Ryan Seacrest joins Kelly Ripa; Live with Kelly and Ryan is born
The show moving forward will now have a different name in Live with Kelly and Ryan, and based on the footage we’ve seen this morning, the former American Idol host seems happy to be there. He has hosted the show in a guest capacity many times before, he’s got a relationship with Kelly that dates back many years, and he is arguably perfect for this job given that he interviews people on the radio all of the time.
If you are hiring someone based mostly on experience alone, it’s hard to do better than Seacrest. He’ll be professional, and his interviewing style is perfectly catered to this format. There is ultimately not enough time over the course of the show to get into anything in-depth, but he is game to do quick interviews with people that seem informative enough given the run time.
If there is a criticism of the hire you can offer, it’s that Ryan is not a fresh face who will bring new viewers into the daytime circuit who weren’t there already; also, while he is extremely competent as a host, we don’t know if there is a dedicated following of Seacrest fans who will be watching now who weren’t before. Maybe you can argue that the hire is a bit safe.
Now that we’ve said that, if this is safe it’s a pretty darn good way to be safe given that we firmly expect Ryan to do a good job and prove to be the right person for the gig. Honestly, he is a far bigger get for the hosting position than we ever expected the ABC series was going to be able to hire. Part of the reason why this worked may just be Seacrest’s schedule being a tad more open than in years past, and also the proposed American Idol revival not panning out despite there at one point being some serious discussions about it coming to pass.
Fun timing: This announcement came at the same time as Kelly’s 21st wedding anniversary. Doesn’t that make for a great TV anniversary to go along with it?
What do you think about Ryan being the new co-host? Share now in some of the attached comments! (Photo: ABC.)