18 Celebrities With Short-Lived Talk Shows You Might Have Forgotten
For every Ellen DeGeneres, there's a John McEnroe.
1. Gabrielle Carteris
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Show: Gabrielle
West Beverly High's oldest high school student got her own tabloid talk show in 1995. It wasn't quite as salacious as its competitors, which might be why it got canceled in 1996.
2. Keenen Ivory Wayans
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Show: The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show
This late-night talk show had to compete with the more popular Vibe. While it attracted many notable guests — and had its own band, Ladies of the Night! — it was canceled after one season in 1998.
3. Fran Drescher
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Show: The Fran Drescher Tawk Show
People loved her as The Nanny, but they weren't as sold on her hosting abilities. In its 2010 trial run, Fran Drescher's show only lasted four episodes.
4. Chevy Chase
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Show: The Chevy Chase Show
Long before his resurgence on Community in 2009, Chevy Chase had his very own talk show, despite the fact that he's incredibly unlikeable. The results were cringeworthy and lasted only five weeks in 1993.
5. Caroline Rhea
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Show: The Caroline Rhea Show
Caroline Rhea was supposed to be the next big thing after Rosie O'Donnell. Surprise — she wasn't. While Rosie's show had six seasons, Caroline Rhea's only got one.
6. Emeril Lagasse
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Show: The Emeril Lagasse Show
Kind of like Emeril's cooking show but with more celebrity guests and a house band featuring Dave Koz. It's mostly notable for being a rare original Ion TV production, but it only lasted from April to July 2010.
7. Carnie Wilson
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Show: Carnie!
Adding an exclamation point to the end of a show's title always makes things sound more exciting than they really are. Carnie Wilson's tabloid talk show was actually Rosie O'Donnell's (much less successful) predecessor.
8. George Hamilton
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Show: George & Alana
Along with his co-host, model-actress Alana Stewart, the super-tanned George Hamilton tried to be the next Regis Philbin. His efforts lasted one season.
9. Zach Galifianakis
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Show: Late World With Zack Galifianakis
Before he parodied celebrity interviews with Between Two Ferns, Zach Galifianakis actually interviewed celebrities for his late-night VH1 show. Dare you to sit through an opening monologue.
10. Alan Thicke
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Show: Thicke of the Night
Show me that smile, Alan Thicke — you have the best talk show title of the bunch. Unfortunately, Thicke was not nearly as popular in the U.S. as he had been in his home country of Canada.
11. John McEnroe
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Show: McEnroe
Fun fact about the tennis star's 2004 talk show debacle: It earned a Nielsen rating of 0.0 – twice. That's kind of impressive, right? McEnroe's sidekick John Fugelsang has gone on to bigger and better things.
12. Lily Allen
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Show: Lily Allen and Friends
British series are shorter than those in the U.S., so maybe Lily Allen's eight-episode run isn't a total wash. The bigger issue is that the audience, composed of Allen's personal friends, couldn't sit through a whole episode.
13. Magic Johnson
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Show: The Magic Hour
There were a lot of problems with Magic's talk show — his sidekick Craig Shoemaker publicly called it "an absolute nightmare" (and was quickly fired). It only ran from June to September 1998.
14. Martin Short
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Show: The Martin Short Show
If you don't remember Martin Short's talk show, which ran from 1999 to 2000, you might remember the character Jiminy Glick, who spawned his own show and movie. Still hard to think of this as a success.
15. Megan Mullally
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Show: The Megan Mullally Show
Here's the thing about this one: The Megan Mullally Show should have worked. There are actually some entertaining clips online to prove that. Alas, no one watched, and it was canceled after four months.
16. Pat Sajak
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Show: The Pat Sajak Show
Yes, the Wheel of Fortune host was poised to be the next Johnny Carson when he got his show in 1989. It didn't happen, perhaps because Vanna White wasn't involved.
17. Tempestt Bledsoe
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Show: The Tempestt Bledsoe Show
Who? You probably know her as Vanessa Huxtable from The Cosby Show. You probably don't remember her tabloid talk show, since it only ran from 1995 to 1996.
18. ALF
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Show: ALF's Hit Talk Show
Remember ALF? He's back. In talk show host form. Or at least, he was for seven whole episodes on TV Land. Apparently he had enough clout to get some big names, but no, ALF did not work in 2004.