The full title of GMA3 — the Good Morning America spinoff previously known only by retirees and home-working suburban moms — is GMA3: What You Need to Know. But for the past few days, the show has been dancing around the biggest Thing You Need to Know, which is that two of its publicly married anchors are reportedly dating each other. That became even more apparent today, when T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach anchored as a duo for the first time since the news broke in an hour full of allusions and giggles. “You know, it’s too bad it’s Friday,†Holmes said to open the show to laughter from Robach. “It’s been a great week. Just want this one to keep goin’ and goin’ and goin’.†(This is after Holmes was already joking about being ready for the weekend yesterday.) If you saw any of it, you might’ve felt like you were intruding on a private moment in your own home.
Surely that’s how poor Dr. Jennifer Ashton, their thirs co-anchor, felt. After hosting alongside Holmes and Robach December 1, for the first time since the Daily Mail dropped 65 photos of the couple together, she took the first flight out of New York to report on bird flu in Miami. In a video segment with Dr. Ashton today, Holmes and Robach fell into a laughing fit over whether a poppy-seed bagel could cause someone to fail a drug test. (We’d bet they continued laughing about it later over some beers at their favorite haunt, O’Donoghue’s.) When Dr. Ashton went on to talk about how art could reduce stress, Robach joked to Holmes, “We should get an art set.â€
Their co-anchor wasn’t the only one left feeling like a third wheel on the news. Later, during their “Faith Friday†segment — which in separate concerns, yes, is a real thing that happens on mainstream TV — the two couldn’t even subdue their flirting in front of a woman of God. After pastor, author, and Facebook employee Nona Jones dropped some truth about perfectionism while promoting her new book, Holmes turned the conversation right back to his co-anchor and girlfriend. “I know what she’s about to say,†he said, stifling a laugh. “She’s about to say that gave her chills.†They really do know each other so well.
“Page Six†reported that ABC is banking on the drama and their co-anchors’ “chemistry†to juice ratings amid the scandal rather than take them off the air. So far, that’s been working — this stuff is must-see TV. Just maybe slide Dr. Ashton a raise for being caught in the middle of this.