Like death and taxes, you can always rely on Andy Cohen for a good bit of goss.
The producer/Bravolebrity is tight with Kelly Ripa and her husband, Mark Consuelos, but even he is surprised by Michael Strahan’s departure from Live! for Good Morning America.
“I’ve been a TV executive, or a producer, for 25 years, so I’m always fascinated to see how TV things go down. I can’t say this went down in the greatest way,” Cohen said.
“He had this great relationship on TV and it was a big, bad breakup.
“When I look at this whole situation, it’s worth noting that the two of them, Kelly and Michael, they had such great chemistry — such great chemistry.
“And I’m just looking at this — it just seems like a premature end to a great relationship. It ended way too prematurely, and I think so much has been written about this situation and how it was handled,” Cohen, pointed out.
What he finds weird is that Strahan wants to move from daytime to news.
“The thing that no one is talking about is to me, the job of cohosting Live is the greatest job in TV,” he said.
“And she’s so good at it and he was so good at it, but it’s a job that you take and you take it for life. She’s been at that job for 15 years,” Cohen added.
“I can’t get over that he left Live where it was the best show … Live with Kelly and Michael — your name is in the freakin’ title. You can spend your life here,” he said, adding that the paycheck made things all the more enticing.
“You can spend 15 years here and make serious bank, by the way.”
Cohen doesn’t get how you go from a gig like that to sharing air time with several different people.
“He left and went to GMA. He’s now with five people sitting at that crowded anchor desk. It’s like 18 co-anchors,” Cohen joked.
“And here’s my thing — what happens if the ratings don’t go up? … What is going to happen to [this] sweet man?”
Ripa and Live!, Cohen said, will have moved on by that point.
“You know who I think would be great at that job? My buddy AC, [Anderson] Cooper. He would be so good cohosting that show.”
Whatever happens, Ripa’s return on April 26th will be nothing short of compelling.
“I am really looking forward to tomorrow on Live,” Cohen admitted.
“I can’t wait to see what she says. Who isn’t going to be watching that?”
