It appears that NBC tried again and missed again.

When NBC hired former Fox News host Megyn Kelly, just about everyone but the suits at NBC knew that this hire would be a bust.

It wasn’t long before NBC cut ties with Kelly after he racist comments and you would have thought they might have learned something?

But, then Shepard Smith left Fox News, and once again NBC came knocking.

Smith was hired to help prop up CNBC and the Washington Post is calling the hire a high-priced flop.

Smith isn’t a polarizing figure like Kelly but the post writes that like Kelly, Smith’s recruitment by NBC-owned CNBC has so far produced a modest return on NBC’s investment — a roughly $10 million salary, a staff of 25 and a new set at CNBC’s headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

“I don’t know where we’re supposed to be” in viewership, Smith said. “We’ve had no discussions about ratings with our staff. None of our senior leadership team has ever sat down and talked about [it]. What we have to do is build a great newscast . . . and then eventually people will come to that or they won’t.”

I think NBC is hoping for the latter.