At least Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan haven’t bitten each other during a live broadcast (that we know of, anyway).
And neither one’s outright sobbed on the air — yet.
For all the attention that’s being paid to the “who did who wrong-er” dissolution of “Live with Kelly and Michael,” it should be remembered theirs’ isn’t the first breakup of a morning show host team. Or even the most dramatic.
Far from it, in fact. Take a spin down memory lane as we look back at five particularly ugly or hysterical morning show divorces:
- Deborah Norville, the "Today" show's "other woman." When Norville, 31, replaced longtime "Today" news anchor John Palmer in September 1989, the gossip immediately started: She was really about to push out much admired co-host Jane Pauley. Three months later, Pauley, 39, was indeed gone and Dalton native and UGA grad Norville was Bryant Gumbel's new co-host. Over the next year, "Today's" ratings sagged and Norville — who'd been parodied on "Saturday Night Live" and taken hits on David Letterman's late night show — was, accurately or not, blamed and constantly criticized. In February 1991 she left on maternity leave and never came back, thanks largely to another "other woman." In April, NBC announced Norville's temporary stand-in, Katie Couric, had become her permanent replacement, effective immediately.
- Kevin Newman and Lisa McRee get "disappeared" from "Good Morning America:" Taking advantage of the Pauley-Norville debacle, ABC's morning show rose to No. 1 in the ratings for five years. By 1995, though, "Today" was back on top. Soon after, longtime "GMA" co-hosts Joan Lunden and Charlie Gibson were pushed out in rapid successioon. Their replacements, Newman and McRee, were younger relative unknowns — to each other and to viewers. GMA's ratings tanked and within six months, the new team was gone, replaced by Diane Sawyer and a (doubtless gloating) Gibson. When GMA celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2010, "Lisa and I were nowhere to be found in its official history," Newman, who'd returned to TV in his native Canada, wrote for a magazine. "We never happened."
- Ann Curry gets the Bambi's mother's treatment: When Couric became CBS Evening News anchor in 2006, became "Today" co-host Meredith Viera instead of Curry, the show's longtime news anchor.The beloved Viera left by choice five years later and "Today" felt it had "no better options" than Curry to be Matt Lauer's co-host, Brian Stelter wrote in his book "Top of the Morning." The results were disastrous: Curry's performance was criticized as being overly earnest and melodramatic; off-air, Lauer complained about her bitterly and someone compiled a blooper reel of her worst mistakes, all of which found its way into the press and social media. When "GMA" took "Today's" ratings crown, Stelter revealed, NBC executives put together a plan code-named "Operation Bambi" to force Curry from the job. She didn't go quietly, tearing up during a painful to watch a live on-air goodbye in June 2012 that included the verbal shot, ""This is not as I ever expected to leave this couch." Many in the public blamed Lauer for her demise and four years later, "Today" is still struggling to become overall No. 1 again.
- Rosie O'Donnell's split-screen split from "The View:" The outspokenly liberal O'Donnell tended to dominate her three or four co-hosts (the number depending on the day) — although conservative fellow host Elizabeth Hasselbeck often more than held her own. It all culminated on May 23, 2007, when O'Donnell accused Hasselback of not adequately defending her against media criticism of her anti-Iraq war sentiment; other long-simmering issues flared and the two argued and shouted at each other for 10 extraordinary minutes that went viral (see the video here). "It was like watching a domestic dispute unfolding," Maksim Chmerkovskly, a guest waiting to go on, told "People" magazine afterwards. O'Donnell had already planned to leave "The View" the following month; instead, she asked ABC to release her from her contract immediately and never came back. It wasn't just because of Hasselback; she was mad producers had shown their shouting duel on a split-screen: "I didn't want to do Hannity & Colmes," she told her friend, Kathy Griffin, referring to the former Fox News show.
- J. Fred Muggs bites the hand that feeds him: Believe it or not, the first morning show "co-host" was a chimpanzee. The year-old "Today" show was struggling mightily in the ratings in 1953 when Muggs became a regular cast member alongside host Dave Garroway. Ratings instantly skyrocketed and advertisers jumped on board. (Watch a clip of Muggs on the "Today" show). Dubbed Garroway's "right-hand monkey," Muggs sat on the human host's lap for interviews each day and appeared in skits. Official accounts differ about how much Garroway enjoyed the arrangement before NBC let Muggs's contract expire after five years. The chimp's trainer claimed it was because Garroway was jealous. Others said Muggs had bitten Garroway and at least one other person on the show. Muggs's owners later sued NBC and Garroway, claiming they had "damaged the animal's image and diminished his earning power," according to "From Yesterday to Today: Six Decades of America's Favorite Morning Show," by Stephen Battaglio. "The suit, asking for $500,000, went on for years before a small settlement was reached."
More: Kelly Ripa is praying for "Live" as Michael Strahan's exit nears
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
