Regis Philbin is finally calling it quits After hosting his daytime talk show for 28 years, Live With Regis and Kelly, he's hanging up his microphone. He's turning 80 this year. If they decide to keep this show on the air with Kelly Ripa, it's a chance for network executives do something unheard of in daytime: bring more diversity to it.
It would be an ideal opportunity to bring in someone a bit younger than Regis and of color that attracts people of all demographics. Sorry, ABC. Wayne Brady and Whoopi are at other stations. Both of them have had successful TV runs.
If TV stations want to keep up with their audiences they need to change their focus. Literally. People of color watch more TV than anyone in the United States. It's how some people learn the English language, about other cultures, and learn American customs. The fact that television is that powerful a medium is frightening. It's the quickest way to get information out to the public.
Or influence a group of people. That's one reason, TV needs to report an accurate picture of the world we live in. Notice how TV shows set in big cities have few people of color as extras or lead characters. The show, Friends, was guilty of that. I watched it sometimes in re-runs, but never watched on its first-run.
Besides Wayne Brady, Sherri Shepherd, and Whoopi (Oprah's leaving), daytime TV really doesn't have much diversity in the morning. I'm not counting soap operas and news shows. I think CBS is the worst offender. The whole morning news team was diverse, but now they only really have Julie Chen. There revamping efforts resulted in a loss of talented staff. I don't even watch anymore.
So, ABC. If you are going to keep the show: think about adding more talented color to it.
Posted By: Marsha Jones
Thursday, January 27th 2011 at 12:16PM
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