ABC World News Tonight anchor David Muir will anchor a 24-hour Fourth of July special across ABC and Disney platforms, he revealed during an appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark on Friday.
The marathon broadcast begins Friday night with a focus on the Statue of Liberty and continues through Saturday morning.
Muir will be live from the top of the Walt Disney Building overlooking the Hudson River at 5 a.
m. Saturday.
High-profile guests include MrBeast, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Brandi Carlile, and Nick Jonas, with Muir leading the primary coverage nationwide.
Co-hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, who share a close friendship with Muir, expressed surprise at the demanding schedule.
Consuelos asked, “You’re doing 24 hours?” Muir confirmed, “Yeah, 24 hours.”
Ripa joked, “Shouldn’t you be sleeping right now?”
Live Show History and Gifford’s Reflections
The program has evolved over decades. Kathie Lee Gifford co-hosted with Regis Philbin for 15 years until 2000.
Ripa took over in 2001 and celebrated her 25th anniversary this year.
After Philbin left in 2011, Ripa co-hosted with Michael Strahan (2012–2016), Ryan Seacrest (2017–2023), and her husband Consuelos since 2023.
In a recent People profile, Gifford discussed her tenure and current relationship with the show.
She said she was not interested in returning, citing her focus on filmmaking and writing musicals. “I was making movies and writing for theater!
I wrote about four different musicals,” she said.
Gifford reflected warmly on her partnership with Philbin, who died in 2020 at age 88. “Oh, I loved him.
He was so much fun. We never had a cross word in 15 years.
I miss him every day,” she recalled.
She also joked about an incident after leaving the show when Philbin won a Daytime Emmy: “Well, now we know what the problem was.
It was me.”
Gifford later joined the Today show from 2008 to 2019, but said it was never her dream job.
“You’re just assuming it was my dream job. The Today show was never my dream job, but I did it well,” she explained.
Public tensions arose in October 2022 after Ripa’s memoir “Live Wire” included anecdotes about Philbin. Gifford expressed regret over the headlines and questioned the need for disclosure.
“What’s the point? I’m not going to read the book.
I haven’t read it. I don’t even know if it’s out yet,” she said.
Ripa responded on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, saying, “You don’t have to read every book.
Nobody has to read every book on earth.”
She noted that reader feedback on those chapters was overwhelmingly positive, adding, “And so my ultimate comment is, ‘Thank you.’”
Family Style and the 24-Hour Broadcast
Ripa and Consuelos’ daughter, Lola Consuelos, has drawn attention for her style evolution after moving to London for her music career.
She posted, “[M]oves to London and immediately starts dressing like this.”
Ripa praised her daughter’s unique sense of style during a joint appearance in April 2025.
However, she declined Lola’s request to wear a matching miniskirt for a photoshoot, saying, “Past a certain age, you got to know when to hang up your disco shoes!”
The 24-hour programming block led by Muir is part of Disney Entertainment Television’s latest multiplatform initiative.
