InstagramWhere in the world is Kelly Ripa?
After it was announced that Michael Strahan would be leaving Live! With Kelly and Michael later this year to join Good Morning America full-time, a "livid" Ripa called in sick Wednesday; Ana Gasteyer filled in at the last minute. Ripa had already requested the rest of the week off to celebrate her 20th wedding anniversary with Mark Consuelos—a trip she later canceled. In her absence, Erin Andrews co-hosted on Thursday and Friday, while Shay Mitchell joined Strahan on-air Monday. In an e-mail to Live! staffers late Friday, Ripa wrote, "I wanted to thank you all for giving me the time to process this new information. Your kindness, support, and love has overwhelmed me. We are a family and I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday morning."
Andy Cohen, Ripa's close friend, confessed that even he was stunned by the morning show drama. "I've been getting so many questions about what's going on with my friend Kelly Ripa, and 'How's she doing?' and 'What do you think?'" he said Monday on SiriusXM's Radio Andy. "You know, I want to say that she...I know she spent the weekend celebrating her 20th anniversary with Mark, which has been a long-planned vacation. So don't get her trending on Twitter today because she's not at work. She is on a long-planned vacation. You know, when I look at this whole situation, it's worth nothing, the two of them, Kelly and Michael, they had such great chemistry. And I'm just looking at this and it just seems like a premature end to a great relationship that ended way too prematurely. So much has been written about this situation and how it was handled. I've been a TV executive or producer for 25 years, so I'm always fascinated to see how TV things go down. I can't say this went down the greatest way."
Cohen added that he agrees with many of points made in "The Morning Show Wars, Kelly Ripa and TV's Disposable Spring," Maureen Ryan's op-ed for Variety. "The thing that no one is talking about is, to me, is that the job of co-hosting Live! is the greatest job in TV. She's so good at it and he's really good at it, and it's a job you take and you take it for life. She's been at that job for 15 years. I was celebrating on her 15th anniversary show about two months ago. You keep that job. You don't go anywhere," he said. "So I can't get over that he left Live! where he was co-hosting Live! With Kelly and Michael. Your name is in the freakin' title! You can spend your life here! You can spend 15 years here and make serious bank, by the way. And still do GMA twice a week or do Pyramid or whatever else he's doing."
"He left and went to GMA. He is now one of five people sitting at that crowded anchor desk. It's like 18 co-anchors and here's my thing: What happens if the ratings don't go up? What happens if there's not a pickup? Then what's going to happen to that sweet man? Honestly!" Cohen said. "Because by then she'll have a new co-host. I don't know. I just don't see how you leave the greatest team in TV to be one of five people."
While he had once considered a possible debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to be "the TV event of the year," he's now more excited for Ripa's return to the set Tuesday. "I am really looking forward to tomorrow morning on Live!," Cohen said. "And I've spoken to Kelly a bunch of times. I can't wait to see what she says. Right? Who's not going to be watching that tomorrow? I just think she had this great relationship on TV. You know? And it was a big, bad breakup." Cohen then suggested their mutual friend, Anderson Cooper, should succeed Strahan. "I just think he would be so good," he said. "He would be so good co-hosting that show."