The Arsenio Hall Show

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The Arsenio Hall Show
Arsenio Hall
The Arsenio Hall Show Opening Title.
Genre Talk show
Variety show
Creator(s) Arsenio Hall
Marla Kell Brown
Starring Arsenio Hall
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
No. of episodes 1,248
Production
Running time 1 hour per episode
Broadcast
Original channel First-run syndication
Original run January 1989 – May 1994
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Arsenio Hall Show was a talk show, which aired on late night in syndication from 1989 to 1994. It starred comedian/actor Arsenio Hall.

Contents

[edit] Background

Hall had been a host on The Late Show, another talk show on the Fox Broadcasting Company, after the dismissal of Joan Rivers. Although he was popular in that job, his 13-week contract was not renewed, and he signed with Paramount Television to do this show before FOX finally decided they wanted to keep him.

[edit] Recurrent gags

One of the show's recurrent gags was affixing a humorous label to a specific section of the audience at stage left of the band, called the "dogpound."[1] This section had arguably the least interesting view of Arsenio's interview space as it was largely obscured by the size of Dave Koz's band set. The labeling was a staple of Arsenio's opening monologue and almost always began with the phrase "People who..." In one variation of the gag, Arsenio designated this section as "People who are currently in a Witness Protection Plan", at which point the camera turned to the section to reveal a digitally alterted view of the section that made it impossible to see the audience members on the screen in this section.

[edit] Popularity

Hall's show was aimed at the younger urban audience, with Eddie Murphy (a personal friend of Hall's) and other black performers often featured. But the show quickly appealed to young people of all races and began to attract a wide variety of guests. It became the show for entertainers to go to in order to reach the "MTV Generation". The show was known for the audience's yelling, "Whoof, whoof, whoof!" while pumping their fists in a circular motion. Hall had invented this chant for his high school's football team.

[edit] Bill Clinton

Presidential candidate Bill Clinton's appearance on the show in June 1992 (he played the saxophone) is often considered an important moment in Clinton's political career, helping build his popularity among minority voters; Clinton went on to win the United States presidential election in November 1992.

[edit] Cancellation

Jay Leno's taking over The Tonight Show in 1992 and the arrival at CBS of Late Show with David Letterman eventually led to a slide in Hall's ratings. Many CBS affiliates who were carrying The Arsenio Hall Show dropped it when David Letterman came, previously uninterested with other CBS late night offers, such as an inexpensive drama series Crimetime After Primetime, the abortive Pat Sajak Show and The CBS Late Movie. Additionally, many FOX affiliates who had carried The Arsenio Hall Show dropped it for the ill-fated Chevy Chase Show, only to be cancelled after six weeks. The show was cancelled in May 1994 due to low ratings, and it aired its final episode in August.

Reflecting the distaste of conservative commentators for the show and mocking the style in which Arsenio Hall was introduced on stage every night, radio host Rush Limbaugh, immediately after the show's announced cancellation, referred to it as The Arsenio Goooone Show.

After his show was cancelled, Arsenio Hall left a scathing note behind for his successor, Jon Stewart (now the host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central). According to Entertainment Weekly, the note read, "Good luck, motherfucker."

[edit] Controversial moments

Hall claimed that his decision to have the controversial Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan turned affiliates, advertisers and some viewers off the show.

During a May 1991 taping, Arsenio lost his temper when two members of Queer Nation, apparently upset because Hall's producers refused to book Gus Van Sant to promote his gay-themed film My Own Private Idaho, disrupted the taping to ask Hall why he never had any gay guests on his show. The heated exchange[2] went on for several minutes, and Hall lost his temper two or three additional times as the show progressed.

[edit] Partial list of guests

[edit] Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards

  • 1993: "Outstanding Technical Direction/Camera/Video for a Series", for episode "The 1000th show" — won
  • 1990: "Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety or Music Series or a Special" — won
  • 1990: "Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series" — nominated
  • 1989: "Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety or Music Series or a Special" — nominated
  • 1989: "Outstanding Technical Direction/Camera/Video for a Series" — nominated
  • 1989: "Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program" — nominated

NAACP Image Awards

  • 1995: "Outstanding Variety Series" — won
  • 1993: "Outstanding Variety Series/Special" — won

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.tvacres.com/fans_dogpound.htm
  2. ^ http://www.tvparty.com/unseenf.html

[edit] External links

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