Michael Strahan Leaving One Morning Show for Another

Michael Strahan is leaving the daily talk show he co-hosts with Kelly Ripa to work full time on Good Morning America, reports the AP. The former NFL star has worked a couple of days a week at GMA for the past two years, but he always has to leave midway through to head to the Live With Kelly and Michael studio on Manhattan's Upper West Side. He's joining the show's regular cast of Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Lara Spencer, Amy Robach, and Ginger Zee. GMA leads the network morning shows in ratings, but its competition with NBC's second-place Today has gotten tighter in recent months. Today frequently wins the ratings in a younger demographic that is used as a basis for most advertising sales.

Ripa and Strahan won an Emmy last year for outstanding entertainment talk show hosts, as the show has made a complete transition from a program that began in the 1980s with Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford. The show has commitments to be on the air at least through 2020. "My departure will be bittersweet," Strahan said. "Kelly has been an unbelievable partner, and I am so thankful to her and the entire team." Strahan will remain as a co-host of NFL on Fox on the weekends. (Here are the two rumored frontrunners for Strahan's Live job.)