The Arsenio Hall Show
Encyclopedia
The Arsenio Hall Show is an American variety
/talk show
that aired late weeknights in syndication from January 3, 1989 to May 27, 1994. The show was created and hosted by comedian/actor Arsenio Hall
.
, another talk show on Fox
, after the dismissal of Joan Rivers
. He was given a 13-week run, during which he became unexpectedly popular. During the monologue of his final appearance as host, Hall stated that the reason he had agreed to only do 13 weeks was because that was as long as he was able to stay, as he had plans "to do other things." He subsequently began working on the Eddie Murphy
vehicle
Coming to America
. He ultimately signed with Paramount Television
before Fox finally decided, too late, that they wanted to keep him. (This was the second hosting job Paramount hired Hall for, as he had just finished a three-year run as a co-host of Solid Gold
in July 1988.)
Although not an actual "gag", Burton Richardson's long intro of the show's host (in which he holds the "O" in "Arsenio" for as long as ten seconds right before Hall came out onto the stage, then, in the same breath, finally announce "HALL!") is a staple of the show. In the intro to the final episode, Richardson held his one-breath introduction for exactly twenty seconds, one of the few times he had done so.
A frequent gag in Hall's opening monologue suggests that he still lives in Cleveland, and drives himself to Los Angeles every day to host the show. While on these alleged long drives, Hall ponders certain thoughts, referring to them as "things that make you go hmmm...." This running gag inspired a 1990 C+C Music Factory
song by that very title. "Things That Make You Go Hmmm..." reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
chart, and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100
chart.
audience, with Eddie Murphy
(a personal friend of Hall's) and other performers often featured. The show quickly appealed to young people of all races and began to attract a wide variety of guests (although this popularity with audiences was short-lived, leading to the show's cancellation). It became the show for entertainers to go to in order to reach the "MTV Generation
."
The show was known for the audience's chant of "Roo! Roo! Roo!" while pumping their fists in a circular motion. Some say this was appropriated from the fan chants at Cleveland Browns
games, and others say that it came from the chant of Black Greek Letter Organization Omega Psi Phi
fraternity. In any case, it quickly became associated with Hall's show.
Hall would often have friend MC Hammer
as an interview and musical guest. He also interviewed "Jason Voorhees
", the main character from the popular Friday the 13th series of films around the time of the release of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
. Muppets creator Jim Henson
also appeared on the show 12 days before his death in May 1990, marking one of Henson's last public appearances. Hall also often featured World Wrestling Federation
wrestlers like Hulk Hogan
(who first denied using steroids
on the program), Ravishing Rick Rude (who made a special set of tights with Hall's face on the back) and the Ultimate Warrior.
taping, three or four members of Queer Nation
, seated in the back row in different sections of the audience, interrupted Hall's opening monologue to ask why he never had any gay guests on his show. Hall's answer was that since most of the guests were not open about their sexuality neither Hall nor the producers knew whether they were gay or not.
When the protesters voiced their offense because the show failed to book Gus Van Sant
or Harvey Fierstein
, Hall defended the show by saying that Elton John
had been a guest. Infuriated, Hall added that he usually booked guests due to his interest in what they were working on at the time, not because of their sexual preference. The heated exchange went on for several minutes, and Hall continued to defend himself as both a comedian and a host, pointing out that he also had gay friends, and that a person's sexual preference was really nobody else's business.
candidate Bill Clinton
was a guest on the show in June 1992
, playing "Heartbreak Hotel
" on the saxophone
(causing Arsenio to quip, "It's nice to see a Democrat
blow something besides the election"). The appearance is often considered an important moment in Clinton's political career, helping build his popularity among minority and young voters; Clinton went on to win the election
in November 1992.
At the time the 1992-93 season ended, Hall's two strongest bases were with affiliates of CBS, which did not offer much in the way of late night programming other than its nightly crime drama rerun block
and its late night newscast CBS News Nightwatch
, and the still-young Fox, who picked up Arsenio to fill gaps left when The Late Show was finally canceled. Among the stations that aired Arsenio at the time were WJW-TV in Cleveland, Hall's then-hometown CBS affiliate, and WBBM-TV
in Chicago, one of the network's owned-and-operated stations. In the summer of 1993, Late Night
host David Letterman
, who had spent over 13 years at NBC and the last 11 as the host of the popular post-Tonight Show program, left the network due to his dissatisfaction with being passed over for the Tonight Show hosting gig after the retirement of Johnny Carson
. Letterman signed with CBS to do a late-night program which would compete head-to-head with the Jay Leno
-hosted Tonight Show.
This caused a problem for Hall, who had found himself in a similar situation when his program first premiered. At the time, Carson's program was the only network program airing in the post-local news timeslots nationwide. While Paramount was set to launch Arsenio in syndication, CBS was ready to premiere The Pat Sajak Show
, which was to have Wheel of Fortune
host Pat Sajak
preside over a similar program to Carson's and run for ninety minutes. However, Hall had two things working in his favor- his prior late-night hosting experience when compared with Sajak's lack of emceeing outside of his Wheel duties and the fact that his show was to premiere exactly one week before Sajak's to give him a head start. Hall gained many of Sajak's former timeslots when The Pat Sajak Show was canceled within twelve months of its debut. However, this time instead of facing an unproven entity Hall was facing one of the most popular hosts in late night and The Late Show With David Letterman
became an instant hit and eventually became the most popular late night program. Letterman's instant popularity cost Hall most, if not all, of his CBS affiliates.
Later, Fox had decided that after several years they would try and get back into the late night television battle despite Arsenio drawing ratings on many of its affiliates. In September 1993, the network premiered The Chevy Chase Show
on all of its affiliates, further damaging Hall's ratings. To make matters worse, once Chase's show failed after twenty-five episodes over five weeks, Hall wasn't able to get those timeslots back and after years of showing respectable ratings against his late night counterparts, Arsenio found itself in a distant third place due to an increase in undesirable hours. Furthermore, Arsenio found its audience eroded due to a new late night program airing on MTV and hosted by comedian Jon Stewart
, which premiered earlier in the summer of 1993 and quickly became the second most popular show on the cable network.
Still, Paramount stuck with Hall in the hopes that he would be able to turn his ratings trouble around. Unfortunately for both parties, that would not be the case as a controversial guest booking proved to be the final straw.
In February 1994, Hall booked controversial Nation of Islam
leader Louis Farrakhan
to be on the show. Despite a press release saying that Hall would have other guests appearing the night of Farrakhan's appearance, Hall instead allowed Farrakhan the entire sixty minutes for himself to be interviewed. The backlash from the appearance and subsequent ratings dip was enough for Paramount to finally cancel Arsenio after five years. The final episode aired on May 29, 1994, and in most of its markets Arsenio was replaced by a syndicated version of The Jon Stewart Show
; this series was canceled within a year due to low ratings and Paramount did not replace it with any other offering.
s
NAACP Image Award
s
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
/talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
that aired late weeknights in syndication from January 3, 1989 to May 27, 1994. The show was created and hosted by comedian/actor Arsenio Hall
Arsenio Hall
Arsenio Hall is an American actor, comedian, and former talk show host. He is best known for his talk show The Arsenio Hall Show, which ran between 1989 and 1994, and his roles in the films Coming to America and Harlem Nights.Hall is also known for his appearance as Alan Thicke's sidekick on the...
.
Background
Hall had been a host on The Late ShowThe Late Show (1986 TV series)
The Late Show is an American late-night talk show and the first series broadcast on the then-new Fox Network. Originally hosted by comic actress Joan Rivers, it first aired on October 9, 1986 under the title The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers...
, another talk show on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, after the dismissal of Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...
. He was given a 13-week run, during which he became unexpectedly popular. During the monologue of his final appearance as host, Hall stated that the reason he had agreed to only do 13 weeks was because that was as long as he was able to stay, as he had plans "to do other things." He subsequently began working on the Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
vehicle
Star vehicle
A star vehicle has historically been a movie, play, TV series, or other production whose primary purpose, besides turning a profit, is to enhance someone's career. Vehicles are most commonly produced when a young or inexperienced actor has signed a long-term contract with a major studio...
Coming to America
Coming to America
Coming to America is a 1988 comedy film directed by John Landis. The screenplay was written by David Sheffield and Barry W. Blaustein, from a story by Eddie Murphy, who also stars in the film. Murphy plays an African prince, who heads to the United States in hopes of finding a woman he can marry...
. He ultimately signed with Paramount Television
Paramount Television
Paramount Television was an American television production/distribution company that was active from January 1, 1968 to August 27, 2006.Its successor is CBS Television Studios, formerly CBS Paramount Television...
before Fox finally decided, too late, that they wanted to keep him. (This was the second hosting job Paramount hired Hall for, as he had just finished a three-year run as a co-host of Solid Gold
Solid Gold (TV series)
Solid Gold is an American syndicated music television series that debuted on September 13, 1980. Like many other shows of its genre, such as American Bandstand, Solid Gold featured musical performances and various other elements such as music videos...
in July 1988.)
Recurrent gags
One of the show's recurrent gags is affixing a humorous label to a specific section of the audience at stage left of the band, called the "dogpound." The labeling is a staple of Hall's opening monologue and almost always begins with the phrase "People who...." In one variation of the gag, Hall designates this section as "People who are currently in a Witness Protection Plan," at which point the camera pans over to that section to reveal a digitally pixillated view of the audience that made it impossible to identify them.Although not an actual "gag", Burton Richardson's long intro of the show's host (in which he holds the "O" in "Arsenio" for as long as ten seconds right before Hall came out onto the stage, then, in the same breath, finally announce "HALL!") is a staple of the show. In the intro to the final episode, Richardson held his one-breath introduction for exactly twenty seconds, one of the few times he had done so.
A frequent gag in Hall's opening monologue suggests that he still lives in Cleveland, and drives himself to Los Angeles every day to host the show. While on these alleged long drives, Hall ponders certain thoughts, referring to them as "things that make you go hmmm...." This running gag inspired a 1990 C+C Music Factory
C+C Music Factory
C+C Music Factory is a dance-pop and hip hop group formed in 1989 by David Cole and Robert Clivillés which stopped recording 1996, following Cole's death...
song by that very title. "Things That Make You Go Hmmm..." reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
Hot Dance Club Play
The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...
chart, and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart.
Popularity
Hall's show was aimed primarily at the younger urbanUrban culture
Urban culture is the culture of towns and cities. In the United States, Urban culture may also sometimes be used as a euphemistic reference to contemporary African American culture.- African American culture :...
audience, with Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
(a personal friend of Hall's) and other performers often featured. The show quickly appealed to young people of all races and began to attract a wide variety of guests (although this popularity with audiences was short-lived, leading to the show's cancellation). It became the show for entertainers to go to in order to reach the "MTV Generation
MTV Generation
The MTV Generation is a term sometimes used to refer to youth of the late 20th century. The term can mean different things to different people, and is sometimes used synonymously with the terms Generation X or Generation Y.- History :...
."
The show was known for the audience's chant of "Roo! Roo! Roo!" while pumping their fists in a circular motion. Some say this was appropriated from the fan chants at Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
games, and others say that it came from the chant of Black Greek Letter Organization Omega Psi Phi
Omega Psi Phi
Omega Psi Phi is a fraternity and is the first African-American national fraternal organization to be founded at a historically black college. Omega Psi Phi was founded on November 17, 1911, at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. The founders were three Howard University juniors, Edgar Amos...
fraternity. In any case, it quickly became associated with Hall's show.
Hall would often have friend MC Hammer
MC Hammer
Stanley Kirk Burrell , better known by his stage name MC Hammer , is an American rapper, entertainer, business entrepreneur, dancer and actor. He had his greatest commercial success and popularity from the late 1980s until the mid-1990s...
as an interview and musical guest. He also interviewed "Jason Voorhees
Jason Voorhees
Jason Voorhees is a fictional character from the Friday the 13th series of slasher films. He first appeared in Friday the 13th , as the son of camp cook-turned-murderer, Mrs. Voorhees, in which he was portrayed by Ari Lehman. Created by Victor Miller, with contributions by Ron Kurz, Sean S...
", the main character from the popular Friday the 13th series of films around the time of the release of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan is a slasher film released on July 28, 1989. It is the eighth film in the Friday the 13th film series, and deals with Jason Voorhees stalking a group of high school graduates on a ship en route to New York City, and was the last film in the series...
. Muppets creator Jim Henson
Jim Henson
James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...
also appeared on the show 12 days before his death in May 1990, marking one of Henson's last public appearances. Hall also often featured World Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
wrestlers like Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan
Terrance Gene "Terry" Bollea , better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American Semi-retired professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....
(who first denied using steroids
Anabolic steroid
Anabolic steroids, technically known as anabolic-androgen steroids or colloquially simply as "steroids", are drugs that mimic the effects of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in the body. They increase protein synthesis within cells, which results in the buildup of cellular tissue ,...
on the program), Ravishing Rick Rude (who made a special set of tights with Hall's face on the back) and the Ultimate Warrior.
Queer Nation controversy
During a May 19911991 in television
For the American TV schedule, see: 1991-92 United States network television schedule.The year 1991 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1991.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...
taping, three or four members of Queer Nation
Queer Nation
Queer Nation was an organization founded in March 1990 in New York City, USA by AIDS activists from ACT UP. The four founders were outraged at the escalation of anti-gay and lesbian violence on the streets and prejudice in the arts and media...
, seated in the back row in different sections of the audience, interrupted Hall's opening monologue to ask why he never had any gay guests on his show. Hall's answer was that since most of the guests were not open about their sexuality neither Hall nor the producers knew whether they were gay or not.
When the protesters voiced their offense because the show failed to book Gus Van Sant
Gus Van Sant
Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
or Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Forbes Fierstein is a U.S. actor and playwright, noted for the early distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing and originating the lead role in his long-running play Torch Song Trilogy, about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family, as well as writing the...
, Hall defended the show by saying that Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
had been a guest. Infuriated, Hall added that he usually booked guests due to his interest in what they were working on at the time, not because of their sexual preference. The heated exchange went on for several minutes, and Hall continued to defend himself as both a comedian and a host, pointing out that he also had gay friends, and that a person's sexual preference was really nobody else's business.
Bill Clinton
Then-presidentialPresident of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
candidate Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
was a guest on the show in June 1992
1992 in television
The year 1992 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1992.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:*Hallmark Hall of Fame .*Guiding Light .*The Today Show ....
, playing "Heartbreak Hotel
Heartbreak Hotel
"Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American rock and roll musician Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. His first number-one pop record, "Heartbreak Hotel" topped Billboards Top 100 chart, became his first...
" on the saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
(causing Arsenio to quip, "It's nice to see a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
blow something besides the election"). The appearance is often considered an important moment in Clinton's political career, helping build his popularity among minority and young voters; Clinton went on to win the election
United States presidential election, 1992
The United States presidential election of 1992 had three major candidates: Incumbent Republican President George Bush; Democratic Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, and independent Texas businessman Ross Perot....
in November 1992.
Eventual downfall
The program remained popular into 1993 but as the year went on Hall and Paramount began having problems. Two of the largest ones resulted in a drop in ratings and eventually in the show's cancellation. The first problem took place over a span of two weeks and caused serious damage to Hall's ratings, and happened just as the new fall season was about to begin.At the time the 1992-93 season ended, Hall's two strongest bases were with affiliates of CBS, which did not offer much in the way of late night programming other than its nightly crime drama rerun block
Crimetime After Primetime
Crimetime After Primetime is the umbrella title for a group of late-night crime-investigation shows that debuted at various times on CBS during 1991 and 1992, running through late summer of 1993. The series was dropped when CBS began broadcasting Late Show with David Letterman...
and its late night newscast CBS News Nightwatch
Up to the Minute
Up to the Minute is a CBS overnight broadcast which offers hard news, features, interviews, weather, sports, business and commentary. Up to the Minute draws from the full resources of CBS News, including the CBS Evening News, Newspath, affiliate stations, the CBS Radio Network and Reuters Television...
, and the still-young Fox, who picked up Arsenio to fill gaps left when The Late Show was finally canceled. Among the stations that aired Arsenio at the time were WJW-TV in Cleveland, Hall's then-hometown CBS affiliate, and WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV, virtual channel 2 , is the CBS owned-and-operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. WBBM-TV's main studios and offices are located in The Loop section of Chicago, as part of the development at Block 37, and its transmitter is atop the Willis Tower.-History:WBBM-TV traces its history...
in Chicago, one of the network's owned-and-operated stations. In the summer of 1993, Late Night
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The show premiered on March 2, 2009, as the third incarnation of the Late Night franchise originated by David Letterman....
host David Letterman
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC...
, who had spent over 13 years at NBC and the last 11 as the host of the popular post-Tonight Show program, left the network due to his dissatisfaction with being passed over for the Tonight Show hosting gig after the retirement of Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
. Letterman signed with CBS to do a late-night program which would compete head-to-head with the Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
-hosted Tonight Show.
This caused a problem for Hall, who had found himself in a similar situation when his program first premiered. At the time, Carson's program was the only network program airing in the post-local news timeslots nationwide. While Paramount was set to launch Arsenio in syndication, CBS was ready to premiere The Pat Sajak Show
The Pat Sajak Show
The Pat Sajak Show is an American late-night television talk show which aired on CBS from January 9, 1989 to April 13, 1990.-Cast:The show was hosted by Pat Sajak, best known as host of the game show Wheel of Fortune...
, which was to have Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a large wheel. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that...
host Pat Sajak
Pat Sajak
Pat Sajak is a television personality, former weatherman, actor and talk show host, best known as the host of the American television game show Wheel of Fortune.-Early life:...
preside over a similar program to Carson's and run for ninety minutes. However, Hall had two things working in his favor- his prior late-night hosting experience when compared with Sajak's lack of emceeing outside of his Wheel duties and the fact that his show was to premiere exactly one week before Sajak's to give him a head start. Hall gained many of Sajak's former timeslots when The Pat Sajak Show was canceled within twelve months of its debut. However, this time instead of facing an unproven entity Hall was facing one of the most popular hosts in late night and The Late Show With David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
became an instant hit and eventually became the most popular late night program. Letterman's instant popularity cost Hall most, if not all, of his CBS affiliates.
Later, Fox had decided that after several years they would try and get back into the late night television battle despite Arsenio drawing ratings on many of its affiliates. In September 1993, the network premiered The Chevy Chase Show
The Chevy Chase Show
The Chevy Chase Show was an American late night talk show hosted by actor, comedian and Saturday Night Live alumnus Chevy Chase that aired in 1993 on Fox...
on all of its affiliates, further damaging Hall's ratings. To make matters worse, once Chase's show failed after twenty-five episodes over five weeks, Hall wasn't able to get those timeslots back and after years of showing respectable ratings against his late night counterparts, Arsenio found itself in a distant third place due to an increase in undesirable hours. Furthermore, Arsenio found its audience eroded due to a new late night program airing on MTV and hosted by comedian Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
, which premiered earlier in the summer of 1993 and quickly became the second most popular show on the cable network.
Still, Paramount stuck with Hall in the hopes that he would be able to turn his ratings trouble around. Unfortunately for both parties, that would not be the case as a controversial guest booking proved to be the final straw.
In February 1994, Hall booked controversial Nation of Islam
Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam is a mainly African-American new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930 to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African-Americans in the United States of America. The movement teaches black pride and...
leader Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan Muhammad, Sr. is the leader of the African-American religious movement the Nation of Islam . He served as the minister of major mosques in Boston and Harlem, and was appointed by the longtime NOI leader, Elijah Muhammad, before his death in 1975, as the National Representative of...
to be on the show. Despite a press release saying that Hall would have other guests appearing the night of Farrakhan's appearance, Hall instead allowed Farrakhan the entire sixty minutes for himself to be interviewed. The backlash from the appearance and subsequent ratings dip was enough for Paramount to finally cancel Arsenio after five years. The final episode aired on May 29, 1994, and in most of its markets Arsenio was replaced by a syndicated version of The Jon Stewart Show
The Jon Stewart Show
The Jon Stewart Show was a short-lived talk show hosted by comedian Jon Stewart on MTV. It premiered in 1993 and became the second highest-rated program on the network behind Beavis and Butt-Head....
; this series was canceled within a year due to low ratings and Paramount did not replace it with any other offering.
Awards and nominations
Emmy AwardEmmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s
- 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 Award
NAACP Image Award
An NAACP Image Award is an accolade presented by the American National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music, and literature....
s
- 1995: "Outstanding Variety Series" — won
- 1993: "Outstanding Variety Series/Special" — won