The show began in 1983 as "The Morning Show", a local New York program on WABC-TV with Philbin and Cyndy Garvey as co-hosts. They were previously co-hosts on a similar program on KABC-TV in Los Angeles, "A.M. Los Angeles". In 1985, Gifford, then known as Kathie Lee Johnson, replaced Garvey (and her successor, Ann Abernathy), and the show—which had held its own against Phil Donahue's show in the local market—took off. In 1988 Buena Vista Television (which would eventually become co-owned with WABC, as ABC, WABC's parent, would be acquired by Disney, BVTV's parent, in 1996) began syndicating the show nationwide. The title was also renamed to "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee". Viewers embraced the show, making it a popular staple of daytime TV.
On July 27, 2000, Gifford decided to leave the show amidst several personal scandals. Philbin wanted to continue with the show and also wanted to search for another co-host. The show was renamed "Live with Regis", as Philbin hosted alone or with varying guest hosts including everybody from the cast of "Survivor" to "The Daily Show"'s Jon Stewart. During this time, Philbin won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host, and was also hosting ABC's enormously popular Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. During "auditions" for co-hosts, Ripa became a favorite and front-runner, especially after a segment where psychic Char Margolis correctly predicted that Ripa was pregnant. Ripa had only told a small circle of friends about the pregnancy, and not ABC (as she was an actress on "All My Children" at the time) or the public. Ripa was named the permanent co-host on February 5, 2001, and began her duties on February 12. Since Ripa took over, the show's ratings have increased to much