In reality, the main reason why it flopped is because stations that did carry his syndicated show put it on at a time when hardly anyone was watching anyway. The local station here programmed his show to air in the 2:00am hour, because they had other programs on that had been on for years between the hours of 10:00pm and 2:00am.
In reality, when I watched it in Orlando when it was first aired, the show was on at 11 or 11:30, and it did not stay on in that time slot long because in reality, it was not a particularly great TV show. I remember that excuse being floated for the slot change then, but if it had been so great it was syndicated and surely someone would have let it on an evening slot if only for the money.