Regis Philbin coming back to host “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”?
He’s thinking about it. Hard.
Philbin woke up this morning to the unexpected news that Meredith Vieira, who has hosted the daytime-version of “Millionaire” for 11 years, was quitting at the end of this season when her current contract expires.
She will leave the show that pays her an estimated $12 million a year in May to work more regularly for NBC News, according to reports.
“That’s a total surprise,” Philbin told The Post from his home in Connecticut. “I thought she loved doing the show.”
Would he want to return to the show he made famous in primetime?
“Maybe. I’d have to think about it,” he said.
Philbin left his morning show, “Live,” after 30 years in 2011. Since then, his only regular TV job has been as a monthly co-host on “Rachael Ray.”
“I get up late now,” he says. “And I love lounging around.”
But Regis admits that the thought of getting back on TV every day has its draw.
“I do feel that I’m not doing everything I should,” he confesses. “I’m not accomplishing anything.”
Regis hosted a primetime version of the game show from 1999 to 2002, when it was a rating phenomenon.
ABC asked him to take over the daytime show too when it first considered taking it daily in 2002.
“Back then, it took a lot longer to tape the show,” he says. “The computers [that selected questions and tabulated results] would go out all the time and they had to stop while they fix it.
“I told them back then: ‘No, I can’t do it anymore.’ ”
Vieira’s decision to walk away from the game show was completely unexpected.
She had finished taping all the shows for the season last November — and will continue to be seen on the show through next summer.
She did not tape a goodbye to the viewers, officials said yesterday.