The Ricki Lake Show - History and Timeline

History and Timeline

Ricki Lake has considered getting back into the talk genre since October 2005, just a year after her original show ended in 2004. At that time, Broadcasting & Cable magazine reported that Lake might return to do a "new" version of her show. A source said it would be a surprise if there was no deal struck by October 2005. If it were to have happened, it would have likely debuted in September 2006. Lake did not appear at the 2006 National Association of Television Programming Executives convention to pitch the proposed program to television stations in the United States in January, 2006, only furthering speculation that there would be no show. In a 2009 interview on CNN, she was asked about what was next for her. Lake noted that a follow-up documentary was coming out, and that she was in talks to do another talk show, however this has yet to come to pass. In follow-up interviews since then such as Oprah in 2010, Lake has consistently said "never say never" about hosting a new show, but that she is happy working on other projects. However, in February 2011, on "The View", when asked about doing another show, Ricki said that she "misses the platform" and that when it comes to hosting another show, "that's certainly a possibility."

In March 2011, reports flourished that Ricki Lake would be making a possible television comeback in 2012.

On April 20, 2011, Twentieth Television announced that it will develop Lake's new program, which will be a lot different than the previous version. According to Ricki Lake's Twitter page, the new show airing in the Fall of 2012 will be syndicated.

On May 23, 2011, a U.S. federal trademark registration number 85328080 was filed by 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, giving a description for the new show with the title as The Ricki Lake Show. The request for the title was approved, with Lake herself just required to sign off. In June 2011, a logo banner for The Ricki Lake Show appeared on the websites for trade magazines such as TelevisionWeek and Broadcasting & Cable. In August 2011, an ad for the new show appeared on the new show's YouTube channel.

In November 2011, The Ricki Lake Show was sold to stations across the United States, and other countries. Though the show was picked up by some stations, the producers were officially waiting for a launch group, with Fox and/or NBC being a possibility. According to the industry trade TVNewsCheck, "many syndication observers say NBC stations and Fox stations may end up cherry-picking Jeff Probst and Ricki Lake in large TV markets". (Survivor host Probst is also debuting a daytime talk show for Fall 2012.) On November 8, 2011, Twentieth announced that 11 of Tribune Broadcasting's stations picked up the show, with WPIX/New York City using the show to replace Anderson, which it lost to Fox-owned WNYW in 2012 due to the lackluster performance and timeslot WPIX had with the program. On November 17, 2011, Lake's show was cleared in over 50% of the United States, with most of the major market commitments coming from Fox (including its co-owned KTTV/Los Angeles and WFLD/Chicago), Local TV and Sinclair stations. By December 2011, Twentieth reported that the show had been cleared in over 80% of the country with more broadcasters (including Journal Communications and Hearst Television) adding the program to their outlets. By January 2012, the show had been cleared in over 90% of the country. Lake cited her performance on Dancing with the Stars as the reason behind the interest in her show.