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Bombshell: Regis Retiring

Jan 18, 2011  •  Post A Comment

Regis Philbin, TV’s ageless wonder, announced on "Live With Regis and Kelly" this morning that he’s retiring from the show sometime around the end of summer, ABC News reports

According to the article, Philbin, 79, said on the show this morning, "This will be my last year on this show. It was the biggest thrill of my life. There is a time that everything must come to an end for certain people on camera, especially certain old people."

The article added, "Philbin said he would be stepping down from the show around the end of the summer, but didn’t specify a departure date. Though he’s departing, the ‘Live’ franchise will continue: The Disney-ABC Television Group plans to name a new personality to join Kelly Ripa, who has co-hosted the show for nearly ten years."

Philbin, a former TVWeek Syndication Personality of the Year, has been on TV since the 1960s, picking up multiple Emmys along the way.

Says the ABC News story, "Philbin set a Guinness World Record for most hours on camera with his Aug. 20, 2004 "Live" show, which gave him a total of 15,188 hours on television. In 2006, his record was updated to 15,662 hours."

7 Comments

  1. Regis, you stood up under many sarcastic references over the years, and you showed them! I refer to statements like “What does he do,? “What talent does he have,? etc.
    I remember when you started out here in San Diego, and later I worked with you on Channel 9 in Los Angeles; you are the Ed Sullivan of your time.
    As Ed said, he doesn’t do anything, but people tune in to see him not do it. Anyway, good luck kid, you’re only 79 to my 90, and you are a lucky man to have all those people watch every day; you’re lucky to have the same wife all these years. You will be missed, no matter who they put on in your place.

  2. An entertainers, entertainer. This is what a funny, class act is all about.

  3. It will be the end of another era when Regis walks off his show into retirement. But at eighty, he has a right to take it easy – well at least as easy as Regis can take it. I remember seeing Regis as a child on the old black and white Muntz tv when he was the sidekick for the Joey Bishop Show, the more modern version of Dennis Day to Jack Benny. When he came back to daytime television with first Kathie Lee, and later Kelly Rippa it became a morning ritual. Regis has the right kinetic balance for morning tv, and indeed, he will be hard to replace. However, there will be another individual with the right spark for future morning viewers of daytime television – but there will never be another Regis.

  4. So, I think Regis might secretly be retiring to become “The Donald’s” VP running mate for 2012? You read it here first!

  5. Aw, Reg, say it isn’t so! I spent nearly a year chasing you around an above ground swimming pool in little US towns every Sunday night with my hand-held camera on ABC”s ALMOST ANYTHING GOES. We laughed every monday morning in yet another town’s airport as you belly-ached about getting back to LA for your KABC-TV AM Los Angeles Show…the stories I could, (maybe should) tell…I should come be your replacement, after all, I’ve already walked miles in your footsrteps. All my best, and remember your moving back to NYC was John C. Severino’s biggest loss! Peter Bright http://www.peterbrightproductions.com

  6. The show probably won’t last long without Regis. I can’t imagine it being successful with anyone else. Regis is the driving force on the show.
    Of course, if Simon Cowell was recruited… LOL

  7. “Bombshell”? What’s with the violent rhetoric?

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