Megyn Kelly, by all accounts, is crashing and burning as the second coming of Katie Couric in her morning slot at NBC. It is not hard to understand why. The no-nonsense, hard-hitting Kelly who liked to make her guests sweat on Fox News does not come across as very appealing as the gooey “Megyn in the Morning” fluff gal that NBC tried to make her into. So much for that $23 million a year contract. So how does the network salvage its investment and, more important, how does Kelly save her career?

Being a news talking head is not like acting

In the movie and TV business, a good actor can do both light comedy and heavy drama.

The same cannot be said for a TV talking head. Kelly made her bones at Fox as the interviewer who made Trump mad because of that one question during one of the debates about his nasty behavior toward certain women who had annoyed him. He paid her back with the “bleeding” comment, making Kelly a darling of the never Trumpers. Truth to tell, she treated all of her interview subjects as gladiators with whom she engaged in cut and thrust. For someone who came prepared, the experience could be fun.

However, Kelly is just not cut out for the touchy-feely culture of early morning television. It is as if one saw Xena Warrior Princess suddenly transformed into that kind aunt who likes to hug too much.

The latter could be pleasant. However, one tends to miss the former, especially in the age of self-important politicians and celebrities who need taking down a peg.

How can the network fix things?

NBC could try to salvage the situation by taking Megyn Kelly off the morning shift and have her play to her strength, which is the hard-hitting interview.

In keeping with her desire for more work-family balance that caused her to jump from Fox News to NBC to start with, she can tape the conversations in the morning and afternoon early enough so she can get home for dinner with her kids. The segments can run on the nightly news show. Kelly should also get her own weekly show, sort of like the one she had Sunday evenings, but revamped to concentrate on politics and other controversial subjects.

NBC should move heaven and Earth to get Harvey Weinstein as Kelly’s interview subject in the first airing of the revamped show. The spectacle of the former warrior princess of Fox News putting that man in the hot seat would be ratings gold. Such an interview would be a way to welcome back the old Megyn Kelly who has been missed.
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