saw this with Johnnie Carson in his first months, and saw it most recently with Steven Colbert who is now doing fine.
We really don't know yet what Megan Kelly will be like as she settles into her new home, and there may yet be another iteration. But if anyone things the Megyn's persona on Fox was less contrived, sorry, no - the Fox persona made real discussion impossible.
2
Greta Van S failed after a tough year on MSNBC.
I can't see NBC recouping its $23M investment.
2
I don't think NBC was trying to transform Kelly as much as Kelly was trying to run from her past. Yes, she had strong opinions and could argue them well, but she has admitted to being a hired gun. Tell her what to argue for and she was all in. Thus maybe the opinions she argue for weren't truly hers and now she flounders. But she also has that anchor of a long, long history tied around her neck.
3
I am not sure what viewers expect out of these shows but this show is not entertaining in my opinion and Ms. Kelly 's demeanor shows that she is more comfortable being the attractive attack dog as opposed to being a conversationalist. This show won't last very long without modification
3
"Will you walk into my parlor, said the spider to the fly?" This was what I picked up as the overwhelmingly uncomfortable vibe, watching Kelly's Today out of curiosity. She is a brittle unpleasant personality with a history of advocacy for the Fox News agenda. The guests who are artists do not seem to want to be there and turn brittle, themselves; desperation for publicity, or iron clad contracts, the obvious reasons for their reluctant appearances. Unless the intent of the show is to reinforce our despair for our country, not a good way to start the day.
3
I share your cringing reaction whenever I see" Megan Kelly Today." But NBC gave us serious Kelly, and she brought Alex Jones into our living rooms. That's when she lost me, and maybe herself.
Being a liberal, I never watched Fox News. Several years ago I happened across Megyn's 9pm show and was intrigued. I started tuning in regularly, attracted to her attitude that was counter to most of the other talking heads on that network. I tried tuning in to her new show, as you have said, just not a fit for her personality. I think the brass at NBC have made a grave miscalculation.
1
Maybe the NBC-Megyn is the true Megyn and the FOX-Megyn was an artificial Ailes construct? Of course the problem for NBC now is that people enjoyed the FOX-Megyn more than they now do the NBC-Megyn. I hate FOX but at times enjoy their insanity. The traditional major networks are solid but too often too careful.
The American public has become like an abused wife, hating what we are indefatigably attracted to.
2
Are there any examples of men moving from a highly-rated nighttime show to a morning talk show? This seems like a big step down.
All of these daytime talk shows seem alike to me, filled with an audience of women who scream on cue. Just like nighttime comics have an audience of screaming young men. Someday another Oprah will come along and break the mold. But Megan Kelly was creation of Roger Ailes. Left to herself, she seems to be casting off all the things that made her popular and trying to be another Kathie Lee Gifford, and it all seems a bit phony.
4
I don't think she is a "horrific bizarro version of her former self;" I think she just espouses whatever party line her employer wants. She is not a "journalist" but a TV personality reading from a teleprompter. You can like or dislike her act, but that's all it is.
And the show is not a "tragedy" but just a miscalculation of the appeal of an entertainer from one milieu trying her shtick on another stage.
12
You miss the old Megyn Kelly? I miss the old journalism. Instead of a widely varied profession whose ideals were outing truth & challenging power, we have this good cop / bad cop scam. The right-wing media substitutes ideology for ethics, and the mainstream media substitues balance for ethics. One entertains with anger & fake rebellion, the other entertains with pretension & fake authority. Whichever Ms. Kelly or anyone else works for, the country is still be effectively prevented from engaging in debate & democracy, which is apparently the purpose.
7
Morning shows don't like controversy (Rosie on "The View"). So why put Megyn there if it involves a dumbing-down of her controversial brand? And don't get me started on the fake lamb's clothing!
Thank you! I caught the show the other morning and thought about trying to write a letter to her. What did she do to herself? She was one of the most fierce women in America. Come back Megyn Kelly! We need you!
You forget that authenticity is not in the job description for a news anchor. He or she experiments with clothes, expressions, topics to cover, tweaking their product maximize ratings. To say you're let down is charming, but naive, and it vastly underestimates Megyn Kelly.
Not to be critical, but its hard not to notice that some are commenting on a Megyn Kelly they never saw and a Fox News that is "bad." Until we de-silo and begin to hear how others think - even if we think it is distorted thought - we won't be able to transcend our national crisis of citizenship.
I watch CNN, NBC and Fox in even bites. All three too often present biased news; whether by presenting one side of a story, by spinning statistics to favor one side, or just through tone of voice or sad smirking. CNN and NBC may not like the president, I don't either. But they've fallen into his trap; and pander to a center/left that also wants to find him disgusting. And while Fox is the most despicable of the major media outlet (watch One America if you really want ridiculous), Chris Wallace is one of the few hard-charging, non-smirking reporters on any network. Listen to him and you can't tell what his politics are.
While Megyn Kelly sometimes took on obnoxious Fox-fanning of angry white America, she also courageously spoke truth to power. When she took on Trump in the debate, she was attacked viciously (at home) by the Trump-trolls - thugs who claim to love America and the Constitution - who our sexist-in-chief set loose on her and her family. Its sad that our news has become so biased - playing to extremes of our citizenry - but intimidation and personal destruction of one of the more inquiring reporters should be chilling to us all.
5
". . . pander to a center/left that also wants to find him disgusting"
No. There is no need to spin the reality. They present the facts and actually the president IS disgusting. Everyone in the country except for a small percentage of eligible voters loathe him for what he is doing to this country.
6
To be sure, Megyn was/is cute and an attraction-grabber.
But Harris Faulkner and Rachel Meadows are the two worth watching, without having to consider either as uttering the final wisdom on anything.
They are both great conversation starters, which is the highest honor for which any TV personality can strive.
9
Part of the trouble is our obsession with celebrity, resulting in the need for journalists - and there are fewer of what I would call real journalists (intelligent, informed, dedicated, not just pretty faces) than ever, it sadly seems - to be a "personality" first and follow a particular script often influenced by whether their network is to be positioned from the Fox right to the MSNBC left, and thus toeing the line. We were far better served back when journalists could act like journalists, whether male or female, than stars. Yes, there were big names, like Cronkite or Brinkley, but the news was the star, not the reporter or reader. We can probably never go back to that simpler, less glitzy time, but it's yet another loss.
52
For some reason we make celebrities out of people who simply report the news. They read teleprompters and have nothing to do with having made news themselves. We are then expected to enjoy their books and/or TV shows.
Years ago we laughed at the British, with their fascination with the royal family and celebrities. Well, we have caught up with them. Move over Fleet Street!
63
Exactly. The British call them "news readers" which is a much more accurate description.
It shows that Kelly is in it for the money and is willing to do what she's told in order to keep the stream of millions of dollars flowing into her bank accounts.
37
Yes, she probably is in for the money, but how does that differentiate her from scores of her peers in the news/infotainment media?
5
Her peers like O'Reilly nothing.
That's why her show is not a news show on NBC, not that it ever was on FOX.
There are news shows that are trying to report the truth to the american people. Unfortunately, a large swath of americans can't tell when they're being conned or lied to.
1
Because plenty of people are in the news business because they care about the truth and the country, regardless of the salary.
Excellent op-ed. A smart woman who intelligently challenged everyone has been essentially stifled. I thought her Sunday show format would be a good compromise for the mainstream but that seems to be shelved.
10
How has she been stifled? She had a world of options, and this is the one she chose.
5
How about as women we embrace a third way of being, neither bullying or full of pap? How about championing incisive, intelligent, well-informed and civil interviewing and discourse? Why must we always buy into the fallacy that we must be either milquetoast or aggressive?
In the 60's my criticism of the women's movement was that it often did not really question patriarchal values, it simply wanted a piece of that pie. If you don't question the values, you are doomed to embrace them when you reach positions of power. You really don't become a force for change, you simply repeat the same mistakes.
I often watch MSNBC and am constantly impressed by the hosts, male and female (Maddow, Chris Hayes, Lawrence O'Donnell) and their level of preparedness, effectiveness as interviewers, AND their exemplary courtesy and civility.
We CAN strive for both.
563
I'm ancient, but I do manage to stay up late enough to catch Brian Williams, a smart, literate newsman whose genial demeanor belies his tough questioning and the horrible wringer NBC has subjected him to for what essentially was an exaggeration.
I'm even a fan of Chris Matthews, who, after all these years, cannot stop himself from talking over his guests and referring to Tip O'Neill.
2
Absolutely yes!
Another place where you can find preparedness, effectiveness, courtesy and civility is on PBS.
4
I agree with you on Brian Williams. NBC news division is very lucky to have a talent like Williams on an 11 pm time slot.
2
Not to worry, much like Colbert after he left comedy central, they will flounder for a while trying to reinvent themselves, then return to form and become a clone of their previous cable incarnation.
6
sorry for ms kelly's present career crisis, but the near unanimous praise for her old self in her old role puzzles...perhaps a minority of one here, but her edge seemed not the edge of an informed analyst but of a desperate careerist, not an uncommon species in the infotainment industry, her advantage among the women being that her voice did not come
out of her nose and, among the men, she could speak in complete sentences...technically promising then, with some appetite for engagement but, perhaps distracted by the demands of celebrity,
she was content to play as she was (well) cast (the adversary) adding nothing of her own to her performances (trial lawyers know about that)...and it is that absence of self, in the jump to an under-rehearsed role against type, that has her struggling...if she wants to make things better she'll have to look past her handlers for help in getting away from "who she was" per the ailes prescription...she could start by having tea with oprah.
5
Batya, I agree with most of your op-ed. I too was pleasantly surprised to see that this strong, mostly centrist, woman existed and was thriving on FOX News, of all places. She masterfully took the lemons dealt her from the sexist and hateful attacks against her in the aftermath of her debate questions to Trump. She used the controversy to enhance her profile, publish a best-selling memoir, and have major networks compete for her with sizable paychecks. I recently saw one partial episode of the new daytime show, and I agree it seems shallow for someone of Megyn's firepower and abilities. Where I disagree with you is this: It is not fair to Megyn or any woman, for us to require her to hold up the banner of strong-smart-powerful-gamechanging-woman for our benefit! The whole point of liberation from traditional gender roles, I believe, is to allow both genders some fluidity in living their lives in different roles at different times. She gets to be tough AND a powderpuff, and maybe she will be tough again. Or maybe she's decided to get out of the frying pan for a few years and spend less time traveling and more time with her family. She gets to choose.
9
As a liberal who often tunes in to Fox News to hear another viewpoint, Megyn Kelly and Greta Van Susternan were the two intelligent, logical female voices there. Maybe Megyn's character switch is due to fear that she will suffer the same fate as Greta, who also moved to NBC and was dropped quickly for not being liked enough. It was a huge letdown to see Greta go. And it was a huge disappointment to see Brian Williams return after losing credibility as an evening anchor. NBC is losing it's way.
93
Greta was liked, just not "attractive" enough. These days, you need so many million likes on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and all the other social media outlets.
Media personalities don’t spend much time telling us what happened. They spend most of their time telling us what we should think about it. Thanks, but no thanks.
69
Agree, would just like the known facts (no so called experts opinions at first reporting of major news events). Liked Megyn when she had her own show at first on Fox. She zeroed in on what was happening not her own "feelings" about stories. Her interview with Anthony Weiner about healthcare exposed him flat out for the jerk he is.
2
The easiest answer is to the question of why network TV would undercut the very character of what Megyn Kelly does best - intelligent, cutting, controversial and adversarial attacks - is that network TV panders to the lowest common denominator. Go fluffy or go home.
Personally I could not abide Kelly in her incarnation on FOX, but I could see that she was both sharp and incisive. But networks want more Entertainment Tonight and less 60 Minutes. Infotainment and Kardashians, or Taylor Swift if she has done something new, stay away from the stuff that gets uncle Wally exercised at the Thanksgiving table. Keep the sharp talk to late night.
If you want to develop your own personality, stick to cable.
84
I have neither admiration nor respect for Megyn Kelly, whose airtime was overwhelmingly in the service of the Fox News narrative. Her so-called tough interviews used right wing values rhetoric to respond to facts, and manufactured facts--lies--when that didn't work. It is shameful for her or anyone on her behalf to play the gender card on behalf of this person who throughout her tenure at Fox helped promote policies that demean and oppress women. The fact that she now willingly accepts the more conventional female TV personality role of being likable and delivering fluff to her viewers shows that the only thing she really cares about is the career of Megyn Kelly.
348
I have not watched her new show. But I knew all along it would be a hard sell. The other women you compare her to are individuals who were unknown quantities when they hit the airwaves. They had no reputation to withhold or image to recreate. NBC is trying to make Megyn Kelly fit into a new role that is at odds with her old one. It is like taking Howard Stern off Sirius and then, immediately, having him be the host of a Christian show like the Tower of Power or something on Sunday mornings. Megyn Kelly should have gone low key for awhile, done some late night talk shows, done a stint on The View, and then started her own show. It will be a very costly experiment for NBC. If it doesn't work out, Megyn could always be a regular on Law and Order or something.
22
Ms Kelly is probably trying to be the new Oprah. Fill that void. This is a great essay,.. I have read a few complaints about the new Megyn. I have to slightly disagree with " power came not from her beauty ". It helped. It added to the she's got it all thing. And it's true she did change her look from day to day which made her even more intriguing, I remember once she had her hair slicked back and down, striking make up, Kind of a David Bowie glam jam. Really pushing the limit. I don't think Fox was happy about that particular day. ... Who knows ??? Maybe in the age of Trump she can't take politics too much. Then again maybe she lost her sense of herself. Could be the public has tired of her for now. I guess we'll find out if the new incarnation works. I haven't seen it, but from what I've read & heard, it's not very appealing.
Orange, NJ
18
On Fox she was always at her best when her lawyer skills shined challenging O'Reilly's shibboleths. This new NBC personae won't last because it's not who she really is; her audience will wonder what she really thinks about the issues of the day.
17
Megyn Kelly is suffering from the same fate that Ann Curry did. Ann Curry was a serious journalist who went to where the story was rather than always sitting behind the desk reading the news. In that environment she thrived but when she replaced Meredith Vieria she struggled with the soft interviews and small talk she was expected to do. Eventually she was pushed out.
If NBC really wanted Megyn Kelly to succeed they would have had her do something similar to what she did on Fox. Frankly it's almost like they set her up to fail.
I stopped watching the today show after the Ann Curry incident. Replacing Tamron Hall and Al Roker with this Megyn Kelly farce just reinforces my decision not to watch the today show. What a waste of talent.
218
"Frankly it's almost like they set her up to fail."
Heh. Putting her newsmagazine show up against 60 MINUTES was definitely a sign.
5
"What a waste of talent." And it is a waste of my time! NBC 'may' have "set her up to fail", because she is presiding over a real snooze-fest. I've got better things to do.
1
Ann Curry hyper-enjoyed every need story and interview. Painful to watch.
I saw Megyn Kelly's interview with Alex Jones and I thought his sweating and other body language as she grilled him was persuasive evidence he was lying. So that was good journalism. But I never turned on her program again. It just wasn't pleasant to watch.
Maybe mainstream audiences simply have less tolerance for Kelly's kind of aggression than Fox News viewers, who buy into Fox's dark and distorted vision of the world.
22
I would agree. Of course, at times, I would wish for reporters of Fox News and also certain other channels to focus on not interrupting in order to trash. Kelly would learn that with time, but this? I say, the US needs a sharp lady standing up to Trump & Pence and all the boys - regardless of party, for sure.
If it is what she really wants to do, OK, but it means going into oblivion rather than have an influence. In a way, this is as if she chose to retire.
6
"Why was Megyn Kelly’s transition into the mainstream accompanied by this kind of neutering?"
Because morning TV talk shows generally traffic in the bland and uncontroversial. Why Kelly thought her talents would translate into that format is beyond me. She basically agreed to a TV role that does not leverage her strengths. It is a bad fit.
100
She should have been given a hard news show. She seems totally uncomfortable in the role of cutesy morning person. It is a shame because she is extremely talented and personable. I also miss the old Megyn, the take no prisoners, tough cookie.
5
I never watched Kelly on FOX but from your description, I'd say she took a bullying approach to interviewing. And there's a recurring theme with bullies -- they're used to success at pushing folks around, not because they're smarter or even scarier, but because most people avoid confrontations and choose to back off and keep the peace.
In Trump, Kelly met a bigger bully than she and her response was predictable: She folded like a cheap suit. And then she followed up her Presidential "debate" act with an interview with Trump in his tower, throwing him soft-ball questions to make amends and instead made herself another mendicant at the altar of Trump.
So you're right, she's now auditioning a new personality hoping to be liked. It's not working because it's not who she is.
228
The calculated stupidity of this "new" Megyn Kelly is so insulting to women who Ms. Kelly wants for an audience. I have fun thinking and need to be catered to, surely not entertained, as thoughtless.
55
Correcting my early holiday morning attempt at writing:
The calculated stupidity of this "new" Megyn Kelly is so insulting to women who Ms. Kelly wants for an audience. I have fun thinking and do not need to be catered to, surely not entertained, as thoughtless
120
This new persona of Ms. Kelly looks phony and is painful to watch. I admired and respected her as a hard-hitting interviewer on Fox. No reason NBC couldn't have used her in a similar role.
We don't need another Kelly Ripa.
4
The real enemy of extremists is not the ones at the other end of the spectrum but those in the middle because the latter have the good sense to defer their thinking from the immediate "my way or no way" gut reaction to a more nuanced "on one hand, on the other hand" reasoning. It is easy to rile up the crowd in the extremist mode, whether you are for or against the speaker. Not so when the speaker is in the room full of grown-up.
I don't watch Faux News and I don't think I ever sat through a whole hour watching Kelly. I read about her though. Perhaps Megyn Kelly needs to learn to be in the room with the grown-up. Why, Faux News just hired a 25 year old to fill its rank. It is so easy to find juvenile with little moral training. So maybe you don't write off Kelly just yet.
After all, faux infamy is easy and genuine authenticity is hard. Extremists at both ends may want Megyn Kelly stay the same but humanists amongst us may want her to better herself. One more good being in this world means one fewer not-so-good being in this world, whether she is bombastic or not
39