Ellen let Megyn KELLY pander away from her wingnuttiness, then nicely blew her out of the water

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40. What I've read, anyway, is that the NBC brass mistakenly thought she was a superstar.

Granted, she was showcased up the ying-yang last year, what with that debate she moderated, and various other things. But then again, that was while she was at Pox Noise (or as I'm now starting to consider calling it, "FAKES News&quot and if all you are is an audible fart in a field of 12-inch-diameter cow pies and other turd piles, well, I guess maybe that allows somebody somewhere to think you're the big superstar Alpha of the pack.

And I'm sure of one other thing, from observing these things for a long time. I haven't seen anything to suggest or confirm that a woman executive was involved in this hiring decision, in any way. I think it was all male-driven. And many times, as I've observed, male executives hire with their dicks. They're swayed by a pretty face, pretty blonde hair, nice clothes, nice skin, nice makeup, shapely legs and other parts, stylish or provocative clothing, stylish or provocative hair arrangements (Megyn specialized in that when she had long hair. Remember the way she'd wear it swept down in front, over one shoulder, leaving the other shoulder and neck open and bare? A come-hither hair style if ever I've seen one).

I remember when Jane Pauley was replaced as "Today Show" cohost by Younger-Blonder. They brought in Deborah Norville as the anchor who read the news breaks through the morning, and yeah, she was attractive. And she photographed well. And much was made about her "natty" clothes that she made, herself (yep, they used that word, too). God, I remember a stitchery-and-home-sewing magazine cover of her, with a large caption reading "Today Sewer!" Because she sewed her own clothes. But PLEASE!!! This was UNGODLY inappropriate and inopportune. Because by the time that feature ran in that magazine, shit - Deborah Norville had replaced Jane Pauley to the displeasure of the audience, and the show's ratings were what was down in the sewer! And I'm not talking the needle-and-thread and Vogue patterns kind of "sewer"! I remember spotting that magazine cover and, while I too thought they shouldn't have canned Jane Pauley, and I hadn't really warmed to Deborah Norville (like, um, maybe, HEY, STUPID, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, 'eh?), even I thought - "YIKES! That's really a low blow - why did some copy-editor allow that? Somebody shoulda caught that!"

The audience did not appreciate Jane Pauley being moved aside, the perception being that she was getting too old and they really needed to pep things up with a Younger-Blonder. Notice - all that time, NOBODY thought of doing anything to change the MALE cohost. Bryant Gumbel prevailed, safely, throughout. No, they mixed things up with the female cohost. And the "Today Show" ratings went straight down the drain and Good Morning America took over in mornings and reigned supreme for a long time. The audience didn't want a new cohost. Didn't care how pretty or photogenic or stylish she was. Didn't care about the homemade clothes and the presumably nice on-air personality. Didn't care. Didn't want it. Wasn't buying. Wasn't watching. Deborah Norville lasted roughly less than two years, and when she left on maternity leave, rumors spread through the network that she wouldn't be back. My supervisor at the AP picked up on them and we ran with that story, too. The "Today Show" didn't recover till Katie Couric was brought in, hopefully to save the day, and indeed did so.

I don't know who-all is old enough to remember any of this, but this was back around the same time when Al Franken was a writer/regular on "Saturday Night Live." The NBC Mensa member who thought up this brilliant idea to bring Younger-Blonder in to replace the popular and beloved Jane Pauley was a guy named Dick Ebersol. From everything I heard and read about him, he was gaga over Deborah Norville. Thought she was the big deal of big deals. Couldn't wait to move Jane Pauley out and move Norville in. I immediately assumed he had a crush on her. And he roundly took the blame from TV reporters and critics for making a spectacularly crappy decision. And he made a few other decisions as an NBC programming chief that affected "Saturday Night Live" and other things - some of which Al Franken didn't like. And he said so, one night, ON THE AIR, on SNL. He did a soliloquy about this lame-ass NBC executive who made all these lame-ass decisions, named him (Dick Ebersol), and concluded his bit by referring to Ebersol by name and declaring that the above-named lame-ass "doesn't know dick." Got a HUGE laugh and applause, as I recall.

Deborah Norville took time off with the nicely convenient excuse of being a new mom, and when she finally surfaced again, it was in the lower-profile news-reality pseudo-documentary cable ghetto. I think it was as host of "Inside Edition" or some such.

So lo these many years later, it's Phil Griffin or somebody with an upper-level corner office at 30 Rockefeller Plaza who fell for the Younger/Blonder they THOUGHT was a superstar, as THE key to up the ratings, and snapped up The Fetching Miss Megyn. And paid her a queen's ransom that she is NOT earning. Because I don't think women viewers like her. I frankly don't see why anybody likes her that much. I don't think she's any big deal, and I sure wouldn't tune away from something else to watch whatever show she's on. She's nothing special. And her ratings so far have confirmed this. She hasn't set ANYBODY on fire with the NBC audience, as somebody evidently assumed she would. I don't even follow her career track at NBC anymore. It's September. Has she started on the "Today Show - Hour 3" yet? I don't even know, and I care even less.