Michael Strahan is Leaving Talk Show For A Good Reason

19 Apr, 2016

Former football star Michael Strahan is being shifted from the daily talk show he co-hosts with Kelly Ripa to work full-time on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

The change comes as “Good Morning America” tries to shore up sinking ratings at a time of tighter competition with NBC’s “Today” show and reflects the importance of the show to parent Walt Disney Co.’s bottom line.

Strahan has worked a couple of days a week at “GMA” for the past two years, but he always has to leave midway through to head to the “Live with Kelly and Michael” studio on Manhattan’s upper West Side. He’s joining the show’s regular cast of Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Lara Spencer, Amy Robach and Ginger Zee.

Starting in September, he’ll be there five days a week for the full two-hour show.

The former New York Giant was selected in 2012 to replace Regis Philbin as Ripa’s co-host on the talk show, which airs directly after “Good Morning America” at 9 a.m. in most markets.

“Michael’s proven to be a tireless and versatile broadcaster with an incredible ability to connect with people, from veterans and all kinds of newsmakers to a host of American cultural icons,” said ABC News President James Goldston. “He is a great modern thinker and leader.”

“Good Morning America” remains television’s most popular morning show, averaging 4.96 million viewers a day since the beginning of the year. But that audience is down 10 percent from 2015, according to the Nielsen company.

Given a choice of trying to help one show while simultaneously hurting another, it was no contest: Disney has much more money at stake with “Good Morning America” than with “Live with Kelly and Michael.”

Ripa and Strahan shared an Emmy for outstanding entertainment talk show hosts last year.

Strahan, who retired from the NFL in 2008 following a 15-year playing career, will remain as a co-host of “NFL on Fox” on the weekends.

AP

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