Kelly Ripa's Live! Earns Top Spot Among Talk Shows
Congratulations, Kelly Ripa! The Water Mill resident and Live! With Kelly and Michael co-host recently celebrated a television coup when Live!, with 3.6 million viewers, took the ratings lead among all syndicated talk shows.
Ripa‘s show took a slim lead over Dr. Phil, which had been the top syndicated talk show for the first 13 weeks of the 2012-2013 TV season, according to Hollywood Reporter. A “pre-Christmas rush” earned Live! an 8 percent gain over the previous week and tied its best ratings since former NY Giants defensive lineman Michael Strahan replaced Hamptons resident Regis Philbin as Ripa‘s cohost in early September. Live! With Kelly and Michael reached a massive 2.8 rating in total households.
In related news, Rachael Ray, which had Philbin as a guest co-host for an entire episode during the ratings period, saw its numbers rise 14 percent to a 1.6. Philbin signed on to cohost Ray‘s daytime show on a once-per-month basis to start.