On a previous post, regular reader Dan commented that Regis and Kelly are coming to Niagara Falls. I couldn’t find anything to confirm this (on any of the news sites, or on the official Regis & Kelly site). I’ll post more when/if I find out more.
However, I did come across an old article (from the Toronto Sun) from when Regis and Kathy Lee were here:
September 10, 1996
Live in Canada! but only just
By NATASHA STOYNOFF — Toronto SunNIAGARA FALLS, Ont. — Wholesome, happy TV hosts Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford took one small step for Canada-U.S.relations yesterday, crossing the river – but not the gap – between the two.
In Niagara Falls to tape two episodes of their chat TV show, Live With Regis & Kathie Lee, watched by one million Canadians on the BBS Network every morning, the duo arrived on stage flanked by a sturdy troop of Mounties.
The two shot one show live and taped a second to air this morning, using our side of the Horseshoe as backdrop. “Everywhere I go, I’ve got four Mounties following me around,” said Kathie Lee, the former beauty queen. “You just can’t beat a good Mountie.”
That was the first of many playful pokes aimed at Canucks, including a Dudley Do-Right impression, as the couple went into peppy overdrive. Perhaps it was something in the mist?
`CERTAIN IONS’
“There are certain ions the Falls give off,” Gifford explained to an audience of 2,200 fans, contest-winners and locals at the Oakes Garden Amphitheatre, “that give you this tremendous longing and urge.”
The audience was not immune to that rush, either.
“I want Regis,” said Jodi Gosselin, 33, of Toronto. “I think he’s really sexy.”
Flag-waving fans sat cross-legged on the grass and picnicked, rushing the stage for autographs during commerical breaks.
“My wife’s a big fan,” said Dave Westlake, 49, who drove from Oshawa with his wife to see the show as a 25th Anniversary present. “She likes the first 20 minutes when they have a little visit with each other and share their lives with North America.”
Kibbitzing, they can do. First they worried about the weather (they were expecting snow, maybe?), then they revealed the results of a hasty shopping spree, which included soapstones that “the Eskimo-Indians carved,” said Gifford. (“They ward off evil spirits,” she further informed us.) And chocolate-covered almonds called “official Canadian moose droppings.”
Then came Gifford’s traditional family cooing.
“Today is Cassidy’s first day of school,” she said of her daughter with sportscaster Frank Gifford. “She needs her mommy.”
During a break between tapings, Gifford said she was overwhelmed by the beauty of the area.
“If it had been my choice, we would have come here years ago,” she said. “Until you’ve been here, you can’t believe it. You have to feel the mist on your face. It’s the best set in the world … Hollywood could never make it. The Falls are the star of the show.”
Yesterday’s guests included Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey, a 16-year-old baton twirler from Burlington, and Calgary-born singer Jann Arden.
“There’s no pressure with them,” said former Partridge Family member David Cassidy, who makes his fifth appearance on the show this morning. “And they have a tremendous impact in terms of commercial viability.”
As well as Cassidy, this morning’s episode includes singer Anne Murray and actor Jeff Daniels.
`YOU WANT TO BRING IN LOCAL COLOR’
Gifford said Canadian content was important in their choice of guests – Spacey, Cassidy and Daniels notwithstanding. “We can’t go somewhere and not show people what it’s like,” she said. “You want to bring in local color.”
With a crew call that began at 2:30 yesterday morning, the hosts didn’t have time for wax museums and other tourist delights. But Philbin did manage to go out on a jet boat and Gifford sailed on the Maid Of The Mist under the Falls.
“I’d love to go to Niagara-on-the-Lake,” said Gifford. “But I have to get back home tonight to have dinner with my kids. I promised them we’d go to McDonald’s and have a Happy Meal.”