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 cited her performance on "Dancing with the Stars" as the reason behind the interest in her show. On February 4, 2013, it was announced that "The Ricki Lake Show" would not return for a second season due to low ratings, with the series averaging only 926,000 viewers. Despite not being renewed for another season, "The Ricki Lake Show" continued production until March 21, 2013 and reruns aired throughout the summer. The series aired for the final time on September 6, 2013. Lake's return to daytime television was welcomed by critics, who saw her as the possible successor to Oprah