Kelly Ripa’s Cavalcade of Co-Hosts: The Top 25 Shows of 2016, No. 23

So let’s call the new and improved Live a happy accident. And let’s think a moment about whether or not Ripa should once again be saddled with a permanent co-host. Yes, it has long been thought that familiarity is comforting, inviting and mandatory when it comes to certain TV formats, especially late-night and daytime talk shows. But television today is a whole new ballgame, one screaming for the elimination of tired old models in favor of new approaches to traditional fare. Live has unintentionally and unexpectedly become a shining example of exactly that. Even with the same set, the same pacing, the same features and the same primary host, it feels like something different every day. For the first time in this franchise’s history, if viewers who skip a day may miss something uniquely special.

What’s more, once perpetual change is accepted as the norm (which I believe is already the case with its loyal fans), Live will likely do just fine whenever Ripa needs to take a break and two guest hosts fill in. There might even be a “permanent” fill-in primary guest host: I nominate Anderson Cooper, Carrie Ann Inaba or Fred Savage, in my opinion the best of Ripa’s rotating co-hosts in recent months. Savage, in particular, has been a revelation. The guy was born to host a daytime talk show. Who knew? (Ripa and Savage are pictured below.)

One last point: Live this fall ran a contest in which “ordinary” people were able to compete for a shot at filling in as Ripa’s co-host.  Richard Curtis, a high school teacher from Pennsylvania, was the winner – and he proved to be such a good choice that he was called back a second time to co-host the show. Having regular folks occasionally sit opposite Ripa would add even more to the show’s current state of unpredictable fun. (For many of us, the Live contest recalled a similar stunt NBC put together for Saturday Night Live in December, 1977, with a contest known as Anyone Can Host.  The winner was Miskel Spillman, an 80-year-old German immigrant who remained the oldest host in the history of the show until Betty White stepped up in May 2010 at age 88.)

Everyone involved with Live -- especially long-time executive producer Michael Gelman and his team – deserve recognition for not only making the most of an unfortunate situation but turning it around into one of the TV success stories of 2016. I can’t help but think that I am going to feel let down when a permanent co-host is finally found – unless this column and feedback from others helps to change everyone’s mind on the matter.

Previously in the Top 25 countdown:

No. 24:Sarah Paulson, Kate McKinnon on NBC Late Night

No. 25:Hallmark's Happy Yule Log

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