Apparently what originally looked like a TV legend retiring has now been revealed as a tornado of anger and bitterness.  Regis Philbin, who announced his retirement last week, did not quit because he didn’t want to do television anymore… he quit because the network was about to reduce his paycheck.  Regis normally makes a ballpark figure of $18 million a year, but ratings have been falling and Regis takes so much time off that it was felt a pay cut was in order.
Regis responded angrily to the news, and this led to him completely blindsiding everyone with the news that he was quitting, including his co-host, Kelly Ripa. Â Initially it was reported that Kelly said she was surprised but supportive – turns out she’s actually furious, and feels that the shock announcement was disrespectful to her and to the entire crew.