Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly

Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly
Genre	Newsmagazine
Presented by	Megyn Kelly
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	8
Production
Executive producers	David Corvo Liz Cole
Running time	60 minutes
Production company	NBC News
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	June 4 (2017-06-04) – July 30, 2017 (2017-07-30)

Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly was an American television newsmagazine hosted by journalist and former attorney Megyn Kelly.

The series premiered on NBC on June 4, 2017, as Kelly's first NBC News program since her departure to the division from Fox News. It initially ran over the summer. ^[1] The series was announced in 2018 as returning sporadically until the beginning of NFL season, as opposed to being weekly but never returned. ^[2]

Kelly terminated her contract with NBC in January 2019. ^{[3] [4]}

Host and correspondents

Host

• Megyn Kelly (2017)

Correspondents

• Cynthia McFadden (2017)
• Keith Morrison (2017)
• Harry Smith (2017)
• Kate Snow (2017)
• Jacob Soboroff (2017)
• Katy Tur (2017)
• Craig Melvin (2017)

Reception

Critical reaction

The series received a 30% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes based on 10 reviews with an average of 0/10. Its consensus states "Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly finds its talented anchor attempting to move outside her comfort zone – and flailing through the largely unimpressive results." ^[5]

Early reviews were mostly negative. Reviewing Kelly's interview with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Lorraine Ali of Los Angeles Times wrote that Kelly "tried to deliver something substantive in under 10 minutes, and it wound up making her coming-out party more of a fizzle than a bang." ^[6] Variety television critic Maureen Ryan concluded that "Kelly herself was, as she has always been, poised on camera. But the show will have to go much further in matters of quality, urgency and coherence to justify the investment in the anchor. In interviews, Kelly sounds as if she's been eager to prove herself outside the narrow confines of her former perch. That process still appears to be a work in progress, at best." ^[7]

Kelly's interview of Alex Jones drew favorable praise. ^[8] The Hollywood Reporter concluded that "the segment covered all the right bases, albeit frustratingly briefly. But it needed to be far more hard-hitting." ^[9]

Viewership

Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly debuted with 6.1 million viewers (with a 0.2 rating in the 25–54 demographic). ^[10]

The June 18 episode, which featured an interview with Jones, drew 3.5 million viewers (with a 0.5 rating in the 18–49 demographic), ranking fourth during its timeslot. The airing was topped behind reruns of 60 Minutes (which also received the same demographic rating) and America's Funniest Home Videos , and the U.S Golf Open Championship. ^[11]

By mid-July 2017, the show's viewership had declined every week from each episode. The July 16 episode averaged 3.1 million viewers (with a 0.4 rating in the 18–49 demographic) marking the show's lowest viewer turnout since its debut. ^[12]

Alex Jones controversy

At the end of the June 11 episode, Kelly previewed an interview with conspiracy theorist and radio talk show host Alex Jones. ^[13] The interview drew an immediate backlash from the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre on social media; most of whom protested to giving a platform to Jones, who has previously asserted that the massacre that claimed twenty-six lives was faked by the government. Also, the interview was criticized as being in poor taste as it coincided with Father's Day. ^[14] On June 12, JPMorgan Chase announced that it would pull its advertising from the show and all NBC programming until after the interview aired. Kristin Lemkau, chief marketing officer of JPMorgan Chase, tweeted "As an advertiser, I'm repulsed that @megynkelly would give a second of airtime to someone who says Sandy Hook and Aurora are hoaxes." ^[15]

On June 13, 2017, Kelly was dropped from hosting the Promise Champions Gala, an annual event for the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation. In a statement, Nicole Hockley issued "Sandy Hook Promise cannot support the decision by Megyn or NBC to give any form of voice or platform to Alex Jones and have asked Megyn Kelly to step down as our Promise Champion Gala host." ^[16] In reaction, Kelly defended the interview issuing a tweet that "Our goal in sitting down with him was to shine a light – as journalist are supposed to do – on this influential figure, and yes, to discuss the considerable falsehoods he has promoted to near impunity." Kelly also asserted that Jones has received praise from President Donald Trump, who has appeared on his show and granted Infowars White House press credentials. ^[14]

Additionally, Jones wanted NBC to retract the interview claiming it was deceptively edited. ^[17] In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Jones stated "Don't air the piece, because from the promos NBC has run, Megyn is distorting me. It has all the markings of a PR stunt. The minute she put that promo out there, there were groups calling for boycotts. It was basically instantaneous." ^[18] Despite the criticism, NBC announced that they intended to move forward with the interview. ^[19] NBC-owned WVIT in Connecticut elected to pre-empt the episode to prevent offense. ^[20]

References

1. Hayes, Dade (May 21, 2017). "NBC Sets Premiere Date for Megyn Kelly's New Sunday Magazine Show". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved May 25, 2017.
2. Littleton, Cynthia (March 6, 2018). "NBC News' 'Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly' Returns for Spring and Summer Run". Variety. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
3. Iannucci, Rebecca (January 7, 2019). "Today Reveals Cohosts for Post-Megyn Kelly Third Hour – Who's Taking Over?". TVLine. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
4. Kludt, Tom; Stelter, Brian (January 11, 2019). "Megyn Kelly leaves NBC with all of her $69 million contract intact". CNN. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
5. "Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster . Retrieved July 28, 2017.
6. Ali, Lorraine (June 4, 2017). "Review Megyn Kelly gets outmaneuvered by Vladimir Putin on her NBC premiere 'Sunday Night'". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved July 28, 2017.
7. Ryan, Maureen (June 4, 2017). "TV Review: 'Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly'". Variety. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
8. Barr, Jeremy (June 18, 2017). "Megyn Kelly's Interview of Alex Jones Draws Mostly Favorable Reviews". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved July 28, 2017.
9. Scheck, Frank (June 18, 2017). "Critic's Notebook: Megyn Kelly Works Hard Not to Sully Herself With Alex Jones Interview". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
10. Otterman, Joe (June 5, 2017). "TV Ratings: 'Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly' Opens Decently, NBA Finals Game 2 Ticks Up". Variety . Retrieved July 28, 2017.
11. "TV Ratings: Megyn Kelly's Alex Jones Interview Sees No Lift on Sunday Night". Variety. June 19, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
12. O'Conner, Lydia (July 18, 2017). "Megyn Kelly's NBC Show Is Stuck in a Bad Pattern". HuffPost . Retrieved July 28, 2017.
13. Master, Cyra (June 11, 2017). "Megyn Kelly previews Alex Jones interview". The Hill . Retrieved July 28, 2017.
14. Ortiz, Erik (June 13, 2017). "Megyn Kelly Defends Interview With Infowars Host Alex Jones". NBC News . Retrieved July 28, 2017.
15. Vranica, Suzanne (June 11, 2017). "J.P. Morgan Removes NBC News Ads Over Megyn Kelly Interview With Alex Jones". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved July 28, 2017.
16. "Megyn Kelly dropped as host for Sandy Hook group's gala over Alex Jones interview". The Washington Post . June 13, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
17. Brennan, Christopher (June 12, 2017). "Alex Jones says he agrees with Sandy Hook families, wants NBC interview pulled". Daily News . New York. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
18. Paul Bond (June 14, 2017). "Alex Jones Responds to Megyn Kelly Interview Uproar: "It's a Bunch of PR"". The Hollywood Reporter (Interview). Interviewed by Paul Bond. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
19. Byers, Dylan (June 12, 2017). "NBC Exec defends Megyn Kelly's Alex Jones interview". CNN . Retrieved July 28, 2017.
20. Otterson, Joe (June 16, 2017). "Connecticut NBC Station Will Not Air Megyn Kelly's Alex Jones Interview". Variety. Retrieved June 22, 2017.

Further reading

• Grynbaum, Michael M. (April 24, 2017). "Megyn Kelly's First Show for NBC Will Debut in June". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331.
• Koblin, John (May 31, 2017). "Megyn Kelly, on NBC With New Shows, Moves Past Trump Turmoil". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331.
• Friedman, Vanessa (June 5, 2017). "Megyn Kelly and the Politics of Dress". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331.
• Hauser, Christine (June 12, 2017). "Megyn Kelly Calls Alex Jones's Sandy Hook Denial 'Revolting,' but Still Plans to Air Interview". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331.
• Maheshwari, Sapna (June 13, 2017). "Advertisers, Afraid to Offend, Weigh in on Shakespeare and Megyn Kelly". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331.
• Grynbaum, Michael M.; Koblin, John (June 16, 2017). "Megyn Kelly, and Network That Bet on Her, Land on the Hot Seat". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331.