Ryan Seacreast leaving "Live with Kelly & Ryan"

[dragonflies]

Mark Conseulos is taking over as co host

 

[j swift]

Page Six is reporting that ABC wanted Mark since last summer and were hoping to open the season with a new host rather than having the switch in the spring.

What I just thought about is how odd it will be if they ever need a guest host.  Obviously, Mark has subbed for Ryan before, but women have also substituted for Kelly on occasion this season, and it will be interesting to see if they ever allow two guest hosts, or if Mark will host with a guest anytime this year.

However, the more I think about it, the more excited I am to watch.  Mark is a great storyteller.  I like the vicarious nature of hearing about their extravagant lifestyle.  And, Mark can cook, so the chef segments will be less awkward. 

I also wonder how long it will take them to produce a new opening video?

[jcar03]

Or they will end up doing "pre-tapes" opening chats and different interviews edited together.  The 4th hour of Today does this when both Jenna and Hoda are off which happens at the holidays.

[SFK]

Finding a suitable replacement is no small feat, but having Mark on fulltime doesn't seem like the best decision to me. It's all good for the interview segments, but the magic of the, "What did you do last night?" opening portion of the show is lost when you have a married couple telling us what they did rather than two unmarried co-hosts hearing the stories for the first time while sharing them with the audience. I guess that's the Regis and Kathy Lee purist in me. I don't watch regularly, sometimes I catch the late night reruns, but Seacrest wasn't as insufferable as I expected him to be. I mostly wondered how many millions is it fair for one man to make with his multiple gigs.

[DaytimeFan]

To you freedom, Ryan.

I don't enjoy Kelly and find her obnoxious and grating. I think Mark has a great likeability factor and in some respects is a better fit for a daytime talk show than Kelly is.

When Regis and his wife Joy would be on together, they had a certain rapport that did not spoil the 'what happened last night' portion of the opening.

[Planet Soap]

Unexected but not surpsing given how busy Seacrest is. Mark is a solid choice. I suppose Kelly didn't want to go through months of guest hosts and the audience is already used Consuelos. Hopefully the saying about working with your spouce doesn't happen here -- but they all ready worked together on All My Children.

I expected Kelly to leave before Ryan, in that case Maria Menunos would have been a solid replacement. 

As for the future of the show, (this was tried already) but Michael Strahan, Sarah Haines and Keke Palmer were good together. I believe their show didn't work out because GMA 3 was an unkown show duplicating a saturated format. LIVE on the other hand has an established brand and maybe the trio --or Michael and one of the two ladies-- would work. But please keep LIVE going rather than replacing it with GMA 3. 

[j swift]

One of the most interesting things from her book and her press tour was about her getting the job and then the co-host searches.

She co-hosted on a fluke, the guest Char the Psychic predicted she was pregnant, she really hadn't told anyone that she was actually pregnant, and it went viral.  So, she gets called back, but they kept saying she wouldn't get the job, and it seemed like Regis didn't like her.  But, then six months into her pregnancy they offered her the job, with no money for wardrobe, no paid pregnancy leave, she had to use Regis's hair and makeup team, and AMC wouldn't release her from her contract.

Then, Regis leaves, without telling her first.  She sits through rounds of co-hosts, and nobody ever asked her who they should hire (despite Regis obviously having a say in hiring her). They hire Strahan and she learns from Page Six that he makes more money than her.

Then Strahan leaves, again without telling her, and after six months, they asked her to call Ryan to get him to take the job.  She still doesn't know if they make the same money.  And, only got an office when Strahan left.

Now, I'm sure she makes plenty of money, but the gender gap is remarkable given that the show has relied on her for more than twenty years, eight years longer than Regis was with the show originally.

Edited February 17, 2023 by j swift

[Planet Soap]

If her POV is the whole story, she should vocalize this more because Regis and the narrative around Michael present Kelly as being bitter that they left her. 

I like Ripa, I just find her to be too overly worshiping of some celebrity guests some of which feels fake. 

Edited February 17, 2023 by ironlion

[DRW50]

I've found Kelly to be very phony and cold post-AMC, and I've always gotten bad vibes off Mark, going back to his Pine Valley days. Something has long seemed off for me with them as a couple.

[Planet Soap]

As for the evolution of the show: Regis & Kathy Lee had a good friends/mature married couple rapport. Regis & Kelly had an older man hot young trophy wife vibe. Kelly & Michael had a burly footballer petite wife chemistry going. Ryan & Kelly had a more goofy brother sister energy. We can already tell what the dynamic with Mark & Kelly will be, let's see if the audience responds well to Mark full time. 

[j swift]

I feel like Kelly's recent Variety interview confirmed for me that the tabloids no longer have any power over the media.

Kathy Lee was raked over the coals by the tabloids.  There were weekly covers with unflattering photos of her yelling.  And for what?  She was a perky host with a successful commercial career who built two live-in health clinics for people with AIDS.  In retrospect, we know that the constant cruise commercials and KMart clothes were probably used to supplement her lack of income from Live.  When she was involved in a child labor scandal, her response changed the industry and she replied immediately.  When her husband publically cheated with an airline hostess, she stayed on the air and maintained her composure.  Yet, she was the punching bag of the National Inquirer for years. 

Kelly learned from Kathy Lee's experience and avoided tabloid drama.  She would appear occasionally, but there wasn't much traction, nor fodder for trash media critiques.  However, 20 years ago, this interview would have made her a front-page staple. The tabs hate whenever a woman expresses a need for equity in pay.  They would have dragged her as an avarice villain who forced her co-stars out of their jobs, rather than recognizing her as one of the longest-running daytime hosts (Regis hosted for 22 years, and Kelly has been there for 23) who deserves some respect. 

[I Am A Swede]

I felt the same about Oprah Winfrey. I always avoided her show when she had celebrity guests for that very reason.

[DRW50]

I don't think it helped that Kathie Lee was just plain exhausting. I watched too much of Live in those years, mostly when staying with loved ones who had it on in the background every morning, or when in doctor's offices, and the shift from a "perky" figure to one who would spend 20-30 minutes every episode venting and complaining and being aggrieved was suffocating, even if I did share her views of the tabloids. Kathie Lee has never really been able to see the world around her, which later led to unfortunate moments like asking Martin Short questions about his happy marriage without knowing his wife had been dead for several years. 

The tabloids had lost some of their power by the time Kelly came along, but Kelly also just wasn't that interesting to write about in comparison. She's mostly a quietly tiring, shut down presence.

[Soaplovers]

Maybe her TvQ rating is lower.

I think if 3 of her co hosts have quit...I think she's the problem.

[j swift]

Well, the Post is trying it this week.  They've chosen to highlight negative Twitter responses to her pairing with Mark for two days in a row (promulgating the fictional idea that Twitter has ever been an accurate gauge of mainstream audience response).  Including, a totally erroneous headline about Mark responding to the "backlash" which was really an EW interview about how much he enjoyed his first day on air.