Hairspray Live! college sophomore Maddie Baillio, as her first professional role. In November 2016, it was announced that Ricki Lake and Marissa Jaret Winokur (who portrayed Tracy Turnblad in the 1988 film and the Broadway version respectively) would make cameo appearances; Winokur and Lake appeared as employees of Mr. Pinky's boutique. Darren Criss served as an on-air host, hosting a half-hour "Countdown to Hairspray Live!" show on NBC with Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes, as well as behind-the-scenes reports throughout the live broadcast. Oreo, Reddi-wip, and Toyota broadcast live, themed commercials during "Hairspray Live!"; Oreo's ad featured the character of Corny Collins,
The Ricki Lake Show Lake launched an interactive platform called "Friends of Ricki" that put members of the public in direct contact with Lake and production staff as they plan the new venture. It also unveiled "Ricki", a digital magazine containing parenting, fashion and fitness advice, which can be downloaded for free through iTunes, Google Play and the Amazon.com App store. Lake had considered getting back into the talk genre since October 2005, just a year after her original show ended in 2004. At that time, "Broadcasting & Cable" magazine reported that Lake might return to do a "new" version of her show. A