Kelly Ripa co-host to be announced on Sept. 4
(CBS/AP) NEW YORK - After nine months of searching and 59 tryouts, the producers of "Live! With Kelly" are ready to name Kelly Ripa's new co-host. They say they'll do it during the Sept. 4 show.
Disney-ABC Domestic Television said Monday that Kelly Ripa's new partner will join her on stage that morning. By then, the 41-year-old Ripa will have welcomed 59 guest co-hosts since Nov. 18, 2012, when Regis Philbin retired from the show after 28 years on the air, first with Kathie Lee Gifford and then with Ripa.
The company says the chosen one will come from among the 59 guest co-hosts.
Guest hosts have included Josh Groban, Neil Patrick Harris, Seth Meyers, Jonah Hill, Cat Deeley, Mario Lopez, Michael Strahan, Daniel Radcliffe, and Alec Baldwin. Ripa's husband and the father of her three children, TV actor Mark Consuelos, also was a co-host.
Philbin, who created the show, exited at age 80. Ripa became his on-air partner in 2001 after a similar lengthy search involving many co-hosts.