When it comes to Megyn Kelly and ratings on, "Today," news has been merciless. Rumors about her colleagues, like Matt Lauer, are dominating headlines that they wish NBC never hired Megyn or put her on their morning program. By all accounts, her 9 AM hour of "Today" is still new and ratings aren't expected to be solid for a while, something that studio executives have already expressed.
Matt Lauer 'gets it'
In a new report out by Page Six, one of the media outlet's sources claims to have overheard Matt Lauer "throw Megyn Kelly under the bus." According to the witness, Matt was speaking with an industry insider about agents not booking celebrity guests with Megyn and he apparently replied that he "gets it," adding that, "it's a big problem for them," referring to Kelly's hour of the morning program.
It was a surprise that Matt didn't attempt to defend the former Fox News anchor.
A report, out a few weeks ago, claimed that celebrities are going out of their way to avoid appearing on "Megyn Kelly Today," due to lackluster ratings and her disastrous interviews with Jane Fonda and Debra Messing. As a result, publicists aren't encouraging their clients to appear on the show.
'Today' rep denies rumors
A rep for "Today" is telling Page Six that nothing is going on behind-the-scenes. According to the source, there seem to be a "few troublemakers" who are "trying to stir up drama where there just isn’t any. Everyone’s doing just fine at the ‘Today’ show.”
Last Monday, "Today" became the No. 1 rated show, dethroning ABC's "Good Morning America." Although Megyn Kelly's ratings have been down, they're steadily climbing.
A few weeks ago the ratings were down 36 percent compared to where they were at this time last year. Moreover, Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb's 10 AM hour of the show hit a slump, being down 26 percent compared to what their numbers were last year. The decline was solely attributed to Kelly's lead-in and there were rumors that the network may have Megyn swap hours with Gifford and Kotb so they wouldn't be adversely affected by her low ratings.
Does Megyn have a chance?
Matt Lauer is as much of a target for negative reports about "Today" as Megyn Kelly. Since he's the main anchor on the morning show and is reportedly quite particular about how the show operates, anything he might say against colleagues will likely be taken as a sign that they won't last long. It's still too early to predict if Megyn has a chance to make ratings gold for NBC, but they aren't giving up on her.
