The daytime talk show’s producer Michael Gelman recalled “huddling” with co-hosts Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa before going on air on Sept. 11, 2001
Credit: gelmanlive/Instagram
NEED TO KNOW
- Live with Regis and Kelly producer Michael Gelman shared a post looking back at the show’s Sept. 11, 2001, broadcast
- Gelman detailed what it was like behind the scenes when co-hosts Kelly Ripa and Regis Philbin learned what had happened at the World Trade Center
- “What we are sharing is a deeply personal clip for all of us at Live, as we discovered the terrorist attack on our country,” he wrote in a caption
The team behind Live with Regis and Kelly is remembering the show’s 9/11 broadcast 25 years later.
On Friday, Sept. 11, executive producer Michael Gelman shared a video along with the official Live with Kelly and Mark account to reflect on the daytime talk show’s harrowing broadcast on Sept. 11, 2001, when co-hosts Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa learned what was happening at the World Trade Center.
In the footage, Ripa, now 55, and Philbin, who died in 2020, tell their audience that a plane crashed into the North Tower, which Ripa called “the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” In real time, the hosts then realized that the second building had been hit, before heading to a commercial break to “regroup.”
“It was minutes before air on September 11, 2001 when as part of my pre-show briefings, I walked into Regis’ office and saw the WABC news report that a plane had hit the World Trade Center,” Gelman wrote in a caption. “There was smoke coming from the building. I said to him, ‘This doesn’t look like an accident.’”
View this post on Instagram
Gelman wrote that he and the two hosts were “huddling” before they started filming, and that they “decided to forgo our usual light chat and instead follow what was unfolding live.”
“Regis and Kelly began talking about what we were seeing in real time on the live video feed. At first, none of us on the team understood the horrors of what was actually happening,” Gelman wrote. “About 11 minutes into the show, we handed off the show to local and national news to continue covering the breaking story. We sent the guests and audience home and all tried to figure out how to connect with our loved ones.”
He added, “What we are sharing is a deeply personal clip for all of us at Live, as we discovered the terrorist attack on our country.”
Friday marked the 25th anniversary of when the al-Qaida terrorist group hijacked four planes, flying two into New York City’s WTC, one into the Pentagon and another into a Pennsylvania field after passengers attempted to take back control. As a result, 2,977 people were killed and thousands still struggle with debilitating illness.
Credit: Spencer Platt/Newsmakers/Getty
In the days to follow, Gelman wrote, Live with Regis and Kelly was pre-empted by news coverage. It returned the following week, with the goal of providing “some small relief and unity with our shell-shocked country.”
“We will NEVER forget and will always remember and revere those who we lost and those who served that day and for years after,” he concluded. “The Live family stands with all Americans on this sacred 25th anniversary.”
Read the full article here
