NEW YORK -- For such a famously excitable guy, Regis Philbin made his big announcement with surprising calm: He's retiring from his show.
Philbin delivered the news at the start of Tuesday morning's "Live With Regis and Kelly," which he has hosted for more than a quarter-century, most recently sharing hosting duties with Kelly Ripa.
He said he would be stepping down from the show around the end of the summer, though he didn't specify a departure date.
"I don't want to alarm anybody," he began, then said, "This will be my last year on the show."
His brief remarks came during the show's off-the-cuff "host chat," after he and Ripa had batted the breeze about the Golden Globes, football and the icy weather outside.
"It's been a long time, it's been 28 years," Philbin said reflectively, speaking of his current Manhattan-based show. "It was the biggest thrill of my life to come back to New York, where I grew up as a kid watching TV in the early days, you know, never even dreaming that I would one day have the ability, or whatever it takes, to get in front of the camera and talk to it. ...
"There is a time that everything must come to an end for certain people on camera -- especially certain old people!" cracked Philbin, who turns 80 in August.
"I wish I could do something to make you change your mind," said Ripa.
"Now waaait a minute," Philbin said slyly.
The show's distributors, Disney-ABC Domestic Television, said in a statement the "Live" franchise will continue, adding that a new co-host will be named to join Ripa, who marks 10 years with the show next month.
But Philbin, referring to his time left on the show, assured viewers, "We'll have a lot of fun between now and then."
Philbin's leave-taking will happen not long after another giant of daytime TV, Oprah Winfrey, ends her syndicated show to concentrate on her new cable network. A Philbin contemporary in the broadcasting world, 77-year-old Larry King, retired from his prime-time CNN talk show last month. His successor, Piers Morgan, debuted Monday.
Since the 1950s, Philbin has been a TV fixture, though for years he worked mostly for local stations.
In 1967, he won national exposure as the announcer and sidekick on comic Joey Bishop's short-lived ABC late-night show.
Later on, Philbin became a star in local morning television -- first in Los Angeles, then, in 1983, in New York. In 1985, he teamed with Kathie Lee Johnson, a year before she married former football star Frank Gifford, and their show went into national syndication in 1988.
Philbin clicked with daytime audiences as a common man who loved to sound off about familiar frustrations, even as he lived a life rubbing elbows with fellow celebrities.
Gifford left the show in 2000. After a tryout period for a replacement, soap star Ripa ("All My Children") filled the slot.
One of daytime syndication's most enduring hits, "Live With Regis and Kelly" was seen by an average of 4 million viewers according to a recent Nielsen Co. report.
Typically the show airs live from its Manhattan studio at 9 a.m. Eastern time, though it is broadcast by some stations later in the day.
A decade ago, Philbin conquered prime time as host of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," which became a ratings phenomenon for ABC.
A three-time Emmy Award winner, Philbin was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at the Daytime Emmy Awards in 2008.
Originally posted by Mike Zeidler I think it's funny that they say Live is broadcast by *some* stations later in the day. Probably 90% of the stations air it on a delay.
Where I live, it's not even broadcast on an ABC affiliate (whdh.com) ...
As for replacements, here's the logical (?) candidates that I've come up with:
Anderson Cooper - Would've made sense if he wasn't already starting up his own morning talk show (latimes.com)
Neil Patrick Harris - Works well with Kelly, but scheduling might not work with HIMYM
Bryant Gumbel - Another good match with Kelly, who's proclaimed him to be the "best smelling man on television" on more than one occasion ...
Jimmy Kimmel - Always funny as hell whenever he's guest-hosted with Kelly in the past, but juggling two shows that air everyday - one in the morning and one at night - would probably kill him (nydailynews.com)
Jeff Probst - "Survivor" can't have much of a future left at this point, right?
Damien Fahey - My "dark horse" of the group ... He replaced Carson Daly as the host of "Total Request Live", but did a few guest-hosting gigs with Kelly and was surprisingly competent and (dare I say) entertaining
Mark Consuelos - Kelly's husband, so he's probably got the inside track (although I've always found him to be a little "meh" as a co-host)
"All RAW is these days is a cheap version of Saturday Night Live, so if you wanna tune in to watch the amazing star power of Al Sharpton and Nancy O'Dell, go ahead! Who's gonna host next week, Big Bird? Wow, that's must-see TV!" - John Morrison (10/16/09 Smackdown!)
Originally posted by AlessandroNeil Patrick Harris - Works well with Kelly, but scheduling might not work with HIMYM
Jimmy Kimmel - Always funny as hell whenever he's guest-hosted with Kelly in the past, but juggling two shows that air everyday - one in the morning and one at night - would probably kill him (nydailynews.com)
Considering their other shows tape ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTRY, they're out. Kelly loves Anderson almost as much as I love her, that link says *daytime* show, not morning show so it could be in the afternoon. Him having a show in the morning, noon & night may be a TV first.
Consuelos hasn't been that great, plus if they pick him you pretty much doom host chat as you have 1/2 the stories. It's probably good for their marriage if they have some time apart- not that I care personally about that but I don't think I'd want to work with my spouse.
Ripa was pulled from a soap, so they might end up getting someone from out of nowhere to replace Regis. Gumbel/Bergeron are probably the most likely (although I'm not really a fan of either, I'd pick Tom) but similar to Live with Regis I'm sure we'll see them trying out a lot of people.
What about a Jon Anderson or John Henson? Especially Henson. He's funny as hell and only has the Wipeout gig right now. He was really funny on Talk Soup back when he hosted it. Anderson is also pretty humorous, but he'd probably have to chuck the 'SPN.
I suppose that Ricky Gervais would be too much to ask for? That would be a hoot too.
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
"All RAW is these days is a cheap version of Saturday Night Live, so if you wanna tune in to watch the amazing star power of Al Sharpton and Nancy O'Dell, go ahead! Who's gonna host next week, Big Bird? Wow, that's must-see TV!" - John Morrison (10/16/09 Smackdown!)
I forgot when, but they said on the news that she gave birth with Jenna Fischer by her side. Great season finale. Oscar had the line of the night when talking about Ryan's downfall: "The real crime, I think, was the beard.