Ricki Lake V2.0: Evolved And Upgraded

It's all coming together again for Ricki Lake. Coming off a strong performance on Dancing with the Stars that reintroduced her to America, she will soon be getting remarried and her memoir (Never Say Never: Finding a Life that Fits) is due in bookstores (and e-reader databases) in April. And then this fall, she returns to daytime TV after a seven-year absence with an eponymous talk show.

"[I] am very happy," she says. "I describe it as feeling like I’m flying with my feet on the ground."

It first came together for Lake in 1988 when John Waters cast her to star in his cult-classic Hairspray. That led to more movie roles and, perhaps more important, what's come to be called a "conflict" talk show that ran in daytime for 11 years (1993-2004) under the aegis of Columbia (now Sony Pictures).

Now 43, Lake didn’t win the Dancing' mirrorball trophy, and she is still nursing a broken rib and bruised toes. But her nine weeks on the popular reality show and third-place finish dramatically boosted her profile just as Twentieth Television was pitching her talk show to TV station groups.

Ricki is now cleared in about 90% of TV homes for fall 2012, including on stations owned by Fox, Tribune, CBS, Raycom, Nexstar and others.

In this interview with TVNewsCheck Contributing Editor Kevin Downey, Lake talks about all that is going on in her life these days and shares her clear vision for the new show — the Oprah Winfrey Show as it was before Oprah became a billion-dollar icon. "She was your girlfriend. She was in the audience. She was not set apart from the audience."

An edited transcript:

Do you think your performance on Dancing with the Stars helped the show get cleared for fall 2012?

It was amazing. I was hoping it would work that way. But I didn’t know it would work as well as it did.

I’ve launched a show in the past — it’s a lot of traveling, dinners and meetings. I didn’t have to do that this time, although I was working harder than I have ever worked in my life. But, every Monday and Tuesday night, they got to see me dance. And they got to see me. So, it absolutely helped in every way, in terms of getting clearances and getting the audience rooting for me.

What did you learn about yourself on Dancing?

I learned how resilient I am. I consider myself to be a strong fighter and competitor, but it pushed me to the limits. I have a broken rib right now, which is from Dancing with the Stars. You can feel it — it sticks out. And my toenails are black and blue under the nail polish. Not pretty! But I am glad I did it.

You’re still developing The Ricki Lake Show, but what can you tell us about it?

It’s not my old talk show. I look at it as the evolved, upgraded Ricki Lake. I’ve grown up and have had a lot of life experiences in the eight since it was last on the air. I think the show will reflect that. The old show was a phenomenon in a lot of ways. It was conflict television.

There will always be controversial subject matter and there will be differences of opinions. But I’m a 43-year-old woman who has two children — teenage and preadolescent. So, this is a show I would want to watch.

My vision is the old Oprah Winfrey Show – before the book club, before the magazine and before being a billionaire. She was your girlfriend. She was in the audience. She was not set apart from the audience.

Our set is very inclusive. The feel is very much like a conversation that everyone is a part of. It will be elevated content that women 25-54 can relate to.

What is the format? Will you tackle one topic per episode?

It’ll vary. If subject matter warrants an hour, we’ll do it. We’ll do it from different angles. We’ll incorporate celebrities. But, unlike [Warner Bros.’] Ellen, which I love, celebrities on my show will hopefully be talking about issues that they have tackled or speaking out about certain issues.

At my age, the TV I watch has to have some substance. That’s what we’re hoping to achieve. It will offer a lot of takeaway. Sometimes, it will be a single topic. But, at other times, we’ll change it up. Twentieth Television and I are on the same page about this.

Twentieth Television has described you and your show as the “girlfriend” who daytime TV viewers don’t have right now. What does that mean?

On shows like [CBS’s] Dr. Phil, he’s a guy who knows it all. I’m the opposite of that. I don’t know much of anything, other than what I have experienced. So, my show is a platform to have people on who know more than me and our viewers about whatever subject we’re covering.