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It's Arsenioooooooooo... in Fall 2013

I'm looking to forward it...I know the ratings (and affiliates) of his old show were dwindling by the end, but I thought he got sort of a raw deal from Paramount at the time. I think if he sticks to the formula of the original show, but with a modern twist (it's been a generation since the demise of the first show), it'll be a ratings hit.
 
The suits just keep trotting out the old, tired retro acts.

There's a reason he failed before.
 
landtuna said:
The suits just keep trotting out the old, tired retro acts.

There's a reason he failed before.
Click to expand...

I'd hardly call a five-year mostly successful run a failure. Either you're too young to remember or you were living under a rock between '89 and '94 and just didn't care. But check the books - Arsenio changed late night. Let's see how his second act unfolds.
 
Rollo-Smokes said:
...check the books - Arsenio changed late night.
Click to expand...

Agreed -- he took away some of Johnny Carson's audience and was even a threat to Jay Leno after Johnny stepped down, to a point where Jay's manager, Helen Kushnick, would ban guests to appear on The Tonight Show if they appeared on Arsenio. But once Kushnick was fired and David Letterman moved to CBS, that's when viewers started to migrate back to the networks, leading to Arsenio's 1994 cancellation.
 
Leno and Carson were in two different leagues. Arsenio hadn't reach either level yet. I really doubt Carson's people were worried although Jay's might well have been.

As far as changing late night....I don't see how.......and it sure didn't stick.
 
azumanga said:
Rollo-Smokes said:
...check the books - Arsenio changed late night.
Click to expand...

Agreed -- he took away some of Johnny Carson's audience and was even a threat to Jay Leno after Johnny stepped down, to a point where Jay's manager, Helen Kushnick, would ban guests to appear on The Tonight Show if they appeared on Arsenio. But once Kushnick was fired and David Letterman moved to CBS, that's when viewers started to migrate back to the networks, leading to Arsenio's 1994 cancellation.
Click to expand...

A related issue with Letterman, there were several stations carrying Arsenio that were CBS affiliates. Many of those affiliates decided to carry Letterman. Chevy Chase showed up around the same time and a large number of Fox affiliates dropped Arsenio. If those two events hadn't happened Arsenio might've survived.
 
As I remember, yes Arsenio was chipping away at Carsons ratings. SNL even did a skit where Dana Carvey As Johnny and Phil Hartman as Ed McMahin, had Arsenio on as a guest. Dana says, "Ed it says here that Arsenio has a hipper show" Ed famously says, "YES!" Carvey as Carson says, "I DID NOT KNOW THAT!"

Back to subject, I recall that when CBS brought on Letterman, that pretty much spelled the end to Arsenio.
 
radiorob2.0 said:
azumanga said:
Rollo-Smokes said:
...check the books - Arsenio changed late night.
Click to expand...

Agreed -- he took away some of Johnny Carson's audience and was even a threat to Jay Leno after Johnny stepped down, to a point where Jay's manager, Helen Kushnick, would ban guests to appear on The Tonight Show if they appeared on Arsenio. But once Kushnick was fired and David Letterman moved to CBS, that's when viewers started to migrate back to the networks, leading to Arsenio's 1994 cancellation.
Click to expand...

A related issue with Letterman, there were several stations carrying Arsenio that were CBS affiliates. Many of those affiliates decided to carry Letterman. Chevy Chase showed up around the same time and a large number of Fox affiliates dropped Arsenio. If those two events hadn't happened Arsenio might've survived.
Click to expand...

Some of those Fox stations kept Arsenio when Chevy Chase appeared, but they pushed Arsenio after Chevy Chase and didn't move Arsenio back when Chevy Chase was cancelled
 
nomadcowatbk said:
landtuna said:
Carson was losing audience because he was on vacation more often than on the show.
Click to expand...

Any more than Letterman and Leno go on vacation? Carson had guest hosts, Leno and Letterman show reruns
Click to expand...

I don't see anything in the news these days about Leno or Letterman being gone from their respective shows but back in the day there was a lot of negative press about Carson being gone more and more as time went by. Yes he did have guest hosts but I'm guessing the general population didn't like Joan Rivers any more than I did.
 
landtuna said:
nomadcowatbk said:
landtuna said:
Carson was losing audience because he was on vacation more often than on the show.
Click to expand...

Any more than Letterman and Leno go on vacation? Carson had guest hosts, Leno and Letterman show reruns
Click to expand...

I don't see anything in the news these days about Leno or Letterman being gone from their respective shows but back in the day there was a lot of negative press about Carson being gone more and more as time went by. Yes he did have guest hosts but I'm guessing the general population didn't like Joan Rivers any more than I did.
Click to expand...

no one complains about Letterman's Friday summer reruns
 
A few problems that may cause this project to be short term:

1. These top market Tribune stations have a 1 hr. news cast before the 11PM hour. I'm sure an hour of news as the lead-in is much worse than having a 30-35 min. news block that may inhibit Arsenio's ratings.
2. Chances are that the costs of the show will be high if Arsenio goes for the traditional set up with a full staff of writers, an announcer, a house band, etc. If ratings expectations aren't met, don't be surprised if the project is ended because of a financial issue.
3. His talk show competition is VERY fierce across the board at 11. You have Conan, Chelsea Lately, The Daily Show, Adult Swim, What What Happens. He also bleeds into 11:30 where you have Leno, Letterman and Colbert. Arsenio had a great run in the 90's because he was the only youth oriented alternative to Carson at the time. Now he'll have quite the competition.

Here's my tip to his producers: Focus Arsenio to be the URBAN alternative to a talk show. For a while in the 90's during his run, his show started becoming unfocused to what his objective was to the game, being that urban voice in the late night game. Bring that back.
 
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