How low is the floor for Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly’s ratings? When it comes to Kelly, absence did not make the heart grow fonder.

Kelly’s show returned from a week off last night and hit another new low in total viewers. Her show could not even get more viewers than a years-old rerun of Dateline that ran the week before during the Fourth of July holiday weekend when many television viewers were not even in their homes.

On Sunday, Kelly’s show got a measly 3.21 million total viewers, compared to the 3.73 million total viewers the years-old Dateline rerun got the week before. Two weeks ago, Kelly hit her previous low of 3.41 million total viewers. Again, reruns of 60 Minutes and America’s Funniest Home Videos beat her show.

In the 18-49 demo, Kelly (.4 rating) still could not beat out the years-old rerun of Dateline that ran the week before (.5 rating).

Variety, relying just on the 18-49 demo numbers, spun Kelly’s terrible ratings by saying it was the “first time since the new news show premiered on June 4 that it has not declined in the ratings week-to-week. Kelly originally opened to a 0.8 in the key demo, and dropped to a 0.6, 0.5, and 0.4 rating in subsequent weeks.”

That’s like patting Kelly on the head for actually making contact and grounding out with a swinging bunt instead of whiffing three straight times.