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Megyn Kelly's Sunday Night NBC Show Ends Summer Run After 8 Episodes

Megyn Kelly / Getty
August 1, 2017

Megyn Kelly's Sunday night newsmagazine on NBC is ending after running for only eight episodes, but the show will return in the spring of 2018.

Kelly signed off her show on Sunday by saying that its run was over for the summer, the Hill reported.

"That's all for tonight, and for the summer run of this program," she said to close "Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly."

The network was angling for around 10 episodes, according to Page Six. But "the exact number of shows was never set," an NBC source said, noting that Kelly "needs to be freed up to focus" on "Megyn Kelly Today," her upcoming daytime show.

"But soon, I'll be seeing you in the mornings! I'll be on at 9 a.m., right after Matt and Savannah — on our new show, 'Megyn Kelly Today,' starting on September 25th," Kelly added while closing her show Sunday night. "And I'll be back right here Sunday nights in the spring. We are so grateful to you for watching. I'm Megyn Kelly. For all of us here at NBC News … goodnight."

Kelly debuted her Sunday night show by interviewing Russian President Vladimir Putin, which received backlash because of Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. She also received poor ratings and backlash for her interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who leaked audio of the show before it aired, accusing Kelly of misleading him on why she wanted to interview him.

The show received disappointing ratings, often falling behind ABC and CBS in viewership. Her June 4 debut with Putin delivered 6.2 million viewers, but she received only 3.51 million viewers on Sunday, which was her best audience since a June 18 episode with Jones, according to the Hill.

Kelly, a former Fox News anchor, received significant hype and news coverage earlier this year after it was reported that she would be leaving Fox after her contract ended to work for NBC. Fox News was prepared to pay her a salary of more than $20 million a year, the New York Times reported in January.

Kelly was one of the women who came forward to accuse longtime Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes of sexual harassment, which later helped lead to his ouster at the news network. She was also the target of Donald Trump and many of his supporters during the 2016 campaign for what they believe was slanted coverage against Trump.

Kelly was released from her Fox News contract back in March.

"While I will greatly miss my colleagues at Fox, I am delighted to be joining the NBC News family and taking on a new challenge," Kelly said at the time. "I remain deeply grateful to Fox News, to Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch, and especially to all of the FNC viewers, who have taught me so much about what really matters."