MY KELLY RIPA "THING" - A SPECIAL REPORT

For those of you that are loyal readers of WWTM, you may wonder "what is it with this chick and her obsession with Kelly Ripa?"


It goes wayyyyy back...way before LIVE WITH KELLY, way before LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY and even way before ALL MY CHILDREN...


I grew up in Fort Lee, NJ.  Not in one of the enormous luxury buildings, but one of the smaller ones that didn't have a cool name like The Colony, The Plaza or Horizon house.  We didn't have a doorman and we didn't have CABLE TV!  My parents were divorced and when we would go visit my Dad (who DID have cable TV), we would watch DANCIN ON AIR.  DOA was a local Philly show that was similar to American Bandstand.  (Thinking about this now brings up a whole slew of questions about my Dad's taste in TV, but that's a whole different kind of blog...) We became obsessed with the dancers and their "real life" stories. (Keep in mind that this was before the internet) We would write letters to our favorite dancers and they actually wrote us back.  Kelly Ripa was a dancer on the show, she was from NJ also and she had this great personality.  She danced with a guy named Chris Kelly and we all thought they would get married and her name would be Kelly Kelly


Chris & Kelly Kelly...wouldn't that have been soooooo adorable!

But alas...it was not meant to be, when one day, Kelly started dancing with somebody else and we all couldn't believe our eyes or our TV's.  Days went on and finally Andy Gury, the host, confirmed that Kelly and Chris had broken up.  Our dreams of Kelly Kelly were over...


When Kelly was on DANCIN ON AIR/DANCE PARTY USA (which is what it evolved into) she was THE fashionable one...she wore great clothes, had THE BIGGEST Jersey hair, she was adorable and fun and I really wanted to be her friend.  We were both tiny, could wear each others clothes and she could teach me to dance to Stacy Q's "Two of Hearts".  (To this day...I'm still a pathetic dancer)

I always "Watched Way Too Much" and part of my viewing habits were all of the WABC/Channel 7 Soap Opera's.  RYAN'S HOPE, ALL MY CHILDREN, ONE LIFE TO LIVE, GENERAL HOSPITAL, and even EDGE OF NIGHT (Remember Raven and Schyler?) So when Kelly first appeared on ALL MY CHILDREN I freaked out...OMG...it's Kelly from DANCE PARTY USA!!!   Then, to add to my joy... the beautiful Mark Consuelos became her leading man and mine!  I just couldn't get over it...I really hoped they would get married and invite me to the wedding.  Kelly and Mark didn't invite me, but they eloped, so they didn't invite anyone else either... 

I had always watched REGIS and his other women, going back to Ann Abernathy...but when the Kathie Lee/Frank Gifford scandal happened and Kathie Lee ended up leaving Reeeeege, I had this thing in the back of my mind that Kelly Ripa would be Regis's next co-host...I really did.  Again, she was cute, funny and she was already in the ABC family...I just had a feeling...

I have to come clean, once Kelly was officially announced as Regis's co-host,  I didn't "tape" it, and didn't DVR it.  I was really busy on my own career and honestly didn't have time for daytime TV anymore...but when I was home sick,  on vacation, or waiting for the cable guy, I always had REGIS AND KELLY on from 9-10am.  When I heard that Regis was going to retire (it was time people...come ON!) I became OBSESSED with who would fill his chair. I knew it wasn't a good idea for Mark to take the job, and all of my other first choices were not available...Neil Patrick Harris, Jeff Probst, Anderson Cooper, Alec Baldwin...but I was intrigued by the process and still am.  I am obsessed, as you know by just who will end up in that chair next to our tiny co-host.  And so the Season Pass was set.


As I began watching, I became more and more obsessed not just with who would fill the co-hosts chair, but who the heck is picking out Kelly's clothes every day?  If you ever see Kelly in paparazzi shots around the Hamptons (not sure why she couldn't set up her beach home down in Jersey, but I won't hold it against her...she is a Jersey Girl ya know) the city, or at various black tie dinners, she is always dressed so beautifully...but on her show...she dresses like a school marm, or a librarian or someone that churns her own butter, and it makes me NUTS as you all know.


And then there are the Tom Binns necklaces that I know she loves and owns (and aren't cheap...1200 bucks!!!) Mark bought them both for her after she picked them out herself but...  Note to Kelly: If you must insist on wearing them...THEY NEED TO MATCH what you are wearing...they don't match much of anything...here is the one that started it all...

And here is the newest addition to Kelly's "collection".

Now that I feel I have a vested in interest, I'll continue to watch every day and hope I'm happy with whomever the LIVE WITH KELLY team chooses to fill that chair with.  If Kelly does read my blog, I hope she knows it's all in good fun, I love her, am rooting for her,  and really just want one chance to be invited to GIRLS NIGHT OUT!  I think Kelly and I should be and would be great friends...


WWTM-Kristy