Althouse: "Fox News skews very male… I always tend to think of her as more of a guy’s girl than a girl’s girl… It’s extremely challenging, and I’m not sure Megyn’s personality really connects with women."

August 30, 2017

"Fox News skews very male… I always tend to think of her as more of a guy’s girl than a girl’s girl… It’s extremely challenging, and I’m not sure Megyn’s personality really connects with women."

Said an unnamed "a veteran daytime television impresario," quoted in NBC Insiders: "‘Total Panic’ Over Megyn Kelly’s Morning Show/Megyn Kelly begins her 9 a.m. NBC show in four weeks’ time. NBC colleagues are nervous that the poor showing of her Sunday night current-affairs show will follow her to ‘Today,'" by Lloyd Grove at Daily Beast.

Other comments from people who are named in the article with names too boring for me to trouble you with:

“The Sunday show laid such an egg that any claims that she had automatic star power, to get people in the door to see what she was doing, have been disavowed."

"[T]he Today show is a different format with a very strong underlying brand... She should be able to excel there even if the Sunday show was perceived as compromised."

And back to the unnamed impresario:

"She has the safety net of being in the Today show cocoon.... She’s going to have to adapt to the live audience, she will have to be more entertaining, and that will be a learning curve for her. The ultimate question is whether she connects with women in daytime."

Women and men. Gender politics. Remember where this veering away from Fox began for Megyn, just a little over 2 years ago:

43 comments:

Danno said...: I don't think anyone is that enamored with Megyn Kelly, whether it be guys or gals. Megyn Kelly thinks she is the greatest.; 8/30/17, 6:16 AM
Humperdink said...: OBgyn Kelly has a long row to hoe. I suspect few Trump supporters will tune in. Add to that the libs the who resent anything relating to FOX News, from where she emigrated. It would appear to me you have a flame-out in the making.; 8/30/17, 6:18 AM
Tarrou said...: She really has only one choice. Shave her head and go full-turbo SJW, start shrieking about aliens in Trump's pants and how the patriarchy burned her breakfast. No one will watch her even then, but she'll be the toast of her network.; 8/30/17, 6:21 AM
The Vault Dweller said...: Why are women's looks out of of bounds? I get the crude comment, but why can't women be insulted about their looks? Men certainly are. In fact I don't think there is a single thing men can't be insulted about? Why can't women be insulted about their looks? If they can't should they really be allowed to have influential positions?; 8/30/17, 6:24 AM
Danno said...: From link- A self-described “combination of Mike Wallace, Oprah Winfrey, and Larry the Cable Guy” (as she famously confided to pernicious conspiracy monger Alex Jones in his leaked audiotape of her telephone pitch to secure an interview for her Sunday magazine show), the 46-year-old Kelly is a gifted broadcaster.

Truly a legend in her own mind. I don't do cable, but I always liked Greta Van Susterin better than Megyn.; 8/30/17, 6:26 AM
RBE said...: I quit watching her after that infamous 1st GOP debate and my regard for Brett Bayer and Chris Wallace declined as well. It was a depressing display because they all decided to let her ask the snarky questions knowing she could play the woman victim card and the men would avoid the blowback assuring they would all still get the invitations to DC cocktail parties because they were "mean" to Trump.; 8/30/17, 6:32 AM
rehajm said...: Oh- that's Megyn Kelley? She's changed so much since high school. Almost a totally different person. TV does strange things to people.; 8/30/17, 6:34 AM
rhhardin said...: I assumed it was that on Fox you could look up her dress.; 8/30/17, 6:38 AM
sparrow said...: Just because your beautiful to look at doesn't mean I want to hear what you have to say. All form and no substance.; 8/30/17, 6:39 AM
Kevin said...: Wait, men like some things and women like others?

I'm pretty sure you can lose your job for saying that.; 8/30/17, 6:49 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Sounds like the Today show will be bleeding viewers...; 8/30/17, 6:58 AM
Michael said...: She will do great if she agrees to a segment where she has sex with Kaitlin Jenner.; 8/30/17, 7:04 AM
William said...: So much of people's likes or dislikes are based on that one exchange with Trump. There's no depth to the fondness nor antipathy to Megyn.; 8/30/17, 7:30 AM
traditionalguy said...: Ailes built her up as his new blonde bimbo news gal du jour. But she has burned all those carefully constructed bridges behind her. She will now either share a real cute personality, or she will remain a sexy statue of the woman who refused to be used as a sex object and demanded millions in reparations.; 8/30/17, 7:41 AM
Michael K said...: She had a combination of being pretty and abrasive. I don't think that works on daytime TV.; 8/30/17, 7:53 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: The 2 years after the confrontation with Trump has shown his stock rising and her stock falling. There's a lesson somewhere in there, I reckon.; 8/30/17, 8:21 AM
Ralph L said...: Fox News skewers every male....

If she had male fans at Fox, shouldn't they put her back on Sunday after football, instead of the morning girly shows?; 8/30/17, 8:23 AM
CStanley said...: She lost me with the cocktail attire for newscasts. I was willing to ignore it but then found the debate question annoying because she displayed the hyposcrisy of feminism so blatantly. Can't stand women who play along with provocative clothing for attention but then snipe at men who enjoy looking at them.; 8/30/17, 8:41 AM
holdfast said...: MeAgain Kelly had a brief moment in the sun.

Now she'd done.; 8/30/17, 8:54 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/30/17, 9:02 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: When your career is predicated on being a cock-tease people eventually realize the blow-job isn't coming.

I am Laslo.; 8/30/17, 9:03 AM
Darcy said...: I've been described as a "guy's girl" once recently. This was uttered by a very jealous, catty woman. Do guys refer to women this way? It was the first time I'd heard it.; 8/30/17, 9:21 AM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: I think she's been Dixie Chicked.; 8/30/17, 9:24 AM
Danno said...: Blogger Darcy said...I've been described as a "guy's girl" once recently. This was uttered by a very jealous, catty woman. Do guys refer to women this way? It was the first time I'd heard it.

I had never heard the term before this blog post.; 8/30/17, 9:57 AM
buwaya said...: Gender politics is just propaganda.
Underneath it all, where decisions are made and money is handed out, it is all insect politics.; 8/30/17, 9:59 AM
Anonymous said...: I had forgotten how good President Trump's answer was : in effect- we have all these huge national/international problems and you are trying to condemn me for not being politically correct. "I don't have time to be politically correct...". (Yes, I'm a boor, but I can solve big problems, so diddley things about personal style should be unimportant.) The entire successful Trump campaign is there in a nutshell. As well as the (superficial)reason for widespread revulsion of DJT.; 8/30/17, 10:05 AM
Kirk Parker said...: Darcy,

Nah, it's pretty much 'hot' or 'not'.; 8/30/17, 10:58 AM
Ron Winkleheimer said...: She lost me with the cocktail attire for newscasts.

That's standard for FNC. The other day I saw a woman on FNC who was wearing an outfit that wasn't a short cocktail dress (it was a seventies throwback thing, one piece with pants legs) and I was actually surprised.; 8/30/17, 11:07 AM
eric said...: Here's what happened that few understand.

She was never a right winger. She appeared that way because she became popular during the Obama years. Because Democrats were in power and she was covering those in power, she looked like a conservative. Really, she was just closer to the old school style of journalism where you are critical of whomever is in power.

But conservatives believe she was a conservative. When Obama went out and Trump came in, she lost her audience because she did the same to Trump that she did to Obama.; 8/30/17, 11:27 AM
Darrell said...: Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk,
I'm a woman's man: no time to talk.; 8/30/17, 11:57 AM
rcocean said...: I think Fox News watchers liked that she was supposedly a conservative, leggy blonde.

Once she disclosed she was just another abrasive liberal, no one cared.

I doubt she'll do well in the morning shows. Women seem to like funny lesbians and/or women with warm personalities who look like soccer moms or Oprah.

Kelly is too aloof to do well. Her next stop will be MSNBC or CNN.; 8/30/17, 1:03 PM
rcocean said...: She got here role on Fox because ABC/NBC/CBS wouldn't hire her. Just another leggy blond. But she did well on FNC, so she got a Network TV show. But the Networks original opinion was correct.; 8/30/17, 1:05 PM
Luke Lea said...: He took her down and she deserved it on account of the first question she asked.; 8/30/17, 1:14 PM
hombre said...: Righties can't forgive her for leaving Fox. Lefties can't forgive her for working there.

This is only rocket science for the folks who run NBC. They think they counted coup on Fox.; 8/30/17, 1:33 PM
Darcy said...: I thought Kelly was excellent early on when she was primarily reporting on legal matters on Fox. Her look, demeanor and obviously the scope of her job changed a whole lot over the years. Most of this change wasn't attractive to me at all. I found her fascinating to look at because much of her performance was about her look, and I think she is quite beautiful, but was annoyed at her demeanor most of the time. I don't miss her.; 8/30/17, 1:39 PM
rcocean said...: "Guys Girl"?

Never heard of it. Men aren't that complicated.

Usually, its "So-and-so is hot" or "She's fun to be around - has a great sense of humor".; 8/30/17, 2:44 PM
rcocean said...: Neither of which could be said about Megan Kelly. I agree, her forte is probably as some sort of REPORTER on legal affairs or something.

That's why i say, she'll end up at CNN or MSNBC.; 8/30/17, 2:46 PM
William said...: Kelly soiled her nest at Fox but she is hated by the left for her past association. She is a badly damaged property. Boo hoo.; 8/30/17, 5:21 PM
walter said...: "Kelly is as safe a bet as any network could make. Her voice is low and warm; her backbone is steel. She would be transfixing if she were a toll-booth operator. And she’s built her brand on what Jim Rutenberg called the “Megyn Kelly moment”—the sort of TV-friendly pseudo-event she creates with her occasional willingness to surprise."

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/megyn-kelly-the-glittering-aberration; 8/30/17, 7:12 PM
Michael K said...: When Obama went out and Trump came in, she lost her audience because she did the same to Trump that she did to Obama.

Nope, she is all about Megyn. She had a pretty good spot as a lawyer who was pretty. Some of her interviews were good but she is aggressive.

I think she will eventually end up on the "Murder Channel" with other failed network females like Paula Zahn.; 8/30/17, 7:17 PM
walter said...: I like the Megan as toll booth operator scenario. Short pithy interactions, flashing her smile. Maybe sleeveless.; 8/30/17, 11:13 PM
walter said...: Morning drive time. Handing out free donut holes.; 8/30/17, 11:15 PM
rcocean said...: Had some spare time, so I skimmed through some of the old "Megan Kelly" tags on Althouse.

Which brought back old memories. Bottom line: Megan Kelly is a bore and a dummy.
She got her start with FNC. She flourished there because FNC is a small pond. And so she got to be a big frog in a small pond.

But looking at the FNC debate clip: she's not likable, she's not smart, and she's smug and unlikable. Even with her liberal politics she won't be a success.; 8/30/17, 11:32 PM