MorningNews

According to an analyst on CNN's Reliable Sources this morning, Good Morning America brings in $400 million bucks to ABC News a year. Enough to keep all of ABC News running where as LIVE brings in $30 million.

So does Lara not fill in for Robin anymore?

On another note... This week has been my first in a while watching GMA in its entirety. Does Lara still fill in for Robin when she's away? Amy is anchoring today for Robin, but there's no news reader. In fact Amy read the headlines in the 8am hour, so she's filling in for Robin and doing her normal duties. Is this common? Also the soft set really sucks and is very ugly.

Sorry meant to say that he may not have found out that Michael had decided to leave until a few days ago. But he knew that Michael had been in negotiations with GMA.

Gelman may not have found out before the show that Michael decided to leave but no way did he just barely figure out that this was all being worked out.

I really cannot believe how this has been blown out of proportion. This is how TV works, Michael probably couldn't say anything to Kelly about it so he didn't. Regardless, he gave her a 4 month advance notice that he was leaving the program. Common courtesy is simply a 2 weeks notice. There's no way that she didn't know that negotiations were on going because Gelman knew about this for months. The reality to me seems to be that Kelly is pissed because she didn't want this to happen and now it's too late so she's throwing a fit. Screw all the talk about it being some under the table deal, that's just what sounds good to the hungry tabloid media.

I hope Lara's upset, hopefully she'll leave. I read an article that the show is being reformatted in September around Robin, George and Michael as the leads. George and Amy will handle more of the news aspect while Robin and Michael take on the lighter things.

I'll have to find it sometime. I know for certain Brian Stetler reported this, it was in the same article announcing Strahan's initial hiring at GMA.

If I remember correctly they offered both host a role on GMA because the show was looking for star power after losing two key players. Kelly turned down the deal because she wasn't interested, they offered the role to Michael and he took it.

^ you are correct. She was initially offered the GMA role over Michael but she turned it down. ABC approached Michael and that turned out to be an incredible choice of there's. Also, the Washington Post and New York Daily News are now reporting that Kelly and executives had known for months about the upcoming transition. The blindsiding is "nonsense"

Well he doesn't necessarily owe Kelly anything and technically he told her before the official announcement was made regardless of how long before he did it. She's not his boss or his immediate supervisor. If his bosses told him to keep quiet about it then that's what he should do. Also how plausible is it that one network show was taking a personality from another and Gelman/Kelly seriously heard nothing about it? Does anyone on here actually watch LIVE? It's not nearly as good as it was when they teamed up 4 years ago. She treats him more like a sidekick than a cohost. Doesn't LIVE go on a hiatus during the summer time? Everyone has their opinions on how this has been planned and carried out, and none of you guys in reality have any clue. I'm seriously not seeing the big deal, he announced that he's leaving one show on the same network technically for another. What is the harm in this? The chemistry between him and the GMA people has blossomed and is pretty good. Read social media, most trending topics are people voicing their grievances regarding how disappointed they are in Kelly for not being there today for Michael. Lastly, GMA is obviously not going to be a strictly news program anytime soon. The most prosperous periods in the shows history have been when they've been a good mix between news and entertainment. Therefore there will be a place for Michael for a long time to come. A few reports are that Robin, George and Michael will become the face of the program and are safe. Which means Amy, Ginger or Lara could be in danger.

They've got to realize by now that the overload on entertainment is just not going to work. My bet is that you're correct, they're laying the groundwork for Lara's departure. Two strictly fluff anchors is not the direction the show has been moving to in the last few weeks. The article from The Washington Post says that they're looking for star power and Michael runs laps around Lara in that category. Not to mention, she's just not good. I'm so tired of her always in your face persona and the ABC executives are morons for allowing her such a huge role on the show. Her contract renewal in 2014, was for 3 years. So the end of this year could be the perfect time to dump her.

Could this be a sign of GMA pushing hard for an extra hour? Maybe not, but I just don't understand this move.

Especially considering the fact that Hillary Clinton just told George she will be at the GMA debate.

Yeah something about him wanting to reach the largest audience possible. I still think it's an interesting concept, mostly because I've never seen it or heard of a morning tv debate not on Sunday's. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part that GMA will go back to being innovative and much less tabloid like.

Interesting concept being proposed...a presidential debate during the 7-9am GMA broadcast. George just said on This Week that it been proposed and Hillary Clinton has already accepted it.

I don't like it either but I have to wonder if it really matters. Morning shows seem to be more personality driven than anything else, so their probably seeing this as only a good thing.

The show always started in a festive mood, even with Josh and Sam there. The morning of Sherman Hemsley's death Robin, George, Josh, Sam and Lara opened the show singing The Jeffersons theme song. They've always been somewhat laid back compared to the others. I will agree with you on the entertainment direction that the show has taken as I have made my displeasure with that known. I'll also agree with you on the fact that Today is slightly better than GMA from what I've watched lately. I just can't warm up to either of the main 4 on that program. Matt and Al have been there too long and I just can't seem to find anything I like about Savannah. Natalie is just there.

Not wanting to read so much into it but I think it would be naive to guess that ABC isn't trying to find a way to get Sam back on the program. He was a popular fixture on the show for a long time and as the show is starting to fade in popularity, I think they could very well be trying to find a permanent spot for him on the program.

I know I may be sounding like a broken record...but my God this show has really gone to the dumps. Watching this morning, Robin and George just look so silly going crazy over The Bacherlor's rose ceremony last night. And you would think that they would try and change things up with the ratings situation being what it is but they have only gone into entertainment overload. The show wasn't even this bad 2-3 years ago. The Today Show isn't much better as I turned over to them after having enough of GMA. Over at 30 Rock, they were going on and on about the Today Annual wedding and chatting with Carson Daly about The Voice. These shows are a far cry from what there predecessors built.

The rumors were that Matt was leaving Today a few years ago but that he decided to stay because of Meredith's departure and the fallout of Ann's departure. There's no reason to believe that he's actually leaving other than the fact that he's been there for 20 years and this seems like the good time to hang it up.

Gee you think this would be a better time than any other. 2017 will make it what, 20 years as anchor of that show? That's the longest serving tenure for any morning program. Charlie and Joan each had 17 years at GMA, Bryant and Katie did 15 years. 20 is pretty incredible.

It seems like most on here but a few agree that Erica is just bad. But has anything actually been confirmed that she's leaving?

Ahh, the old days of Lester and Campbell were awesome. I enjoyed weekend Today with that duo more so than the weekday version. If memory serves correct, Lester replaced David Bloom after his passing and Campbell replaced Soledad O'brien?

I can't speak for everyone else but I myself have never actually enjoyed her on anything she's on. She's too manufactured and robotic for me. Never been a good fit on anything other than CNN's 360.