No one saying Kelly isn’t cute. So are lots and lots of other women. Not all of them earn $20M and 95% could do Kelly’s job in a heartbeat and people such as yourself would be fawning over them if they did. I could do Skip Bayless’s job in a heartbeat. Bayless and Ripa have one thing in common. They are obscenely lucky. Bayless probably knows it. $6M a year to chat about sports? Dear God. Ripa seems to have let in gone to her head. You make $20M a year and you are all diva because your co-host is, in your opinion, a diva? Who cares? For $20M a year you should chill out, not walk out, and pretty say thanks to whomever your bosses are.
This thread isn’t really about ripping Ripa as much as it is a slam on any celeb or overpaid jock. Especially when some of the funds for their industry takes resources away from other folks who do normal, unspectacular, but amazing jobs on a daily basis like cops (most of them), K-12 teachers, etc. Look, if you want to worship Ripa and the like go for it. You can also be a fan. I’ll pass.
Part of why these celebrities do deserve to make a lot is because they have little to no personal life and get their weight, chest size and the like discussed on the internet.
I would not want that kind of fame even with the paycheck. For one thing, think about the security issues for oneself and one’s children? No thanks.
She has some value added that is supporting a whole slew of other people. Also, succeeding in that business is a lottery, so people who succeed need to earn enough to outweigh the large probability of complete failure.
To the OP: I’ve never seen the show, but what she is getting paid for is the ability to attract a certain audience in sufficiently large quantities over a sufficiently long period of time, without controversy or offense, such that advertisers are willing to pay a lot – and, specifically, a lot more than she is getting paid – to advertise on her show.
It is ridiculous to say you or anyone else could do the same thing. Where is your track record showing that you are able to consistently attract that specific audience, in those numbers, over time? You have no track record at all; there is no evidence that you are able to do that. To say, “but I can talk about inane topics, too” is to miss the point. She is paid to deliver an audience, and apparently she is quite good at it.
For some reason, you believe her labor is fungible with millions of others who could do the same thing, and apparently you believe that management should have recognized this and should have kept a bigger portion of the pie for themselves. And yet management in this case – the very people who have to depart with the money to pay her – have reached the opposite conclusion. They have concluded that her particular skill set – again, the ability to deliver an audience – is not fungible, and that her labor is thus worth the high price she demands.
My hunch is that they are probably better judges of that than you are, since their OWN interest in keeping a bigger portion of the pie for themselves is even greater than YOUR interest in their doing so.
yeah, but, some people just have that IT factor. You can’t define it, you can’t describe it, but you know it when you see it and they become stars. My brother was the guidance counselor for Ryan Secrest. Let’s just say, Ryan Secrest had no need of my brother’s input. Bro says he was “starring” at school from the moment he got there and his goal was just what he is doing…being a Hollywood celebrity.
I have seen the show a few times and I don’t see what the appeal is. I think she is overrated. Like I could care less about the kardashians what she does in her life is of least concern for me. I’m not impressed. Personally I think her male cohost was much better. I prefer watching the Today show instead. They are a much more interesting cast.
@raclut…Interesting. The Today Show hosts don’t appeal to me at all, while most of Good Morning America hosts do somehow draw me in. I like Kelly Ripa, but I really like Michael. Not only do these shows have to choose personalities that appeal to mass audiences, but they need to interact well among themselves. There is nothing worse than watching a show where the co-hosts don’t seem to like each other.
HAHAHA. Well, why don’t you get off your ass and do it? You and the other millions of people who have the same insight.
The jobs that pay the most are almost instantly available to anyone who can do them better than the incumbent.
Maybe you just want to get to decide what everyone makes (and maybe what they do, too) . Well, get in line for that…you’re not alone. I’d like to have that job too, but fortunately for all of us, it doesn’t exist, and must not…ever.
I should go to Hollywood and do Ripa’s job . Well, maybe I should have when I was younger. And maybe I would have ended up living under a bridge. She’s not talented she is lucky. That is my jealousy showing. If I can, I should, fair enough. Put my money where my mouth is. I am okay with that. I can accept backlash since I dished it out.
I did evaluate my skill set, back when I was young. And I choose a safe and secure path. I made the right decision. God only knows what would have happened to me had I driven out to Hollywood at 18 all wide eyed and naive.
Ripa pulled it off. So did Seacrest and a few others. We can love them or hate them for that. Ellen, for example, is about as cool and down to earth as celebs get. I can’t say I hate all celebs. I don’t hate Ripa. But my God is she over paid! Pure, blind, unexplainable, kiss the ground you walk on luck in my opinion. She is utterly interchangeable with literally thousands of women her age out there. And she is no spring chicken anymore either actually so quite a few women out there are younger and prettier now.
Before you attack me for being sexist, it happens to men too. Men are judged, in part, based on looks also.
When celebs age that shows us, us normal folk, so the story goes, that we can age too and not freak out about it. When celebs get cancer or deal with identity theft or other stuff … again, it shows some people it can happen to anyone. I get all that but I don’t like all the celebrity driven culture I see. Not that it matters. I watch too much TV but trust me I am hardly obsessed with Ripa. She isn’t all that to me. No celeb is really. I follow them casually at about the same rate that others do. I am following the presidential election cycle mostly as it relates to how our country will be run not based on one personality vs the other. I actually think the media is frothing over it because it is a loud, rude guy vs a feminist and the media if stoking all that for ratings instead of helping the electorate evaluate and vet the candidates.
That is another example of why I dislike the celebrity driven culture we live in. Earlier in this thread, someone said “we judge people based on income or wealth.” Yeah, we do. And based on looks. It all goes into one big package. Most people do that. It is hard not too. Not sure there is anything wrong with that. I am not a Ripa fan but I’ll give her credit, her fame and wealth are assets for her not liabilities.
I am not a huge fan of Kelly Ripa but I have to laugh when people say “hey, I could do that or my kids could do that”. That’s bologna with a capital B. You don’t know how good some of these people are at what they do until you see someone who is awful at it, and those exist, but not for long. It may look easy but those who are good, know how to do it well. What they earn and whether or not they’re ‘worth’ it, is another discussion entirely.
Many could do that job, but not everyone could do that job.
Many could do day care, but not everyone could do the job of a day care worker.
Why are we paying so much more for Kelly’s skill set? That is what I can’t figure out. Though I think probably Nottelling made it as understandable as possible a few posts back. If we value her because she is a job creator and income producer, then it seems to me day care workers indirectly serve the same societal function. They enable working parents to hold jobs and companies to produce income. They keep the economy going. imho.
75% to 85% of the people here could do Ripa’s job. They might not all be able to maintain as huge an audience, which might not justify the high salary, but let’s not act like Ripa is doing something amazing because she isn’t. Almost everyone here can banter and chat just fine and tell personal slice of life stories and laugh like a hyena.
I’ll say again, Bayless’s job can be done by 99.9% of the guys I know.
Ripa and Bayless are obscenely lucky to be doing what they are doing and making what they are making.
Another example is ESPN personality Paul Finebuam. If you don’t know who he is it is because you don’t like college football. Finebaum rose from lowly newspaper beat writer to radio personality to a brand based around talking about SEC football 365 24/7 with no apology. There is virtually no other topic worthy of conversation unless it somehow relates to SEC football. He is now considered the “leading opinion maker” in college football.
Finebaum will be the first to tell you how insanely lucky he is to be doing what he is doing. He is excellent at what he does. So is Howard Stern and many other celebrities. I agree, it is hard to attract and retain a loyal audience, but I don’t think what these folks do is particularly hard or difficult or irreplaceable.
Johnny Carson was good at what he did. But so were the people that followed him. Ripa, Bayless, Finebaum, Stern could all be replaced by large segments of the population with only a marginal loss in audience. The people paying Ripa are stupid is my explanation.
I watch morning TV quite often. I have seen Kelly Ripa and I have seen other talk show hosts. I have watched other celebrity replacements when Ripa is on vacation. It is painfully clear that not everyone can do her job. Perhaps she is lucky but I have observed that she is quick-witted and very funny. Her comedic timing is exceptional.Not everyone has that skill set and can combine it with her easy and down to earth personality that puts the celebrity guest and viewer at ease. Although I value teachers and scientists more, I think her salary is on par with other big entertainers and sports stars. If she wasn’t worth it she wouldn’t get the big bucks.
They could sit in the chair but most could not do the job as well. As NorthMinnesota pointed out, there have been many a guest host, people who are in the business and used to being in front of a crowd, who have done an abominable job. No one is saying that what Ripa does is amazing or that she deserves however many millions she earns but to say that most people could do the job as well is just plain silly.
It’s the same thing with broadcasting jobs. Staying in Charleston WV for a night while travelling recently, we watched a local newscast and it was just plain cringeworthy. And this could be said about many local stations. Yes, apparently anyone can sit in and read the news but good grief, some of them are appallingly bad.
This is all about supply and demand. If there really were tons of people who could do Kelly Ripa’s job just as well for less money, one of them would be doing it. But her job isn’t sitting in a chair and being perky. Her job is drawing in the demographics the advertisers want. That is measured by ratings, not by anybody’s subjective evaluation of how good she is. If the ratings drop, she’ll be out. It’s that simple.
And about what we value vs. what is valuable: Let’s say you love hot dogs. How much would you be willing to pay for a hot dog today? And then: how much would you be willing to pay for the last hot dog in the world?
Kelly Ripa is lucky. Just about everyone who makes a living in entertainment is lucky. Being lucky does not mean that anyone else could do your job as well as you do.
I think you may be overestimating the charm of “almost everyone here.” The point has been made that Ripa is worth her salary because so many people want to see her - on her show, in her ads, in her special appearances, presumably her social media, etc. That is what she delivers that almost everyone here could not.
Women who are not spring chickens themselves actually are a worthwhile audience to many advertisers. And are still full human beings, btw. They watch TV, vote, buy stuff … this may be difficult for you to believe, but not everyone thinks that only the youngest and prettiest are worth watching.
Well, get in line for that…you’re not alone. I’d like to have that job too, but fortunately for all of us, it doesn’t exist, and must not…ever.