GMA3: What You Need To Know

GMA3: What You Need To Know
Also known as	GMA 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)
Genre	News and talk
Created by	James Goldston Catherine McKenzie
Directed by	Lily Olszewski
Presented by	Amy Robach T. J. Holmes Jennifer Ashton Michael Strahan Sara Haines Keke Palmer
Narrated by	Randy Thomas
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Justin Dial (senior exec.) Catherine McKenzie (both 2020-present)
Production locations	Times Square Studios, New York City
Running time	60 minutes (approx. 35-36 minutes excluding commercials)
Production company	ABC News Productions
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	September 10, 2018 (2018-09-10) – present (present)
Chronology
Preceded by	Good Afternoon America
Related	Good Morning America

GMA3: What You Need to Know (often shortened to simply GMA3) is an American daytime news program broadcast by ABC. Hosted by Amy Robach and T. J. Holmes, it is a 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. Although billed as a temporary replacement for Strahan, Sara & Keke, the What You Need to Know format would eventually become permanent, with the program expanding beyond COVID-19-related coverage by June, and Holmes added as a co-anchor in September.

History

Precursor

Following the cancellation of ABC's short-lived daytime talk show The Revolution (a canceled 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. ^[1] Hosted by Josh Elliott and Lara Spencer, the program 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. ^[2] ABC promoted the limited-run series as primarily focusing on celebrity and pop culture topics. ^{[3] [4] [2]} It departed from that format once to provide live coverage of the aftermath of the Aurora theater shooting.

Premiere

Former logo as GMA Day

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. ^{[5] [6]} In July 2018, the title of the program was announced as GMA Day, with GMA co-host Michael Strahan and The View panelist Sara Haines serving as co-hosts. ^[7]

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. ^[8]

With Haines going on a 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. ^[9] 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 series was rebranded as GMA3: Strahan, Sara & Keke to reflect her new role. ^{[10] [11]}

What You Need To Know (March 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 . ^[12]

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. ^[13]

Despite being billed as a temporary replacement for Strahan, Sara & Keke, What You Need To Know ultimately remained on ABC's lineup indefinitely. By June, the program had been retitled GMA3: What You Need To Know, and began to increase its coverage of stories unrelated to COVID-19. ^[14] On July 2, multiple sources confirmed to the New York Post 's Page Six that the What You Need to Know format would remain permanent for the hour going forward. This included the hiring of the hour's temporary executive producer, Catherine McKenzie, into a full-time position. ^[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-host beginning on September 21, 2020. ^[18] At that time, the show underwent a rebranding, with a new logo and on-air graphics that are aligned closer with those of Good Morning America. ^[19]

See also

• NBC News Daily

References

1. Steinberg, Brian (September 6, 2018). "Michael Strahan, Sara Haines Will Carry 'GMA' From Morning to Afternoon". Variety. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
2. Andreeva, Nellie (June 26, 2012). "'General Hospital' To Move To New 2 PM Slot On September 10". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
3. O'Connell, Michael. "Josh Elliott, Lara Spencer to Anchor 'Good Afternoon America'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
4. "ABC Names Josh Elliott And Lara Spencer To Host 'Good Afternoon America' Run". Deadline Hollywood. May 21, 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
5. Steinberg, Brian (May 23, 2018). "ABC Will Replace 'The Chew' With Afternoon Hour of 'Good Morning America'". Variety. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
6. Andreeva, Nellie (May 23, 2018). "'Good Morning America' Expands To 3 Hours, 'The Chew' Canceled By ABC After 7 Seasons". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
7. 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. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
8. Steinberg, Brian (January 28, 2019). "'GMA Day' Gets New Title at ABC: 'Strahan and Sara' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
9. Eversley, Melanie (June 10, 2019). "Keke Palmer to cohost on Strahan & Sara this summer with Michael Strahan". theGrio. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
10. Swift, Andy (July 31, 2019). "Keke Palmer Joining Strahan & Sara as Full-Time Co-Host — Report". TVLine. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
11. Steinberg, Brian (August 26, 2019). "ABC Makes More Changes to its 'GMA' Extension". Variety. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
12. Porter, Rick (March 11, 2020). "Coronavirus Prompts Changes for TV Shows With Live Audiences". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved March 12, 2020.
13. Steinberg, Brian (March 17, 2020). "ABC Will Suspend 'Strahan, Sara & Keke' in Favor of Coronavirus News Show". Variety. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
14. "ABC tweaks 'Strahan, Sara and Keke'-'What You Need to Know' hour name again". NewscastStudio. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
15. Greer, Carlos (July 2, 2020). "'Strahan, Sara and Keke' canceled by ABC". New York Post . Retrieved July 2, 2020.
16. Petski, Denise (August 3, 2020). "Keke Palmer Says She "Expected" Her 'Good Morning America' Show Would Be Canceled". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
17. Setoodeh, Ramin (August 14, 2020). "'The View' Brings Back Sara Haines as Co-Host (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. 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. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
19. "ABC's 'What You Call It,' err, 'What You Need to Know,' gets another new iteration". NewscastStudio. Retrieved August 21, 2021.