Twentieth Television has officially decided that its rookie
talker, The Ricki Lake Show, won't return for a second season, the
company confirmed Monday. Staffers were told last Friday. Production will
continue through March 28, and the show will remain on the air in originals and
repeats until the next season starts in September.
"We would like to thank Ricki Lake as well as executive
producer Gail Steinberg and the entire staff for their work this season,"
said Stephen Brown, Twentieth's executive VP of programming and development, in
a statement. "While we are proud of the topics the program tackled
including childhood obesity, life after the military, divorce and addiction, we
were simply not able to break through the crowded talk show marketplace."
"I am so proud of the shows we completed this season,
sparking important conversations about everything from raising children to
mental illness to suicide prevention to coming out," said the show's host,
Ricki Lake, in a statement. "I will continue to be an active and passionate
voice for subjects that are close to my heart through a variety of
platforms."
Ricki Lake premiered in September, along with several
other new talk shows: Disney-ABC's Katie, NBCUniversal's Steve Harvey
and Trisha Goddard, and CBS Television Distribution's Jeff Probst.
Three of those shows -- Katie,Steve Harvey and Trisha Goddard
-- will return next year, with Katie and Steve Harvey both having
entered the market with two-year deals in the majority of the country. Jeff
Probst isn't expected to continue into next season, but there has been no
official word from CBS yet. Twentieth also last week renewed its other rookie,
entertainment magazine Dish Nation, for a second season.
Season-to-date, Ricki Lake has averaged a 0.7 most
current household rating. In the metered markets, the show is down 30% from its
1.0/3 lead-in and down 42% from its year-ago time period average. Ricki Lake
joins Warner Bros.' Anderson Live and Debmar-Mercury's Jeremy Kyle
on the list of syndie talkers that won't return next year.
