‘Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly’ is coming to NBC in June
If it’s Sunday, it’s Megyn Kelly on NBC.
The former Fox News anchor told an audience of ad executives at the NBC upfront sales presentation Monday at New York’s Radio City Music Hall that her new news magazine program will premiere in June. Airing Sundays at 7 p.m., it will compete directly against CBS’ “60 Minutes.”
NBC has not announced a title for the program, but according to a person familiar with the plans who was not authorized to discuss it publicly, it will be called “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly.”
Kelly, who signed with NBC in January, was introduced on stage by “Today” co-anchors Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie and “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt.
Lauer described his new colleague as “someone who shares our values and will help make us even better tomorrow.” It was a public show of unity, as New York tabloid gossip pages have pushed the idea that Kelly is a “Today” co-anchor in waiting.
There are no such plans, but Kelly does have a new morning program coming in the fall and airing at 9 a.m., following Lauer and Guthrie.
Kelly said she wants to give viewers an uplifting experience in the morning, promising that her show will “entertain them, inspire them, and empower them, we hope, to take on new challenges and help them settle for more in their lives.”
Kelly’s recent bestselling memoir is titled “Settle for More.”
Kelly’s book recounted repeated incidents of sexual harassment by former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes during her early years in the company’s Washington bureau.
She reported the incident to investigators who looked into Ailes’ behavior after former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment and retaliation suit against the executive. Ailes, who has denied all harassment allegations made against him, was forced out of the company last July. The company has been beleaguered by harassment allegations ever since.
Though Fox News made a strong bid to keep Kelly, who emerged as a breakout star on the top-rated cable channel, her remarks to advertisers indicated that she was eager to jump networks — a risky move that has not often worked in the TV news business.
“I’m thrilled now to be able to anchor the kind of broadcasts that I always dreamed I’d be able to do, [that] I felt in my heart I was born to do,” she said.
Twitter: @SteveBattaglio
Inside the business of entertainment
The Wide Shot brings you news, analysis and insights on everything from streaming wars to production — and what it all means for the future.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
