Ricki Lake's Hit Talk Show Left Other Daytime TV Icons Intimidated By Her Success

The 1980s and 90s were a golden age for daytime TV. Everyone was obsessed with Bo and Hope's romance on "Days of Our Lives," and cable TV reruns introduced a generation of latchkey kids to "Lassie" and "Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp." But the talk shows ruled the airwaves. The concept started in 1967 with "The Phil Donahue Show," a program that started in Dayton, Ohio, and caught on. By 1980, "Donahue" was airing across the country. In 1983, "Sally Jessy Raphael" proved that "Donahue" wasn't a fluke. Then came "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 1986, and the floodgates opened. 

"Geraldo" began in 1987, followed by "Jenny Jones," "Maury," "The Jerry Springer Show" and "The Montell Williams Show," which all debuted in 1991.  Then, in 1993, Ricki Lake entered the daytime talk show arena. As Maury Povich admitted on his podcast, she "scared the s*** out of the rest of us."

Lake's rise to fame started in 1988 when she starred as Tracy Turnblad in John Waters' cult classic "Hairspray." When her show premiered, Lake was the youngest talk show host around, and she brought that youthful energy, along with a touch of Waters' patented subversive suburban feel, to the medium, and it worked. By 1994, Lake became the second biggest daytime talk show, just behind the juggernaut that was Oprah. Lake pulled in a younger audience by focusing on having younger guests and discussing issues that would catch the attention of Gen X with episodes like "I'm Gay, You're Gay... But You Give Gays a Bad Name" and bringing on popular musicians like Salt-N-Pepa, the Spice Girls, and ONYX. Her ability to capture the culture of the day made it almost impossible for the other hosts, most of whom were a decade or more older than Lake, to keep up. 

"The Ricki Lake Show" ended in 2004, though, as Lake revealed to Maury Povich on his podcast, "I could have done it for probably a decade longer. I made that choice." At the time, she claimed the choice was because she wanted to return to acting, but she was more truthful with Povich, explaining that she was living in New York's West Village when the World Trade Center attack happened, saying, "I had an epiphany on the roof of my building as I watched it all unfold that I would leave New York. I would leave my job and I would leave, ultimately, my marriage." When Lake's contract ended in 2004, she walked away even though her show was still popular. 

But she might've also seen the shifting sands of daytime TV. The outrageous topics of the 1990s talk shows were giving way to a more positive and fun style, with "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" debuting a year earlier. After her show ended, Lake continued to pop up, finishing in the top three on Season 13 of "Dancing with the Stars." She even tried to get back into the talk show game in 2012, but her new series lasted just one season. 

In 2022, Lake shared on Instagram that she married Ross Burningham. That same year, she started her own podcast, "Raised by Ricki," where she and co-host Kalen Allen talked about the most memorable episodes of "The Ricki Lake Show." The show later changed format and became "The High Life with Ricki Lake," seemingly ending in 2025. In February 2026, Lake took to Instagram and Threads, posting about rewatching her classic show, leading her fans to hope she is preparing to stage a comeback.