Regis will join Kathie at ‘Today’
ONE OF TV’S GREATEST MORNING SHOW duos is getting back together. Regis Philbin is in talks with NBC News to join the “Today” show as a contributor to the program’s fourth hour, knowledgeable sources tell Confidenti@l.
The short-term deal would reunite Philbin with Kathie Lee Gifford, who hosts the show’s final hour with Hoda Kotb.
“It’s no secret that Regis and Kathie Lee have an incredible spark, and fans love the TV nostalgia,” an industry insider said. “But Regis and Hoda also have a special chemistry. He loves joking with her, and they have a great comfort level.”
NBC sources say combining Gifford and Kotb’s magic with Philbin’s charm will create a “dream team.”
Philbin and “Today” already have a strong relationship. He has been on the show several times recently (inset, with Gifford), and this new deal is seen as a way to “formalize what he’s already been doing,” the insider said.
The move comes at a good time for “Today,” which has scored significant ratings victories recently against archrival “Good Morning America,” snaring more viewers in the coveted 25-54 age group than the ABC show.
Philbin, 83, and Gifford, 61, have been tight for years and socialize regularly, often meeting for dinner near their Connecticut homes.
They hosted “Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee” on ABC from 1985 to 2000, when she left and was replaced by
Kelly Ripa, 44. And while ABC officials have frequently argued otherwise, staffers at “Live!” have insisted for years that Philbin was pushed off the show in 2011.
In a sign of how comfortable he is talking with Kotb, Philbin recently revealed that Ripa — who he worked with closely for more than a decade — has not spoken to him since he was dumped by ABC.
“I haven’t seen her, I don’t see her,” Regis told Kotb during an appearance on her twice-weekly SiriusXM radio show after she asked how often he sees or speaks to Kelly. “She lived downtown, and now I hear she’s on the East Side and, uh, you know.”
Philbin very diplomatically has said that he enjoyed working with Ripa, but “Live!” insiders said in the past that the pair spoke infrequently when not on the air together.
Despite his age, Philbin remains one of the hardest-working people on television. Since leaving “Live!” he has co-hosted Fox Sports 1’s “The Crowd Goes Wild” and has been a co-host on “The Rachael Ray Show” and “The Late Show With David Letterman.”