Regis Philbin says he never expects to return to “Live!,” the show he recently departed from after 28 years on the air.
“I don’t think so, I gotta move on, moving on to another show,” Regis told Access Hollywood Live’s Billy Bush and Kit Hoover on Wednesday, as he promoted his new memoir, “How I Got This Way.”
As for that next project, the television legend said he has a fondness for variety shows, most especially one he was once a part of — “The Dean Martin Show.”
“Something you guys (NBC) had big success with years ago, but now has become like the evil son of show business, television business, they don’t dare get involved with this and maybe they’re right, maybe there aren’t enough people to do it correctly, but here in this studio you had ‘The Dean Martin Variety Show,’ which was the greatest variety show ever put on television,” Regis said. “And they didn’t rehearse it. It went on and it was excellent.”
Recently, The Hollywood Reporter noted Regis is being courted for a twist on a variety show, something he confirmed to Billy and Kit.
“People are presenting things to me and [asking] how do I feel about them. Yes, that seemed like a good show too – ‘America’s Greatest Family,’ and it’s based on their knowledge, their fitness, their charity work, their talent — somebody in the family has got to be a singer or a dancer, express some kind of talent,” Regis explained of the potential project. “And so you meet the whole family one by one, they oppose each other in these kinds of questions about geography, whatever, to find out how much they know, how fit they are, and then finally, the best talent from each family gets up there and sings.”
While it’s an enticing offer, Regis isn’t sure what he’ll do next exactly.
“I’ll let you know, I don’t know right now,” he said.
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