It was?
That's not how I remember it.
My recollection is that Rush was on broadcast TV, not cable. His show was relegated to the overnight hours, and in those hours, in most or all markets, I believe he generally had ratings that greatly exceeded his competition and anything before or after that ran overnight. (And I don't think the rating knew how to account for folks like me who taped the show and watched it the next day.)
I'm not one of those who thinks Rush walks on water, but suggesting that his TV show was a failure, in the same terms as say Jerry Rivers' latest effort, is unfair. It's is probably true that it didn't provide an avenue to bigger and better things for Rush, which is what he was probably looking for. But it wasn't a failure.
ML/NJ
Different strokes, is all...