The cutthroat hierarchy of morning shows has cemented its new power couple. Ryan Seacrest has been named Kelly Ripa’s new Live! co-host. In the year since Michael Strahan’s dramatic exit from the show for GMA, Ripa has held down Live! with almost 70 guest co-hosts, including Anderson Cooper, Andy Cohen, Jussie Smollett, and Jerry O’Connell, and spent five episodes hosting with Seacrest himself. Seacrest will co-host Live! four days a week from New York and usually spend the rest of his week in Los Angeles; he plans to build a radio studio in New York so he can continue to host his daily radio show for L.A.’s KIIS-FM and his weekly “American Top 40” program. With his new morning-show gig — he’ll also become an executive producer on Live! With Kelly and Ryan — Seacrest will get a lot busier, but his other hosting duties are expected to be unaffected; his on-air contracts to host awards-season red-carpet specials for NBC Universal’s E! network were recently renewed. Good luck to Ryan Seacrest and his new 6 a.m. wake-up call.
