GMA3: What You Need to Know
Also known asGMA Day (2018–19)
GMA3: Strahan & Sara (2019)
GMA3: Strahan, Sara & Keke (2019–20)
Pandemic: What You Need to Know (2020)
GMA3: "What You Need to Know" (2020–present)
GenreNews and talk
Created byJames Goldston
Catherine McKenzie
Directed byLily Olszewski
Presented byJennifer Ashton
DeMarco Morgan
Eva Pilgrim
Narrated byRandy Thomas
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4
Production
Executive producersJustin Dial (senior exec.)
Catherine McKenzie (both 2020-present)
Production locationsTimes Square Studios, New York City
Running time60 minutes (approx. 35-36 minutes excluding commercials)
Production companyABC News Productions
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseSeptember 10, 2018 (2018-09-10) –
present (present)
Related
Good Morning America

GMA3: What You Need to Know (often shortened to simply GMA3) is an American daytime news program broadcast by ABC. Anchored by Jennifer Ashton, DeMarco Morgan, and Eva Pilgrim, it is an afternoon spin-off of ABC's national morning show Good Morning America.

The series originally premiered on September 10, 2018, as GMA Day. Hosted by Michael Strahan and Sara Haines, it replaced The Chew (which had in turn, replaced ABC's soap opera All My Children) on ABC's daytime lineup. In late January 2019, the program was rebranded as GMA3: Strahan & Sara (or simply Strahan & Sara) to place a larger emphasis on its hosts. After filling in for Haines while she was on maternity leave, actress Keke Palmer joined the program full-time in August 2019, and it was renamed accordingly to Strahan, Sara & Keke.

On March 17, 2020, Strahan, Sara & Keke was suspended due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, with ABC replacing it with Pandemic: What You Need to Know—a newscast produced by ABC News Live to cover topics relating to the pandemic, and anchored by Amy Robach. Although it was originally billed as a temporary replacement for Strahan, Sara & Keke, the What You Need to Know format quietly became permanent, with the Pandemic branding replaced by GMA3 in June, and T. J. Holmes added as a co-anchor in September.[1]

History

Precursor

Following the cancellation of the daytime talk show The Revolution (a short-lived replacement of One Life to Live), ABC aired an afternoon spin-off of Good Morning America titled Good Afternoon America as an interim replacement from July to September 2012.[2] Hosted by Josh Elliott and Lara Spencer, the program primarily focused on celebrity and pop culture topics.[3][4][5] It filled the 2:00 p.m. ET/PT timeslot until September 10, 2012, when General Hospital was moved up into the timeslot, and ABC gave the 3:00 p.m. hour back to its affiliates.[5]

GMA Day/Strahan & Sara (2018–2020)

Logo as Strahan & Sara, used from January to July 2019.

On May 23, 2018, ABC announced that it had canceled The Chew, and that the program would be replaced by a new third hour of Good Morning America.[6][7] In July 2018, the title of the program was announced as GMA Day, co-hosted by GMA anchor Michael Strahan and The View panelist Sara Haines.[8]

On January 28, 2019, the show was rebranded as GMA3: Strahan & Sara (or simply Strahan & Sara), with a new logo and updated studio. Variety reported that the decision was meant to partially downplay its ties to Good Morning America by placing a larger emphasis on its hosts, in a similar manner to Today with Hoda & Jenna. The show's initial ratings in the first half of the season had been slightly weaker than those of The Chew, declining from a 2 million viewer average to between 1.7 and 1.9 million viewers.[9]

With Haines going on maternity leave after the birth of her third child in June 2019, actress Keke Palmer began filling in as a co-host in the same month.[10] On July 31, 2019, it was reported that Palmer would join the show full-time as a third host, as the network said viewers had found Palmer to be an appealing co-host with good chemistry with Strahan and Haines. On August 26, 2019, the program was rebranded accordingly as GMA3: Strahan, Sara & Keke.[11][12]

What You Need to Know (2020–present)

GMA3 logo used from June to September 2020

On March 11, 2020, ABC announced that the series along with its morning counterpart would suspend in-studio audiences "for the time being" due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, following a similar decision made by the network and Disney–ABC Domestic Television for their other talk shows, including The View, Live with Kelly and Ryan, and Tamron Hall.[13]

On March 17, 2020, ABC announced that it would temporarily replace Strahan, Sara & Keke with Pandemic: What You Need to Know, a daytime newscast produced by ABC News' streaming channel ABC News Live, which would "address the widespread issues caused by the global pandemic and offer solutions from those adjusting to a new way of life." It would be anchored by Amy Robach, and feature contributions from ABC News' chief medical correspondent Jennifer Ashton.[14]

Despite being billed as a temporary replacement for Strahan, Sara & Keke, the program slowly began to evolve into a general daytime newscast in the months that followed. By June, the program had been re-titled GMA3: What You Need to Know, and began to steadily increase its coverage of stories unrelated to COVID-19.[15]

On August 2, 2020, still absent official confirmation from ABC, Palmer stated on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen that Strahan, Sara & Keke had been canceled.[16] Later that month, Variety reported that Haines would return to The View as a panelist for its upcoming season.[17] On September 18, 2020, GMA correspondent T. J. Holmes was announced as a new co-anchor beginning on September 21, 2020.[18] At that time, GMA3 also introduced a new blue and orange logo and on-air graphics to increase its ties to Good Morning America.[19]

On December 5, 2022, Holmes and Robach were temporarily placed on leave from the program by ABC News, after it was reported that the co-anchors had an extra-marital romantic relationship. Rhiannon Ally and DeMarco Morgan began to serve as one of many fill-in hosts at the time, along with Eva Pilgrim.[20][21][22] On January 27, 2023, it was announced that Holmes and Robach would depart the network.[23] On May 12, 2023, Morgan and Pilgrim were named their permanent successors.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ Weprin, Alex (December 5, 2023). "Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes Break Silence on Exit From 'GMA3' and ABC News". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  2. ^ Steinberg, Brian (September 6, 2018). "Michael Strahan, Sara Haines Will Carry 'GMA' From Morning to Afternoon". Variety. Archived from the original on August 27, 2023. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  3. ^ O'Connell, Michael. "Josh Elliott, Lara Spencer to Anchor 'Good Afternoon America'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on August 27, 2023. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  4. ^ "ABC Names Josh Elliott And Lara Spencer To Host 'Good Afternoon America' Run". Deadline Hollywood. May 21, 2012. Archived from the original on August 27, 2023. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  5. ^ a b Andreeva, Nellie (June 26, 2012). "'General Hospital' To Move To New 2 PM Slot On September 10". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 10, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  6. ^ Steinberg, Brian (May 23, 2018). "ABC Will Replace 'The Chew' With Afternoon Hour of 'Good Morning America'". Variety. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  7. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (May 23, 2018). "'Good Morning America' Expands To 3 Hours, 'The Chew' Canceled By ABC After 7 Seasons". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on August 27, 2023. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  8. ^ Pedersen, Erik (July 23, 2018). "ABC News Confirms Sara Haines Leaving 'The View' To Do Third Hour Of 'GMA' With Michael Strahan – Update". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 14, 2019. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  9. ^ Steinberg, Brian (January 28, 2019). "'GMA Day' Gets New Title at ABC: 'Strahan and Sara' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on August 27, 2023. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  10. ^ Eversley, Melanie (June 10, 2019). "Keke Palmer to cohost on Strahan & Sara this summer with Michael Strahan". theGrio. Archived from the original on June 17, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
  11. ^ Swift, Andy (July 31, 2019). "Keke Palmer Joining Strahan & Sara as Full-Time Co-Host — Report". TVLine. Archived from the original on August 2, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
  12. ^ Steinberg, Brian (August 26, 2019). "ABC Makes More Changes to its 'GMA' Extension". Variety. Archived from the original on August 26, 2019. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  13. ^ Porter, Rick (March 11, 2020). "Coronavirus Prompts Changes for TV Shows With Live Audiences". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 12, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  14. ^ Steinberg, Brian (March 17, 2020). "ABC Will Suspend 'Strahan, Sara & Keke' in Favor of Coronavirus News Show". Variety. Archived from the original on May 1, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  15. ^ "ABC tweaks 'Strahan, Sara and Keke'-'What You Need to Know' hour name again". NewscastStudio. June 16, 2020. Archived from the original on August 21, 2021. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  16. ^ Petski, Denise (August 3, 2020). "Keke Palmer Says She "Expected" Her 'Good Morning America' Show Would Be Canceled". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
  17. ^ Setoodeh, Ramin (August 14, 2020). "'The View' Brings Back Sara Haines as Co-Host (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on September 2, 2022. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
  18. ^ Johnson, Ted (September 18, 2020). "T.J. Holmes To Join Amy Robach As Co-Anchor Of 'GMA 3: What You Need To Know'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  19. ^ "ABC's 'What You Call It,' err, 'What You Need to Know,' gets another new iteration". NewscastStudio. September 21, 2020. Archived from the original on August 21, 2021. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  20. ^ "T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach's GMA3 Absence Addressed by Temporary Hosts Stephanie Ramos and Gio Benitez". People. Archived from the original on December 8, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  21. ^ Steinberg, Brian. "ABC News Benches Amy Robach, T.J. Holmes After Romance Disclosure". Variety. Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  22. ^ Cain, Sian. "ABC News pulls hosts TJ Holmes and Amy Robach off air after romance revealed". The Guardian. Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  23. ^ Steinberg, Brian (January 27, 2023). "ABC News Breaks Up With Amy Robach, T.J. Holmes Over Off-Camera Affair". Variety. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  24. ^ Johnson, Ted (May 11, 2023). "DeMarco Morgan and Eva Pilgrim To Co-Anchor 'GMA3,' Gio Benitez Joins 'Good Morning America' On Weekends". Deadline. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
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