Kelly Ripa Strikes Powerful Chord in Return to <i>Live!</i>

Tuesday marked Kelly Ripa's first appearance on Live!, the talk show she co-hosts with Michael Strahan, since news broke last week of Strahan's impending departure to take a full-time gig at Good Morning America. Ripa, unhappy with the manner in which she had been told of a major change in the lineup of her show, added extra time off to a pre-planned vacation. That led to a fairly uncomfortable set of episodes in which the competing interests of TV's chummiest cohosts were revealed.