Monday, May 25, 2026

Megyn Kelly Morning Ratings Are So Bad They’re Killing Kathie Lee and Hoda’s Successful Show

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Megyn Kelly’s first week at 9am on the Today show was a ratings disaster.

Kelly’s hour was down 12% from when Al Roker and Tamron Hall hosted the 9am Today show hour. Even worse, she was 24% off in they key age demo, from 25 to 54. This week will probably not be any better.

The fear, of course, is that she will affect “Kathie Lee and Hoda” at 10am. And believe me, those ladies will not stand for it. They were down 7% in total viewers. A second week of those ratings will cause a real internal problem. Kathie Lee doesn’t take prisoners. And Hoda is very valued to the main Today show, which is NBC’s cash cow.

Meanwhile, Megyn’s 9am competition is booming. “Live with Kelly and Ryan” has gone up, up, up since its re-launch last spring. And Judge Judy’s “Hot Bench” is huge.

Kelly isn’t making friends at NBC, either. She cut off Tom Brokaw in mid conversation earlier this week, so she could make a plea against gun control.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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