Anderson Cooper, Common Among Latest Round of Ripa Co-Hosts

Disney-ABC’s Live With Kelly has a new round of cohosts lined up for the week of Memorial Day.

Empire star Jussie Smollett returns on Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, to host alongside Kelly Ripa. On Tuesday, Oscar-winner Common comes on the show.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Ripa pal and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper — rumored by several publications to be Ripa’s choice for cohost — will join the program. On Friday, Ripa’s husband, Mark Consuelos — a veteran fill-in host at this point — will sit next to his wife.

Related: Fred Savage, Seal, Andy Cohen to Join Kelly Ripa on 'Live'

Guests during the week include Mariah Carey, Maya & Marty’s Maya Rudolph, Gloria Estefan, 2 Broke Girls’ Beth Behrs, So You Think You Can Dance’s Paula Abdul and Wayward Pines’ Jason Patric. 

Live with Kelly and Michael returned to being just Live with Kelly in the wake of Michael Strahan's May 13 departure before he goes full-time on ABC's Good Morning America this fall.

Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.