The Joan Rivers Show is an American talk show hosted by comedian Joan Rivers that premiered on September 5, 1989, in broadcast syndication.

History

The show aired for five seasons, and ended in December 1993.^[1][2] The show was nominated for numerous Emmy Awards, with Rivers winning the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host in 1990.^[3][4] The series was produced by PGHM Productions, Joan Rivers's production company, in association with Tribune Entertainment, and distributed by Paramount Domestic Television for its first season and Tribune Entertainment for its final three seasons.

In the mid-1990s the show was repeated on E! for several months. Repeats aired on the Decades TV network from January to August 2019, and as of January 2021 128 episodes were available for free streaming on the Vidmark app, and the Roku Channel on the Roku store.

Rivers had previously hosted a late-night talk show entitled The Late Show with Joan Rivers, which dropped her as the host in May 1987.^[5]

Episodes

While over 900 episodes exist, here is a list of the episodes available on Roku:

1. Sept. 8, 1989: Kim Novak, Marvin Hamlisch
2. Sept. 12, 1989: Donna Mills, Rain Pryor
3. Sept. 22, 1989: Bob Hope, Candida Royalle
4. Sept. 26, 1989: Boy George, Joy Behar
5. Sept. 27, 1989: Leslie Uggams, Roxanne Pulitzer, Paul Linke
6. Oct. 3, 1989: Geraldo Rivera
7. Oct. 16, 1989: Malcolm Forbes
8. Oct. 17, 1989: John Travolta, Sugar Ray Leonard, Richard Simmons
9. Oct. 18, 1989: Pamela Des Barres, Barbara Gardner Proctor, Adrien Arpel (aka. Adrienne Arpel)
10. Oct. 23, 1989: Roddy McDowall
11. Oct. 26, 1989: Anthony Quinn, Renée Taylor, Joseph Bologna
12. Nov. 1, 1989: Elizabeth Ashley, Virginia Graham, Paul Peterson, Angela Cartwright, Stanley Livingston
13. Nov. 2, 1989: Whoopi Goldberg
14. Nov. 6, 1989: Joan Van Ark, Howie Mandel
15. Nov. 8, 1989: Pee Wee Herman, Larry Hagman, John Davidson, Shadoe Stevens
16. Nov. 9, 1989: Jackée Harry, Peter Horton, Timothy Busfield, Melanie Mayron, Polly Draper, Marshall Herskovitz, Wolfgang Puck, Barbara Lazaroff
17. Nov. 10, 1989: Little Richard, Jackie Collins, Mariette Hartley
18. Nov. 13, 1989: Zsa Zsa Gabor, Faith Ford
19. Nov. 15, 1989: Louie Anderson
20. Nov. 16, 1989: Patti D'Arbanville
21. Nov. 21, 1989: Malcolm-Jamal Warner, a prostitute, a lesbian nun, an obese woman, a female-impersonator
22. Nov. 22, 1989: The Chippendales strippers, Robin Byrd, Ruth Westheimer (Dr. Ruth)
23. Nov. 29, 1989: Debbie Reynolds, Martina Navratilova, Randy Crawford
24. Dec. 4, 1989: Robert Klein, Linda Dano
25. Dec. 6, 1989: Robin Leach
26. Dec. 8, 1989: Ed Begley, Jr., Gloria Steinem
27. Dec. 19, 1989: George Burns
28. Dec. 20, 1989: David Hasselhoff, Diane Ladd
29. Jan. 5, 1990: Brooke Shields, Herve Villechaize
30. Jan. 10, 1990: Gary Coleman, Melissa Manchester
31. Jan. 11, 1990: Mary Frann, Byron Allen
32. Jan. 16, 1990: Betty White, porn stars Jerry Butler, Rebecca Steele, Charisma Arquette
33. Jan. 17, 1990: Nancy Reagan, Steve Garvey and his wife Candace
34. Jan. 30, 1990: Rita Moreno
35. Feb. 6, 1990: George Foreman, The Disappearance of Johnny Gosch
36. Feb. 7, 1990: Robert Wuhl, Ana-Alicia
37. Feb. 8, 1990: James Earl Jones, Women who underwent weight-loss procedures that failed
38. Feb. 14, 1990: Nell Carter, unusual dating services for the handicapped, obese, and by astrology
39. Feb. 15, 1990: John Lithgow, Stella Stevens, Dorothy Hamill, Clint Holmes
40. Feb. 20, 1990: Marla Gibbs, David Brenner
41. Feb. 21, 1990: Wayne Newton
42. Feb. 23, 1990: Jessica Tandy, Sam Kinison
43. Feb. 26, 1990: Rutger Hauer, Jan Hooks, Nora Dunn, Victoria Jackson
44. March 6, 1990: Linda Gray
45. March 8, 1990: Susan Saint James
46. March 20, 1990: Jaclyn Smith
47. March 23, 1990: Anthony Quinn and 3 of his children, Russian models
48. March 30, 1990: Meredith Vieira, Kim Zimmer, Faith Daniels
49. April 2, 1990: Billy Dee Williams, college hazing
50. April 3, 1990: Paula Zahn, Harry Smith
51. April 5, 1990: Lea Thompson, Cheryl Ladd, Ricki Lake, Dave Coulier, Nancy Wilson
52. April 26, 1990: Lily Tomlin
53. April 27, 1990: Dudley Moore
54. April 30, 1990: Phil Donahue
55. May 1, 1990: Eva Marie Saint
56. May 3, 1990: Lou Diamond Phillips, Jerry Seinfeld, the sons of Billy Tipton, who was revealed to be transgender after his death.
57. May 4, 1990: Howard Stern, Angela Bowie
58. May 7, 1990: Dom DeLuise
59. May 8, 1990: Joan Chen, Russ Tamblyn, Dana Ashbrook, Jeff Bergman
60. May 11, 1990: Roseanne Barr, Tom Arnold, Eddie Rabbit
61. May 15, 1990: Eva Gabor, Todd Bridges, Danny Bonaduce, Paul Peterson
62. May 18, 1990: Angie Dickinson
63. May 21, 1990: Alex Rocco, Telma Hopkins, clips of Joan's final interview with Jill Ireland
64. May 22, 1990: Alan Thicke, a police psychic, retired prostitutes
65. May 24, 1990: Marla Maples, game show hosts Gene Rayburn, Peter Marshall, and Art Fleming
66. June 4, 1990: Robby Benson and his wife Karla DeVito, Robert Picardo
67. June 6, 1990: Jean LeClerc, Cree Summer, lyme disease, shoplifting, multiple sclerosis
68. June 18, 1990: Janet Leigh
69. July 17, 1990: Jane Pauley, a couple who stars in amateur porn videos
70. July 19, 1990: Genie Francis, Elvis impersonators, cheating husbands
71. July 23, 1990: Maury Povich, Alison Gertz discuses how she contracted AIDS
72. Aug. 2, 1990: William Shatner, Rhonda Hansome, Dana Delaney, Louis Gossett Jr., coping with the death of a pet
73. Sept. 11, 1990: Donna Mills, cousins who married each other
74. Sept. 14, 1990: Bob Hope, Bobby Rivers, college campus murders
75. Sept. 19, 1990: Florence Henderson, Robert Urich, Carol Kane, obese porn stars
76. Sept. 20, 1990: Jane Seymour, Ashford & Simpson, near-death experiences, twins; when one is gay and the other is straight
77. Sept. 24, 1990: Donald Trump
78. Sept. 27, 1990: Valerie Harper
79. Sept. 28, 1990: Raymond Burr, Rosa Parks, Placido Domingo, Rhonda Hansome
80. Oct. 8, 1990: Judith Light, Jackie Collins, people who hired private investigators to stalk their loved ones
81. Oct. 25, 1990: Randy Travis, Michael Feinstein, Dread Zeppelin, women terrorized over the phone
82. Nov. 15, 1990: John Ritter, Richard Thomas, David Benoit performs with his jazz band
83. Nov. 26, 1990: Bob Saget, George Carlin, Pat Robertson
84. Jan. 31, 1991: Harry Smith and his wife Andrea Joyce, Florence Quivar
85. Feb. 8, 1991: Debbie Gibson, Phoebe Legere, As the World Turns stars Andrew Kavovit, Michael David Morrison, and John Hensley
86. Feb. 11, 1991: Jamie Lee Curtis, Holly Fulger
87. Feb. 20, 1991: Richard Crenna, Deidre Hall, Brenda Lee
88. March 6, 1991: Tom Eplin, Marc Summers, Richie Havens
89. March 19, 1991: Joan Collins
90. April 17, 1991: Tyne Daly, Shari Lewis, James Earl Jones
91. April 24, 1991: gay men who date straight men
92. Aug 8, 1991: Dorian Corey, Pepper Labieja, Willi Ninja and Freddie Pendavis
93. Sept. 11, 1991: Gary Morton, Altovise Davis, Shirlee Fonda
94. Phil Donahue, Donahue Childhood Friends, The Hollywood Kids, Who Can You Trust
95. Joan Collins (1992)
96. Kevin Dobson John James
97. The Hollywood Kids, Robert Blake
98. The Hollywood Kids, Tori Spelling, Brian Austin Green (1992)
99. Classic sitcom stars Joyce DeWitt, Bob Denver, Robert Reed, Donna Douglas
100. Tom Arnold, Roseanne Barr
101. Jeffrey Lyons, Bobby Rydell, Martha Reeves, Tab Hunter
102. I Love Lucy 40th Anniversary, John Michael Howson, Bart Andrews, Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf, Irma Kusely, Keith Thibodeaux, Desi Arnaz Jr.
103. Jesse Nash, Della Reese, KaHo Foxx, LaWanda Page, Jackée
104. Susan Lucci (1993)
105. Julie Andrews, Ben Kingsley, Peabo Bryson