‘GMA’s’ Lara Spencer, Michael Strahan, And The Rest Of The Cast Part Of New Sweeping Changes By ABC

ABC’s Good Morning America is about to make some sweeping changes with co-hosts Lara Spencer, Michael Strahan, and the rest of the cast.

Strahan doesn’t officially join GMA until Tuesday, September 6, and Lara Spencer recently had hip replacement surgery. The network is in the midst of an overhaul in a concerted effort to maintain high ratings among its viewing audience. The highly competitive morning news program is about to make a significant change to attract more advertisers. Variety reports that GMA is the most-watched program, but NBC’s Today has the most advertisers while CBS’ CBS This Morning has escalated in ratings.

“Good Morning America” will launch a new era with @MichaelStrahan and a live audience https://t.co/5rfef8qUlZ pic.twitter.com/hImCX7cATi

— Variety (@Variety) August 30, 2016

GMA currently brings in about $405.5 million for the network. Senior executive producer of Good Morning America, Michael Corn, says ABC is always looking for ways to make the show “more informative, interesting, and entertaining” for its viewers.

A major revision will be underway soon with GMA, but how does that affect Lara Spencer, Michael Strahan, and the rest of the cast? The network will move the cast around to a second-story set that was recently constructed at the studio’s Time’s Square location.

Beginning on Thursday, September 8 the GMA hosts will move to the news set during the program’s last half-hour. The hosts will interact with an estimated 100 live audience members in a format that enables Lara Spencer, Michael Strahan and some of the other hosts to connect on a more personal level with the crowd. Corn adds that it’ll infuse a more energetic atmosphere. The executive producer said it’s “a lot looser in terms of how we can use our anchors.”

The sweeping changes at GMA are inserting a little more “lifestyle” and less hard news topics by utilizing its cast in different ways.

Hosts Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, and Strahan are slated to open GMA most mornings. Amy Robach will likely appear in the program’s first hour when news is most pertinent. Co-anchor Lara Spencer is expected to be featured during GMA’s second half alongside Michael Strahan. Producers are aiming to “build a rapport” between the two co-hosts with the new live audience format. Corn shares that the existing on-air cast will appear across the program. The show will remain steadfast in its goal to test new ideas and find different ways to make the most of its anchors.

It’s noted in the report that there will be times a live crowd won’t be blended into the show. These occasions will be when a breaking news event dominates the airwaves, such as serious stories, terrorist attacks, or presidential elections. The program will air it’s regular two hours of reporting on the burning topic. Stephanopoulos, who’s also the chief anchor of ABC News, will presumably handle the duties related to such stories. Roberts and Strahan will be assigned responsibilities that play to their strengths. Strahan won’t be seen on Mondays during football season because he’ll be traveling back to New York from his duties at Fox Sports.

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Strahan’s arrival may force this anchor out at #GMA https://t.co/ZbTWOthOU7 pic.twitter.com/HJdkBeeUs2

— Page Six (@PageSix) July 1, 2016

In all, the entire GMA cast will stay put, but deployed in different phases of the broadcast. As the Inquisitr reported in late June, there were rumors that Spencer was being forced out her position with the addition of Strahan. The result of having Strahan on the show, who departed Live With Kelly and Michael earlier this spring, started speculations that a GMA cast shakeup was underway. It turned out that the whole story was blown out of proportion, with a statement from Good Morning America spokeswoman, Heather Riley, saying no one was going anywhere — especially Lara Spencer.

“Any suggestion that Lara is being phased out is ridiculous,” Riley told People magazine. “We are lucky to have her as a part of the GMA team, and she is integral to the success of the show.”

[Photo via ABC Media]