"Anderson" to Take on Co-Hosts and Broadcast Live

“Anderson,” the one-hour daily syndicated talk show hosted by Anderson Cooper, will begin its second season with a new title, “Anderson Live”, a new set, a new live format and rotating co-hosts.  Some have said the show will resemble Live! with Kelly, which Anderson Cooper has co-hosted with Kelly Ripa (quite successfully) on many occasions.  Why don't these two just combine shows?

The announcement was made today by “Anderson Live” Executive Producer Terence Noonan.

In a news release, Noonan said “Anderson Live” will tape in front of a live studio audience at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City where Cooper will be joined daily by co-hosts for the show’s sophomore season. “Anderson Live’s” new set with live capabilities will enable Cooper to cover breaking stories and to talk about issues as they happen.

Among the celebrities scheduled to visit the set are: Richard Gere and the cast of “Arbitrage;” Emma Watson and the cast of “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”; TV stars from hit shows including “Modern Family’s” Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell, ” The Mindy Project’s” Mindy Kaling and “Scandal’s” Kerry Washington; Comedian and Author Stephen Colbert as well as classic stars including Carol Burnett.

The show, by the way, has a new co-executive producer, Emmy-winning veteran talk show producer George Davilas, a seasoned daytime executive who brings 15+ years of experience, most recently as Senior Supervising Producer at “The Doctors.”

“Our biggest overall goal for ‘Anderson Live’ is to take the best elements of daytime and put it in a show that works in 2012. Being live plays to Anderson’s strengths, providing immediacy and topicality, which allows us to talk about what is going on in the world,” said Noonan. “ ‘Anderson Live’ is the show that makes you a little smarter, the one that you have fun watching, and at the end of each episode you can’t wait to tune in the next day to see what’s happening.”

“We’ve got a lot of fun, great things planned for the new season. I am really excited to be joined by daily co-hosts and look forward to switching to a live format, which allows us more freedom to cover topical issues as well as connect more with the viewer at home,” said Anderson Cooper.

Additionally, the show announced that AndersonCooper.com will launch several new initiatives including:

• Anderson’s Summer Instagram Photo-A-Day Challenge: A month-long photo sharing contest on Instagram where fans play for a chance to win prizes. Anderson will also snap and share his own personal photos from his summer. Contest starts August 6th.

• Talk with #AndersonLive: As the show tapes live, real-time feedback from fans will be incorporated into the show via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other social networks as the show continues it’s on-air social media integration.

• Stump Anderson: Each week fans will be encouraged to send in fun trivia questions via social media to be answered by Anderson during a live webcast.

• Anderson Seat Tweets: Fans tweet to sit in Anderson’s Seat Tweets section, a reserved special section of that audience that allows for live tweeting through out the show taping.

“Anderson Live” is produced by StrongChild Productions in association with Telepictures Productions, an industry-leading and Emmy® Award-winning producer of syndicated programming. The series is distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, one of the leading distributors of first-run and off-network programming. Cooper and Terence Noonan serve as Executive Producers.