Make-believe spouses. That’s how Morning TV likes us to think of its co-hosting pairs. And that probably explains why we’re so interested in the high-profile “Live with Kelly & Michael” breakup.
With Pop moving out of the house after Friday morning's show, we all wonder, what's next — actually, who's next — to move in with Mom?
It’ll likely be months before Kelly Ripa’s new permanent co-host is named, but that hasn’t stopped everyone from speculating on who the likeliest candidates are to replace Michael Strahan. They range from her regular go-to guys whenever Strahan’s out — real-life husband Mark Consuelos, best bud and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper — to perennial candidates like singer Josh Groban and actor Neil Patrick Harris. Both were in the running for the job four years ago before being left at the altar for Strahan.
You can probably cross Groban off the list. He's currently on a monthslong tour of Europe and the U.S. (although he's pretty open in June, hmm …) and it's hard to imagine him fitting "Live" into a performing and recording schedule. Cross off Consuelos, too. No one wants to listen to actual spouses talk about their lives on-air five days a week (well, unless said spouses are Jay Z and Beyonce); besides, he's more valuable to "Live" and Ripa as her always-available emergency date.
Meanwhile, does it even have to be a new Pop sitting beside Ripa?
“I assume it will be another man, but there’s no reason it couldn’t be a woman,” said Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television & Popular Culture at Syracuse University. “They have two women co-hosting on, like, Hour 7 of the ‘Today’ show and it works well.”
Actually, it’s Hour 4, but … point taken. For now, the field is wide open. Here’s who the experts think could get the job — and a few other candidates we think at least deserve serious (cough, cough!) consideration:
- Joel McHale: The "best replacement" for Strahan, according to industry web site The Wrap, which ranked a host of candidates based on their "Q" scores. The former "Talk Soup" host and "Community" star rated highest in that secretive system that measures how highly the public thinks of a celebrity. With both his shows off the air, McHale's available; but his humor may be too "Talk Soup" snarky for morning TV.
- Anderson Cooper: Probably the No. 1 choice if Ripa totally gets her way. They're naturally relaxed together on air (just listen to his prolonged giggling fits whenever she gets going on him); and between CNN and his two years as a syndicated talk show host, he can more than carry his share of the interviewing load. But his frequent travels to news hotspots may be what eliminates him.
- Mario Lopez: Sigh. On the list pretty much because he's on the list for every such TV job, it seems. He hosts or has hosted "Extra," "The X Factor," "Fox's New Year's Eve Live," Miss Universe, etc., etc., etc. There's nothing wrong with him, per se, but there's nothing very exciting about the former Slater from "Saved by the Bell," either. Now, if we were talking about Screech …
- Taye Diggs: The No. 3 candidate on The Wrap's list, which says, "Diggs not only has camera-ready looks, he's a genuinely charming fellow." On the other hand, he's also fellow who has a pretty good career going in movies ("Rent," the upcoming "The Best Man Wedding") and primetime television (season three of "Murder in the First" starts on TNT next month) — would he have to give all that up in order to play "Travel Trivia" with Kelly five mornings a week? Would he want to?
- Neil Patrick Harris: A frequent fill-in for Strahan, he's another friend of Ripa's who already lives in New York. The actor/singer/dancer can do it all, but after hosting his own (shortlived) prime time variety show on NBC, the Tonys and starring on Broadway (he won a Tony as Best Actor in a Musical in 2014), you wonder, could he handle "Live's" early morning schedule?
- Jon Stewart: He's been off the air for what feels like forever, and he … he …Oh, just let us dream for a minute, willya?!
- Hoda Kotb: No one's mentioning her except us, but why not shake things up and try a "Live Has Two Mommies" format? Not only is Kotb hilarious and nimble co-hosting the fourth hour of "Today" alongside Kathie Lee Gifford (that's two women, we're just sayin') — she also has serious news interviewing chops from all her years at NBC. And for ABC, which owns "Live," stealing Kotb away from "Today" couldn't hurt "Good Morning America's" prospects going forward, either.
- Jay Pharoah: Syracuse's Thompson thinks "Live" would make a mistake trying to match Strahan trait-for-trait with his replacement ("Michael was about as far from Regis (Philbin) as you could get and he worked out great," he says). But what if you could snag a spookily Strahan-esque doppelganger for the job? Check out Pharoah as Strahan (right down to the signature gap-toothed, goofy cheerfulness) in this 2012 "Saturday Night Live" skit and tell us why he couldn't slide right onto the stool beside Ripa's without anyone ever noticing the difference?!
- Lauryn Hill: Yes, they'd have to change the show's name to "Sorta Live with Kelly & Lauryn." And it would have to start airing daily at 9 a.m… . or 10 a.m. or … well, whenever the famously delayed singer finally showed up. But if they ever had to cut off the hourlong show at the 40-minute mark a la Hill's aborted Chastain show last week, the ratings and drama factor would skyrocket to previously unheard-of-even-for-morning-TV-levels. And then they could change the show's name again. This time, just to, "Michael Who?"
Related: "Live" showdown: #TeamRipa is flattening #TeamStrahan on Twitter
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