Moments after last Tuesday’s show, Kelly Ripa was told that Michael Strahan was leaving Live with Kelly and Michael to be a full-time member of Good Morning America.  Sources say Ripa felt blindsided and betrayed by someone she went to bat for only four years ago.  But she’s been through this before.  When Strahan started moonlighting at GMA two years ago, Ripa was told as an afterthought.  And she had reason to be concerned – at the time, ABC was considering cancelling Live and replacing it with another hour of GMA (much like Today did with Kathie Lee and Hoda).  Now those concerns have resurfaced.  Ripa, who had a long weekend already scheduled, called in sick Wednesday.  Calls and texts from Strahan and the network escalated when a rumor surfaced that Ripa was considering staying out “sick” until Strahan left in September.  Ultimately, she agreed to return to work as scheduled on Tuesday, and sent out an e-mail to the staff, thanking them for “giving me the time to process this new information”.  I think it’s gonna be a rocky few months.

Who will replace Strahan?  At the time of his hiring, the other main contenders were Neil Patrick Harris and Anderson Cooper.  But NPH was busy in LA shooting How I Met Your Mother, and Coop had his own daytime talk show.  Now, NPH lives in NYC, and Coop has his days free.  Anderson’s hiring is being championed by a mutual friend, Andy Cohen – which begs the question: does Kelly Ripa have any straight male friends?  Cohen, who was also a candidate, says he has too many jobs as producer of all those Housewives shows on Bravo – aside from hosting Watch What Happens Live.  He thinks Cooper is the way to go.  “He’d be amazing!”