In news that is somewhat sad, yet not shocking, it has been confirmed that Ricki Lake‘s re-booted talk show has been cancelled – after just one season.

Aptly christened ‘The Ricki Lake Show’, the re-tooled take on the 90′s show of the same name begun airing on Fox last September as one of five new daytime talkers (which included The Steve Harvey Show, Katie Couric, and Trisha). However, with its altogether tamer tone (especially in comparison to its first run), ‘Lake’ failed to connect with (enough) viewers and often lagged -at times quite substantially- behind the competition.

Speaking in a statement announcing the cancellation, Stephen Brown, Twentieth Television’s Executive VP Programming & Development, said: “We would like to thank Ricki Lake as well as executive producer Gail Steinberg and the entire staff for their work this season. 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 breakthrough the crowded talk show marketplace.”

Lake added in a statement of her own: “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. I will continue to be an active and passionate voice for subjects that are close to my heart through a variety of platforms — and a return to my documentary filmmaking work with Abby Epstein. I am excited to create meaningful and provocative films similar to our 2007 project, The Business of Being Born.”

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A cautionary tale of not tampering with your own tried and tested formula, at least Ricki’s initial run still serves up many a classic moment. Check out some of our favourites below…

As the clips above show, “old” Ricki tackled both the comical and serious with a unique flare that set it apart from the outlandishness of  Jerry Springer, repetitive cliches of Maury, and the all-round boring of the many shows that have come and gone over the years.

Deviating from its core model (rather than tweaking it to mirror today’s audience) was ultimately the straw which cracked the camel’s back for the show. Nevertheless,  here’s wishing Ricki the best in her future projects.

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