• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, January 4, 2017

Megyn Kelly’s apparent plan to build a work schedule for herself that allows her to spend more time with her children might be wishful thinking on her part.

Except for the possibility of more daytime hours than evenings, she looks to be joining NBC with a very full plate. Tuesday’s sensational announcement that she has made a new deal for herself with NBC News indicated that she will be called upon to perform in three ways.

The announcement said she is expected to “contribute” to breaking news stories, political and special-events coverage; anchor a new Sunday news magazine show in prime time (that would presumably go up against “60 Minutes” on CBS); and anchor another news-oriented hour Monday through Friday in daytime.

It’s this last item that is drawing the most attention in the wake of this big hire because of its potential for disrupting NBC’s daytime lineup. 

But first of all, hats off to Megyn Kelly for making this deal. On paper, it represents a step up from Fox News Channel. Not to take anything away from the great success of that news organization, but at NBC, Kelly joins the TV news mainstream -- a “promotion” she has earned. And congratulations too to NBC for emerging as the network that got her.

It should be noted that NBC’s announcement included no mention of MSNBC. So for now, let’s assume she won’t be used there -- at least not much.

One thing that appears certain: She won’t be required to host a prime-time show every weeknight at 9 -- which was probably the thing about her Fox News job (which ends this Friday) that put a crimp in the quality time she could devote to her children every day.

At the same time, she will almost inevitably relinquish viewership by trading prime time for daytime. 

Aspects of her deal would seem to represent risks for her. NBC has a long history of developing new prime-time magazines, some going up against “60 Minutes” and some not. If beating “60 Minutes” was ever the official goal of any of these, then none succeeded. 

However, some network news magazines such as “Dateline” have proven over time to be profit centers for their networks -- due mainly to their reuse on cable. Perhaps this prime-time Kelly magazine will morph into one of those -- a revenue stream for NBC and for her.

NBC’s announcement contained no details about Kelly’s prime-time show or her daytime one. It promised more details about both in months to come.

So a TV columnist is left to cobble together something resembling a series of educated guesses gleaned from sources both within NBC and buried in various news stories.

For example, ever since the announcement about this daytime show, the TV industry -- most notably NBC affiliates -- has wondered where this show would air. Planning a new one-hour show for daytime means something else has to give. 

In no apparent order, the candidates for this would be the syndicated “Ellen DeGeneres” and “Steve Harvey” talk shows, which are cleared on many NBC stations; “Days of Our Lives,” NBC’s last soap airing weekdays at 1 p.m. Eastern; the syndicated “Access Hollywood Live”; and one of the add-on hours of “The Today Show” at 9 or 10 o’clock in the morning.

At least one news story on Wednesday morning indicated that this new Kelly daytime show would air in mornings, but when was not specified. Some observers point to the third hour of “Today” (9-10 a.m.) morphing into an hour called “Today with Megyn Kelly,” which would be more or less just like her Fox News show, “The Kelly File.”

These observers say placing her show there would be the best way to form a “bridge” between the newsy “Today Show” airing from 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and the much more lighthearted 10-11 a.m. hour of “Today” featuring Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford.

Others say a Kelly news-and-talk show might work well as a lead-in to the late afternoon newscasts on the NBC-owned stations and many of the network’s affiliates. But arranging something like that is more problematic than inserting her into one of the “Today Show” hours already controlled by NBC News. The network TV business can be territorial like that.

As for Kelly’s wish to create more time with her children, it appears she might now have her weekday evenings free to tuck them in.

But as anyone knows who has worked on a daily, one-hour news show -- whether it be “The Kelly File” or any of the syndicated daytime shows that came and went hosted by news stars such as Anderson Cooper, Katie Couric and Meredith Vieira -- the workload and the hours might not be all that much different than what she does now.

But don’t worry about Megyn Kelly. She will be well-paid to deal with whatever hardships her new job presents to her.