Arsenio returning to late night TV?

[ShawnHill1]

If the reports from Broadcasting and Cable become reality, Arsenio Hall could be back hosting a new late-night talk show by Fall 2013 through CBS Television Distribution (one of its incarnations, Paramount Television, produced and distributed his 1989-94 talk show), with Tribune Broadcasting lined-up as one of the main station groups to pick him up, as well as co-developing the program with CBS.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/485205-Arsenio_Hall_Looking_to_Return_to_Late_Night.php

[AKA]

How many stations have room for a late-night talk show on their schedules? Most Fox stations that aired Mr. Hall's show twenty years (if they're not CBS affiliates today) are very happy with their late-night sitcom blocks. I don't think there's room for him on many CW or MNTV stations, either.

He should really take a step back and consider cable. I think he has a chance there.

[gregg75]

I thought it was funny how he won Celebrity Apprentice. Trump has two choice.....give it to
Clay who is almost on top of the world or help revive a career for Arsenio. He did the later
just as I thought he would.

I was not that much of a fan of his old talk show.

[mr.ric]

I think there IS room for Arsenio to finally return, cable or otherwise. He may be a better choice in late night then what we have to choose from right now, especially this 2nd time around.

[flytrap]

I liked Arsenio in the beginning.  but as time went on he started booking mostly rappers as musical guests and fewer country, rock and white guests.  The tone of the show began to change and was taking itself too serious.  The constant Bush bashing and "white folks" jokes began to chase away viewers.  He even mentioned on air that stations executives complained that the show had become "too black" he continued on the same path which eventually led to the shows demise.  Giving Louis Farrakahn an entire hour didn't help either.  In the early episodes his monologes were ok, but his interview and hosting skills were never as good as Carson

[AKA]

I have a soft spot for Arsenio, because he was my first exposure to late-night television. During the early years of The Arsenio Hall Show, I wasn't allowed to stay up late enough watch Carson or Letterman, not even on Friday nights. But KAYU aired Arsenio at 10:00, and his show was appointment television for me on Friday nights.

As I got a little older, I discovered Letterman, and my tastes changed. As mentioned above, Arsenio's show was changing, and not for the better. I ended up ditching him for the short-lived lineup of Leno at 11:35 and Letterman at 12:35 (as did many, many others, leading to Arsenio's demise).

That having been said, I'd love to see him make a comeback. Still, I just don't see his show working on broadcast television today. He'd be better-suited for cable, maybe even following Conan on TBS--that is, if he'd be willing to swallow his pride and do a show at midnight. I think he'd do better than George Lopez did.

[TVCOOL]

Some CBS stations carried Arsenio Hall until Letterman started on the network either pushing his talk show past 1am or off the schedule.

[Bob1370]

His best bet might be to offer himself as an alternative for prime access (7-8 PM Eastern and Pacific) to the game shows and off-network reruns that populate that daypart. No one is going to pry Wheel and Jeopardy loose from the stations running them now (usually back to back) and a lot of stations running off-network shows in that hour probably are seeing their current programming losing steam.

He would fit in well on any station that doesn't have the Wheel/Jeopardy combo and is finding out that the combo of Entertainment Tonight and Insider, Access or Extra--or off-net sitcoms--isn't getting it done for them. If you're in that situation he could get you a strong second place finish out of your network news and an improved lead-in to your network prime time programming.

Some syndicator should have offered a similar deal to Conan O'Brian a few years ago after the Tonight Show fiasco and it would have done well. Now's their second chance to do it with a host who also has proven appeal to a younger and broader demo than Leno or Letterman... 

[ansky212]

How about having his show on a network like HBO or Showtime and making it edgier than what you could have on a normal broadcast network.  Talk shows like Letterman and Leno are too stale in my opinion. 

[radiojomo]

I heard that he was not interested in making a return to late night, but rather to midday, which could work out very well as a male oriented alternative to Ellen, The View, The Talk, etc. I think there would be more networks interested in picking up the show during midday as compared to late night or any other timeslot. There's also a new frontier of African American targeted digital networks/cable networks that would probably be interested in picking up the show as well.   

Anything in early fringe/prime access would be pretty risky as the timeslot is dominated by entertainment shows, game shows and successfully tested sitcoms.