Regis Philbin Announces That He Will Retire From Live With Regis And Kelly

by Alex Alvarez | 9:36 am, January 18th, 2011

» 8 comments

This morning, longtime daytime television fixture Regis Philbin announced on Live With Regis and Kelly that he is planning on retiring within the year. No exact date was given, but Philbin is looking to step down sometime this summer.

Philbin, who is 79, has been hosting the daytime show since 1987, originally with Kathie Lee Gifford (and, by extension, her children) as his co-host. He’s been appearing on and hosting various television shows since the 1950s, including The Regis Philbin Show , America’s Got Talent, Deal or No Deal, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and our personal favorite: WrestleMania VII.

With Oprah leaving daytime after this, her final season, there is suddenly a gaping hole in syndicated daytime talk shows. Great news for Anderson?

Live with Regis and Kelly, Regis Philbin, Retirement

Moderate

I rarely watched the show, but I could not understand why anyone would care who he saw while having dinner the night before.
The Lantern of Truth

KING on TV . Remember when I used to babysit for you back in ’33 , Reeg ? I was the one who used to take your candy and make you cry . Fun times , fun times .
Moderate

“Great news for Anderson?”

Daytime talk is dead and should have died years ago. Reality TV is just as bad but that is another story. Thank God for the Science Channel.
notsofast

I find Regis and Kelly to be a guilty pleasure. They seem to be genuinely nice people, and Kelly is so hot.

Rarely has there been an unpleasant moment on the show and it’s a nice way to get over the seriousness that begins with the morning news.

I will miss Regis.
libra blue

“Great news for Anderson?”

“Anderson” is supposed to be a more serious show, but I don’t think this is a coincidence that Regis is leaving just as Anderson’s show begins (late summer/early fall). I would not be surprised if AC hired Ripa as his sidekick. He’s a clumsy comic at best, but he still needs someone to set him up and feed him the lines. IMO, he can’t handle a show like this on his own.
dhg

“Regis and Kelly” is something somewhat unique in that anyone who is able to be watching TV at 9 or 10 in the morning can relate to them and the show.Old and young alike,it has a little something for everyone and is a friendly fun little diversion.Regis,the world record holder for TV hours,is a very relate-able everyman with all his faults and Kelly is the really hot girl next door housewife.

I personally enjoy Regis’ stories about old Hollywood etc and his every present “things that go wrong” stories.Kelly,who probably secretly has an IQ of about 170,is absolutely letter prefect as a counterpoint.

Anderson would be the prefect candidate for this show.the question is would he do it with this other show he has coming and CNN?If I were Anderson and I had a choice I’d jump at this opening and forget the other show,it’s possible he could work this into decades of job security while working with a personal friend.

I’ll miss it but am really curious about where it goes from here.
stoogedudes

notsofast said:
I find Regis and Kelly to be a guilty pleasure. They seem to be genuinely nice people, and Kelly is so hot. Rarely has there been an unpleasant moment on the show and it’s a nice way to get over the seriousness that begins with the morning news. I will miss Regis.

I agree with every word you said.

I have a hard time believing he’s almost 80 years old. I don’t know a whole lot of 80 year olds who have that much youth in them after all these years. And he’s still funny and charming. I will surely miss him, even though I haven’t been able to catch the show since I’m always at work, but then again, I do have a DVR. I’ll have to record his last days as host.
Georgia999

Sorry to see you go, Reeg! I would have quit, too, if Kelly was my co-host. He probably aged faster than usual having to listen to her every day of the week.