Yesterday morning, Ryan Seacrest announced that he is leaving Live with Kelly and Ryan. In a very syrupy love-fest with Kelly Ripa, Ryan said that after about a year of discussion, he’s decided to move back to the West Coast full time. Both he and Kelly reassured the audience there were no hard feelings – okay! The proof they offered that they loved each other was that Ryan had only signed on to do three years at the show but stayed for six. After they had sufficiently reaffirmed their friendship to each other and to the viewers, they announced the “exciting news” that Ryan would be replaced by none other than Kelly’s husband and frequent fill-in host, Mark Consuelos.
Ryan Seacrest is saying goodbye to Live with Kelly and Ryan and his replacement is someone very familiar to co-host Kelly Ripa.
On Thursday, the longtime broadcaster — who joined the syndicated ABC daytime show in 2017 — announced his exit from the series, with plans to move back to the west coast this spring ahead of the American Idol live shows in Los Angeles.
In his departure, Seacrest will be permanently replaced with actor Mark Consuelos, Ripa’s husband. The show will be officially rebranded as Live with Kelly and Mark.
Leaving was a “tough, tough” decision, Seacrest noted on the show, and a “bittersweet” one.
He honored his bond with Ripa. “Working alongside Kelly over the past six years has been a dream job and one of the highlights of my career,” said Seacrest, 48, in a statement. “She has been an amazing partner, friend, and confidant, and although we will always be a part of each other’s lives, I will miss our mornings together.”
“I also want to thank [executive producer] Michael Gelman and the entire staff and crew — we’ve made memories to last a lifetime, met some of the most incredible people and had the warmest welcome into the homes of so many viewers across America,” he added. “It’s been a memorable ride and now I’m excited to pass the baton to Kelly’s ‘real’ husband, Mark.”
Ripa, 52, shared her fondness for her friendship with Seacrest, too, calling him a “dear, dear friend” on the show.
“I’m so grateful to have spent the last six years beside my dear friend of too many decades to count and will miss starting my days with Ryan,” she said in a statement. “Ryan’s energy, passion and love for entertainment is one-of-a-kind.”
“I can’t thank you enough on all of our behalf,” she said on Thursday’s show. “There is nobody else like you. There is nobody who can really do what you do. I know you in real life as well as TV life. I say this about very few people: what you see is what you get. This is not an act, this is a good man. I am so endlessly impressed by you.”
Honestly, I’m surprised Ryan lasted six years. It was exhausting just reading about his shuttling back and forth between coasts to keep up his multiple hosting/producing obligations. He was fine on Live, but it never felt like the right fit for him. I believe he and Kelly are very good friends, and he does a good job with a celebrity interview, but he makes more sense as a guest host, which is what he will be now. Just my opinion but besides producing, I think Ryan’s best role is as DJ. Anyway, good luck to him. Not that he needs it, he’s got so many irons in the fire, he’ll be fine.
Live with Kelly and Mark, though… I don’t know. Obviously, Mark has been tested as a guest host often enough. But I don’t think this is the right call. I posted the announcement below. Kelly said the choice was made because the audience relies on consistency. The implication is that Kelly and Mark will be married forever so he will be her co-host forever. Kelly knows her union much better than I do but that’s a big ask of a marriage. Some people can do everything together, though. Some. That’s for Kelly and Mark to decide. I don’t think this is going to work from an entertainment perspective, though. Mark and Kelly are too similar. They have the same stories and they’ve been together so long, they have the same history (not all, but you know what I mean). They know each other too well. When one says, “you know what cake I love?” We know the answer is “yes.” That’ll get stale quickly. Maybe a few years, but that’s quick for a talk show that has been on the air for over three decades. And their poor kids. Every time there’s dead air, there’s twice as much chance they’ll get thrown under the bus to fill it.
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Kelly probably just wanted Mark to have a regular paycheck.
+1
Lol — this is what my friends and I were saying yesterday. Mark gets to earn his keep finally. Hiram Lodge had been his steadiest gig for a while seems like.
And I feel like this was Kelly’s endgame for a while to get her husband into that seat. ABC just needed to see it would work first before she could get them to agree.
Do people actually watch the show? I find Kelly to be highly annoying. They should’ve just cancelled it.
There’s something about this show. I used to think that Kathie Lee Gifford was hard to take, but Kelly has her beat by all hollow. She just seems like a difficult person to work with and is hard to watch. Apparently, the money is so good that she will never leave. However, maybe this decision to bring in her husband will soon start to wear on their audience, ratings will follow, and they’ll fire him, and she’ll leave too in order to save his pride. I can dream, can’t I?
@M
I came here to say the same thing.. I didn’t even realize the show was still on, it was never very interesting and I highly doubt it get any ratings. Seems like it would catch whatever ratings it may get from people who are to lazy to change there tv stations after “good morning America” (I remember it having that time slot)
People that are retired must be their main viewers since they are in when everyone else is working.
Same thoughts as well. I’ve watched her a handful of times and there’s no way I could handle her every morning. I also still don’t get the Ryan hype either though. I don’t find him uniquely talented in any way and also just found out that his girlfriend that is supposedly the one is of course like 25 years younger than him so he’s just another cliche.
I too find her highly annoying. Not sure what the appeal is and I agree with @Amy Bee, she probably wants her husband to have a regular paycheck.
Personally I think this is a huge mistake because having a married couple in the two seats is just bad business. They are a team and will be on the show and woe to anyone who may question them. Not good. I hope I am wrong.
This is glorious news as I find Ripa to be an annoying as hell. I am actually surprised that show is still running.
But due to Ripas own over-self blown ego, as well as power play, a desperate need for her husband to have a paycheck, she will single handedly destroy her own show.
On a side note, does anyone feel like they need a shower after seeing Gelman??? He gives me creepy, old man dirty vibes……
Totally agree with you. She’s so irritating. WTF does her husband have to take the spot. That’s pure BS. I definitely won’t be waiting if he’s on. There are so many better people to fill this spot.
How bout this, if he must be on the show, then let’s get rid of her. She’s super annoying, and it’s definitely time for a new female host.
Yes!! Ripa has become tiresome and she comes off as petty and narcissistic @ shanaynay!! Her antics when Michael Strahan left was a blatant tempter tantrum……
I love my husband. We have been together for 16 years, married for 13. We are partners in life and work very well together.
But I would not want to be on a talk show with him. You’d be doing nothing but rehashing conversations right? Or saving things to talk about on air? I mean I guess married podcast hosts have done this. I feel like they’re really going to need a third person to banter / talk with.
I say all of this and I don’t actually watch daytime tv. Grew up watching Regis and Kathy Lee every morning though! 😆
I knew a couple that soon after they married the wide started working in the same company her husband worked at. She was so excited telling us about how great it would be. Five years later she moved to a different company. She said: well, it was not as great as I thought it would be.
Mark was always acceptable as a guest host, just as Regis’s wife Joy was great as a guest host but not full-time. I’m amazed that he agreed to do this because he still has an acting career. Is she expecting that Mark’s not going to do outside projects?
Isn’t Mark super jealous and possessive? Maybe he finally told Kelly no more men in her life.
I never thought Kelly and Ryan had good chemistry. I still miss Michael, he was great. I don’t mind Mark but I am not sure he would make a great permanent co host. I now watch the Drew Barrymore show and it’s way better.
Who still watches these shows?
I wonder the same thing.
I’m usually at work when this show is on, but I’ve had a nasty taste in my mouth about her since that whole thing with Michael Strahan leaving, and her not coming in to work and basically acting like he should run his career decisions by her. I remember the smug look on her face when she came back, and got a standing ovation and Michael had this little smile like, yeah that’s exactly why I am leaving. It was gross and made me realize she probably is incredibly difficult to work with, and it seems to me Mark is probably the best person to work with her, because of their long marriage.
+1. I thought she and Mark were such a cute couple when they were on All My Children and the couple of times i watched, her interactions with Regis seemed somewhat awkward. I thought she and DL Hughley had great chemistry when he guest hosted/auditioned but liked Michael Strahan too. She showed her azz with Michael’s departure and I thought “yeah, that’s really why he’s leaving.” Never bothered to watch after that. Her husband may be the only one able to truly navigate working with her. He’s previously done well as guest host.
I doubt Ryan left because of Kelly. I’m sure all of projects and flying cross country got to him. Mark is fine for temporary: guest host but a mistake for full time.
So, at last Kelly gets what she has wanted for years. Mark as co-host.
I honestly think her and Mark will do fine together on the show. They are both over-sharers which that audience seems to like. And they do have chemistry. I also think they ARE the type of couple to do everything together. And don’t forget that they worked together on All My Children. And played a couple. For over a decade. So they have a long history of working together everyday and making it work. They even did when they had small children. I’m not a Kelly or Mark fan but I think they will be fine.
As “old fashioned” as he is, I bet it’s gonna grate on him that he got that job because of his wife.
I will never, ever forgive Seacrest for giving the revolting Kartrashians a platform. It was like causing a massive, polluting oil spilling. I think Seacrest is a cold lizard-alien. I don’t understand why he gets to be everywhere.
Nepo husband!
Also you know Jerry O’Connell is fuming right now
Jerry’s got The Talk now but he really should’ve been picked over Ryan before imo.
I’m with you, I’m still shocked they didn’t pick Jerry O’Connell over Ryan. He and Kelly have a dynamic that plays really well off of each other, and they know each other just well enough to be able to react to each other’s stories with the kind of energy this time of day needs on tv, without actually knowing anything about what happened since they last saw each other.
Wow. According to the Blinds, she’s been gunning for her husband as co-host since Strahan, and for the entirety of Seacrest’s tenure. I guess she’s done a great job of raising her profile in the intervening years
This has been Kelly’s wish since the day Regis retired.
Perfect cringy couple. They’ll be great
Ryan wasn’t always her dear friend. She didn’t want him from the get go. She lobbied for her hubby then too but Gelman vetoed that. Both she and Kathy Lee are the queens of humble brag and share a remarkable sense of entitlement. She can play nice now and be all teary and huggy now that she got her own way, but we see through her and so does Ryan.