I Think it is a Mistake for Megyn Kelly to Leave Fox News

Well the election made her a giant star so she is cashing her chips in when it counts.

Kelly's closing remarks came less than 12 hours after the surprise announcement that she will be giving up her prime-time role at Fox for a multi-year deal that includes several roles at NBC. She will launch a daytime program as well as a Sunday evening news magazine show, and be part of the network’s coverage of major political and breaking-news events.

First of all a daytime program is nothing like the second most popular ratings spot on cable news. She gets to go up against Ellen, Hoda and Kathie Lee, and more light-hearted people like that. People watching daytime TV probably don't want too high a dose of hard news. Case-in-point is how the View seems to be flounder when the election is not on. So I have a feeling that her daytime TV show (which I guess will be after Hoda and Kathie Lee in the 11th Hour of the Today show or whatever it is called) seems destined to flop. I don't think you can go from the hard-ish news of the Today show, the drunken frivolity of Hoda and Kathie Lee, and back to the hard news of Kelly.

The Sunday News magazine might be watched somewhat but I just don't see it beating the Fox comedies, NCIS: LA, Amazing Race etc. It will get strait-up buried if its up against Game of Thrones or Walking Dead. Also the show might get pushed back time and again because of Sunday Night Football. I guess NBC will be using this as a lead-in much of the time but will people go from Football to hard-news just like that? NBC is betting big money on people making that jump.

Finally, is she really going to replace Lester Holt doing the breaking-news and political coverage? He seems to be the face of NBC and is doing a good job of that. If there is a disaster or something I'm almost certain NBC will cut to Holt instead of Kelly. I'm certain she will be the debate moderator if NBC gets another debate in 2020 but will her shows actually last that long?

So, other than the money, I think this might actually be a step back for her. I know she wanted to get out of O'reilly's huge shadow but this might not have been the best offer. I think whoever replaces her will become a huge star in their own right while Kelly disappears into irrelevance. I enjoyed watching her on Fox but will probably not follow her anywhere on NBC since I have a daytime job and I like watching Simpsons, Game of Thrones, etc.