‘Megyn Kelly Today’ Debut Draws Comparison To ‘Bride Of Frankenstein’

Megyn Kelly Today premiered this morning as the 9 a.m. Eastern hour of the NBC Today show franchise.

According to Politico, day one of the show, and obviously it is early yet, received thumbs down from many television critics.

The show will primarily focus on entertainment and lifestyle content rather than hard news, which Megyn Kelly has stressed on several occasions. In greeting the enthusiastic live studio audience, for example, the 12-year Fox News Channel anchor noted that she is “done with politics for now.” Reportedly, her lucrative contract with NBC News includes anchoring big political events, however.

Disavowing politics left NBC insiders confused, however, the New York Post claimed. “‘They spent all that money on this great political anchor and journalist,’ said an industry insider. ‘If you take those things away, what are you paying for?'” Other insiders, according to the Post, wondered about the logic of booting Al Roker and Tamron Hall to make room for Megyn Kelly’s show. “‘If it’s a flop, apart from all the other fallout, it’ll be seen as a waste of Al and Tamron,’ we’re told.”

The challenge for Megyn Kelly perhaps is that those Fox News viewers disillusioned with her over all the anti-Trump content on The Kelly File during the election season seem unlikely to follow her to NBC. On the other side of the coin, more liberal NBC viewers could be reluctant to welcome Megyn Kelly into their living rooms because of her FNC resume. Or, as an Inquisitr commenter previously observed about a perceived crossover-appeal or lack thereof, “The left hates her and the right has disowned her.” When highlighting her resume to the audience this morning on a show that also featured the cast of Will and Grace, Kelly omitted any mention of Fox News specifically.

The social justice cohort on Twitter mocked Megyn Kelly this morning for some of her controversial political statements over the years, the Washington Free Beacon reported. Perhaps that’s all the more reason for the new Today offering to steer clear of politics.

Based on this review, the first episode of Megyn Kelly Today was not a monster hit, as it were, with the Washington Post.

“Megyn Kelly Today is meant to be the final, dazzling piece of Kelly’s multimillion-dollar transmogrification from steely Fox News host to a mushy, hugs-for-everybody, midmorning TV host…The debut was like watching a network try to assemble its own Bride of Frankenstein, using parts of Ellen DeGeneres, Kelly Ripa and whatever else it can find. The resultant lovely creature… moved stiffly and waved her arms around in broad gestures in a bizarre attempt to generate excitement from an audience that was already standing and cheering as duly instructed. She interviewed people nervously and so awkwardly that they were cowed into giving monosyllabic answers. She also never missed an opportunity to talk about herself. Most of the episode devolved into an intentionally meta hall of mirrors, inviting the audience to admire Kelly as much as Kelly admires Kelly — a morning TV show about the birth of a morning TV show…”

Related story:

Megyn Kelly Finds Many Journalists Guilty Of Anti-Trump Bias

Separately, some Megyn Kelly detractors contend that when the media personality and former corporate lawyer famously challenged Donald Trump during the August 2015 GOP presidential debate over his past disparaging comments about women (“only Rosie O’Donnell,” the future president famously quipped), it was more about careerism and auditioning for another network — which turned out to be NBC — than a legitimate journalistic inquiry. That exchange touched off a feud that Kelly has described as “the year of Trump.”

Over the summer, there were reports that NBC execs were in total panic over how the Megyn Kelly Today might fare, particularly given that her Sunday night news magazine was pulled after just eight episodes apparently for lackluster ratings.

Megyn Kelly told the New York Times last week that her Today platform is the show “that I was born to do.”

“Kelly’s new program is as odd as the first one at NBC. It’s very clear she’s trying to set herself up as the next Ellen DeGeneres or Oprah Winfrey, but does anyone like Kelly as much as they like those women?,” LifeZette wondered.

Do you think that it’s unfair to throw shade on Megyn Kelly Today after just one show?

[Featured Image by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP Images]