Search for co-host on 'Live! With Kelly'...

Search for co-host on 'Live! With Kelly'...

Donna Svennevik/Disney-ABC Domestic Television

NY1 anchor Pat Kiernan (r.) makes his guest co-host debut with Kelly Ripa on "Live! With Kelly."

Kelly Ripa and the producers of her morning talk show are trying not to restrict themselves with deadlines or preconceptions about who will eventually become her full-time co-host on the morning show now billed as just Live! With Kelly.

That may explain Kevin.

Kevin from New Jersey, says Ripa. I interviewed him in the audience Thursday. He was with his Mom. Hes 12 and hes a natural personality. I have absolutely no doubt he could do this job.

I admit he might have to finish sixth grade first. But I asked his mom if shed mind letting him drop out, and she seemed okay with it.

So Kevin, who may not have been the favorite when this search started, moved to the Live! with Kelly short list.

He should know, however, that the short list is long.

We've had so many people who have been so good, says Ripa. We have ongoing discussions every day where Ill say this guy is my favorite, or no, wait, that guy is my favorite.

Then we had D.L. Hughley and he immediately became my favorite.

Better to have too many choices than too few, presumably, and Ripa says shes enjoying this ride way too much to cut it short.

Shes had some guests whose schedules might not accommodate a daily talk show, like Jerry Seinfeld, and others who have salivated for the shot. Like Pat Kiernan, the NY1 anchor who did a day in March and will be returning next week for two more.

Its safe to say this is make or break for me, says Kiernan, who has run only slightly less hard for this gig than Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will run for President.

But with a lineup of eager guys from Peter Facinelli to Neil Patrick Harris, Ripa says it would be downright silly to rush a call.

Theyre all such gamers, she says. From Michael Strahan to Josh Groban, theyre up for whatever we want to do. They get that this is what the show is about being irreverent and fun.

If any viewer could otherwise miss the courtship aspect of all this, the show has also been employing a tongue-in-cheek Bachelor motif.

Weve totally ripped off The Bachelor, Ripa confesses, from the voice of Bachelor host Chris Harrison to the rose ceremony.

So keeping the viewer in suspense, a drama principle that goes back to the ancient Greeks a nd has been employed on TV shows from Moonlighting through Castle, seems to be working here, too.

Ratings for Live! With Kelly!, seen in New York on WABC/Ch.7, are up more than 10 over last year.

Were getting new eyeballs," Ripa says.

But in the end, there will be a winner.

As interested as people have been in the search, she says, most of them want to see two permanent hosts. Thats what well have.

And by then Kevin may be out of college and ready to start.

dhinckley@nydailynews.com