Kelly Ripa & Ryan Seacrest’s ‘Live’ Chemistry Inspires ABC TV Pilot, ‘Work Wife’
Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest have inspired a sitcom pilot. The Live With Kelly and Ryan stars’ on-camera chemistry spawned a pilot order for a new ABC comedy, Work Wife.
The logline for the potential show says the pilot will focus on Dani and Scott, a male-female duo whose “professional success, personal friendship and ability to share deodorant makes their lives work,” according to TV Line.
Work Wife won’t be set around a morning show like Live, but will instead take place in the real estate world where the platonic pals set out to form their own team. The work partners will rely on “the yin-yang of their dynamic” to keep their professional and personal lives “afloat.”
Both Kelly and Ryan are listed as executive producers on the single-camera comedy, which is being developed for ABC’s fall 2020-21 season. Writers Casey Johnson and David Windsor (The Real O’Neals), who also have working relationship similar to Kelly and Ryan’s, will pen the script for the pilot.
No casting has been announced for Work Wife, but the sitcom sounds perfect for Kelly’s skill set. The longtime morning show host famously did double duty when she co-hosted Live with Regis Philbin while simultaneously starring in the ABC sitcom, Hope & Faith, with Faith Ford for three seasons, from 2003 to 2006.
Ryan, meanwhile, is known mostly for his credits as a producer, but he has shown off his acting chops with cameos on Beverly Hills, 90210 and American Housewife.
Kelly and Ryan are known for their easy going banter both on and off the set. They have co-hosted Live together since 2017, but have been friends for much longer than that.
Last year, Kelly talked to People about her undeniable chemistry with her Live! co-star.
“I get to work with one of my very best friends,” the morning show queen said of her relationship with Ryan. “We have that connection backstage right before the show starts where it’s like, ‘I’ve got a story for you.'”
Kelly, who for nearly 20 years has co-hosted Live! with Philbin, Michael Strahan, and a rotating lineup of other guest stars, previously told E! News that her chemistry with Ryan was just “there” from the get-go.
“We like each other so we enjoy our time together,” she explained.
Ryan added that the duo’s “naturalness” with being next to each other just comes across with no real effort.
“I think when we’re hosting the show, I don’t know what she’s going to say, but I kind of know when she’s going to say something-ish,” the Live! With Kelly and Ryan star said.
